European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 31, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Is Vince Crawley iraqi prisoners of War lie in the Sand after surrendering to the 2ndarmd Cav regt in 1991. Most of Iraq s elite fighters returned safely to Baghdad. They re Back . Troops eat lunch after firing practice in the Northern kuwaiti desert earlier this month. A How Iraq escaped continued from Page 15 not been destroyed and were in fact escaping across the euphrates River. The inability to Cut off those troops stemmed not Only from a premature decision to end the War but also from a fundamental flaw in the Battle plan which assumed that the iraqis would stand and fight. Instead they bolted when the marines began their assault to free Kuwait and the . Troops had trouble accelerating their attack to catch them. As the fighting Drew to a close the Clear goal of destroying the Republican guards gave Way to confusion Over political concerns. After the cease fire he saudis were so unhappy with the outcome that they proposed a secret plan to Arm iraqi shiite insurgents and one top . Army general developed a secret contingency plan for . Tanks to Roll North to Baghdad a project quickly shut Down by his appalled superiors. Wary of Long term commitments top military officers blocked a proposal by . Diplomats at the end of the War to create a demilitarized zone in Southern Iraq. After two Republican guard divisions moved near Kuwait earlier this month Clinton administration officials pressed its allies to approve a similar plan to keep Iraq from threatening Kuwait again. When the iraqis swept into Kuwait on aug. 2, 1990, the most important figure in the . A military was Powell. A former National Security adviser to president Reagan and career army officer Powell had a finely tuned sense of politics. He had served As a Young officer in Vietnam and was fiercely protective of the institution in  had spent his adult life. His watchword was caution. Powell did not want to get into the War in the first place and once the War came he wanted to win quickly and get the troops Home. When the iraqis invaded defense Secretary Dick Cheney met with Powell and other senior Pentagon officials to discuss How the United states should react. We need Art objective Cheney said according to notes taken by an aide. Hie wondered whether the american people would support military action to put the Emir of Kuwait Back on his throne. But Powell argued that the West had Little Choice but to accept Saddam Hussein s invasion and should concentrate on defending saudi Arabia. The next few Days Iraq will withdraw he said according to the notes. But Saddam Hussein will put his puppet in. Everyone in the Arab world will be  he continued i Don t see the senior leadership taking us into armed conflict for the events of the last 24 hours. The american people do not want their Young dying for $1.50-gallonoil." Bush however saw it differently. Stiffened by a meeting with Phirne minister Margaret Thatcher of Britain Bush declared that he would not allow the invasion to stand. Whether they wanted to or not the generals were going to War. But the president allowed the top generals to set strategy gave them the overwhelming forces they requested and allowed them to decide when it would Stop. From Start to finish it would be the generals War to win or lose. The goals Cheney was seeking were made Clear when Schwarzkopf met with his top military commanders in november 1990. He reminded them that the administration s objective was not just to defeat the iraqis or Chase them out of Kuwait. The Republican guard the most capable and Loyal unit in the iraqi army was to be destroyed an explicit Mission the Central command later put in writing. One chief aim of the Allied attacks was also to eliminate Iraq s capacity to threaten its neighbors. . Officials also believed  the Republican guard Saddam s chances of holding Power would diminish. Over months of wrangling a War plan took shape with each service in the . Military competing for an important role. The air Force wanted to win the. War carrying out precision air strikes in downtown Baghdad and pounding iraqi ground troops. The army hoped to deliver the knockout blow with a left Hook an ambitious plan in which tvo army corps the xviii airborne corps and the Vii corps vault sweep across Western Iraq and slam into Nark of the Republican guard forces dug in just across the Kuwait Border in Southern Iraq. The marines insisting on having their own attack Drew up plans for a lightning assault to liberate Kuwait. Schwarzkopf the commander responsible for meshing the parts of the Allied plan said in an interview that he never expected the Marine attack to move As quickly As it did / a but in the first hours of the land offensive it became Clear that much of the iraqi army lacked the will to fight and had been seriously weakened by the allies bombing attacks.  "". The Success of the marines was a Relief for the top commanders who feared that they would take serious casualties. But it also posed a problem instead of distract Riethe iraqis while the army readied its left Hook the marines acted As a battering ram driving the iraqis into Retreat while the army units to the West were just getting under Way. In the War room at the saudi ministry of defense in Riyadh Schwarzkopf became furious As he realized what was happening. He demanded that the Vii corps commander pick up the Pace and crush the iraqis before they got a Way. The army s plan could not easily be sped up but by feb. 27 the attacking divisions had finally built up significant momentum