George Bush: The Unauthorized Biography - Get a Free Blog

concessions." Primakov had issued a call that "the slaughter must be stopped. I am not
saying that the war was justified before, but its continuation cannot now be justified from
any point of view. A people is perishing." Foreign Minister Bessmertnykh complained
that "the plan was addressed to the Iraqi leadership, so [Bush] rejected the plan which did
not belong to him." [fn 87] Diplomatically, the once mighty Soviet Union had ceased to
exist; the collapse of the Soviet state had been accelerated by its seconding of the Anglo-
American designs in the Gulf, and the opinions of the Kremlin now counted for nothing.
Primakov and Tariq Aziz then proceeded to transform the original Soviet 8-point plan
into a more demanding 6-point plan, including some of the demands of the Anglo-
Americans on the timetable of withdrawal and other issues. Bush's answer to that, on the
morning of Friday, February 22, was a 24-hour ultimatum to Iraq to begin an "immediate
and unconditional withdrawal from Kuwait" or face an immediate attack by coalition
land forces. Many Iraqi units were now already in retreat; the essence of the US demands
was to make Iraq accept a pullout so rapid that all equipment and supplies must be left
behind. It is clear that, even if Iraq had accepted Bush's terms, he would have found
reasons to continue the air bombardment. During the following days, the principal
activity of US planes was to bomb columns of Iraqi forces leaving Kuwait and retreating
towards the north, towards Iraq, in exact compliance with the UN resolutions. But Bush
now wanted to fulfill his quota of 100,000 dead Iraqi soldiers. During the evening of
Saturday, February 23, Bush spoke from the White House announcing an order to Gen.
Schwarzkopf to "use all forces, including ground forces, to eject the Iraqi army from
Kuwait." [fn 88] It emerged in retrospect that many Iraqi military units had left Kuwait
weeks before the final land battle. Well-informed observers thought that the Iraqi
Republican Guard had been reduced to less than three functioning combat divisions by
Bush's air and ground assaults, but it shortly became clear that there were at least five
Republican Guard divisions in the field at something approaching full strength. Finally,
on February 27, after 41 days of war, Bush ordered a cease-fire. "Our military objectives
are met," proclaimed Bush. [fn 89]
Because all reports on Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm were covered
by the strictest military censorship, and because most news organizations of the US and
the other coalition states were more than willing to operate under these conditions, most
of the details of these operations are still in the realm of Anglo-American mind war.
The coalition air fleets had carried out some 120,000 sorties against Iraq. If each sortie
had claimed but a single Iraqi life, then 120,000 Iraqis had perished. In reality, total Iraqi
casualties of killed, wounded, and missing, plus the civilian losses from famine, disease,
and pestilence must have been in the neighborhood of 500,000 by the end of 1991.
In early March, Bush addressed a special session of the Congress on what he chose to call
the end of the war. This time it was Bush's personal apotheosis; he was frequently
interrupted by manic applause. Bush's mind war had succeeded. Resistance to the war
had been driven virtually underground; bloodthirsty racism ruled most public discourse
for a time. It was one of the most wretched moments of the American spirit. Bush, who
was consciously preparing new wars, was careful not to promise peace: "Even the new