Here are excerpts from editorials in U.S. newspapers about the beginning of the ground offensive in the Persian Gulf War. --- The New York Times: Americans can hope that the war will be both swift and limited. But it will not be damage-free. It will exact a price on the battlefield and, however successful the outcome, it could well exact a price diplomatically, especially in America's relations with the Soviet Union. On this point Mr. Bush's advisers have displayed not euphoria but an admirable practicality. --- The Dallas Morning News: ``Although half-promises of peace were at times achingly close, President Bush was right to order the commencement of this final phase of the war. Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein has proven himself a merciless, calculating despot whose word is nothing more than another weapon. He cannot be trusted to implement a peace agreement. There was little reason to see the last-minute maneuvering of his government as anything but an attempt to buy time, and that would have escalated the danger to allied troops if zero hour finally arrived during treacherous weather...Yet even if Saddam Hussein leaves the mass of his troops to collapse in Kuwait, the allies should not pursue him to his bunker in Baghdad. Although tempting, such a move would turn a just war into a war of conquest. That would risk a loss of global support and would risk fracturing the coalition which George Bush has so masterfully assembled and maintained. Whether President Hussein is chased to Baghdad or not - he is finished.'' --- Dallas Times Herald: ``It's too soon to claim victory, of course. There is much still to be done. But the first 18 hours of ground battle leave every reason for optimism. It's especially gratifying to see how well the coalition has worked together. The British and French have delivered for the alliance, and so have the Saudis and Egyptians. President Bush can take justifiable pride in the cohesion of these forces. There is much anguish in any war. No doubt that will be true of the Persian Gulf as well. But so far allied forces have acquitted themselves with great distinction.'' --- The Courier-Tribune, Asheboro, N.C.: ``Yes, Saddam must be left humiliated and powerless - the president and our allies know that. It would be very bad and dangerous for us if Saddam Hussein remained in power in Iraq with a substantial part of his huge army still intact, warned Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir. .... If left in power and well armed, his vindictiveness - when it came - would be appalling. --- The Leaf-Chronicle, Clarksville, Tenn.: The U.N. coalition had no choice but to launch an all-out ground offensive after Iraqi President Saddam Hussein ignored an ultimatum to begin withdrawing his forces...The time for talk was over, and the people of Kuwait were begging for liberation.... Ultimately, Iraq has found itself without friends to call upon during this war. The Arab masses in other countries never did rise up and rally to Iraq's cause. In fact, the only Arab country that showed much sympathy to Iraq was Jordan; but if it has made any contribution to Iraq's war effort, the effect has been negligible... ...The country prays for the U.N. combatants and for their families. We also pray for those innocent people who have suffered in Kuwait. And we pray that after this is all over, peace and stability will come to the Middle East. --- The Oakland Press, Pontiac, Mich.: While easy early successes can be misleading, it seems that the liberation of Kuwait could come in days rather than weeks or months... The urgent question is not whether a ground war is wise or necessary. That has been answered, for better or worse, by George Bush and Saddam Hussein. The question now is what happens after the last Iraqi soldier straggles back across the Kuwaiti border and into Iraq? Will the allied forces pursue him? And, if so, how far? Then, what mechanism, if any, will be put in place in an attempt to head off further military adventures in the region, by Saddam or anybody else?.... ...So it is clear that an international conference should be convened to deal with such questions as arms control for the region, recognition of the right of Israel to exist and a permanent, humane solution to the Palestinian problem in the occupied territories. Ouside nations cannot continue to attempt to achieve stability by playing off one Middle Eastern country against another. That is how and why Saddam rose to power and prominence. And it was as much the cynical doing of the United States as of anyone else. --- Los Angeles Times: Until it's evident that the Republican Guard has been neutralized as a battlefield threat, and until it's clear that bloody street-to-street fighting in Kuwait City can be avoided, the danger to allied forces will remain, and anticipation of a quick and low-cost victory must be held in check. Quite soon the world will get a firsthand look at Kuwait as it emerges from more than six months of Iraqi subjugation. The stories and pictures are expected to be grim. Even in the final hours of their occupation Iraqi forces were reported to be heaping atrocity upon atrocity, murdering Kuwaitis, stealing what had not earlier been looted, wantonly destroying the oil installations and buildings. These are war crimes by any definition. If Kuwait presses for the reparations that the U.N. resolutions and international law allow it to claim, Iraq faces years of enormous compensations payments. --- The Orange County Register: ...Beyond that, and this comes as one more corroboration of Saddam's unceasing diabolism, hundreds of men and women of Kuwait City were being rounded up by their occupiers, tortured, and executed. The moral impulse to stop the genocide which came on top of the torching of Kuwait oil fields became all the more urgent. Other factors such as the looming sand storm season no doubt factored in of course. And there was the weekend story (confirmed) that the White House had established this timetable weeks ago, authorizing Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf to launch the attack when ready. That scandalized a small corps of reflexive Bush bashers who concluded that the president was clearly not serious about the Saturday deadline and intended to pursue some sort of sinister private agenda. But those are uncomplicated minds at work, and, happily, they do not reflect the overwhelming number of Americans who share the president's moral sensibility. It is altogether reasonable to have planned a punitive timetable, at the same time preparing to abandon it if the object of your enterprise suddenly, and surprisingly, agrees to conduct himself in a civilized fashion. Saddam responded to the Bush ultimatum with (1) some stalling-for-time joint diplomacy with the Soviet Union and (2) more Scud attacks on Israel and Saudi Arabia along with more hideous bloodletting in Kuwait City. Astonishingly enough, the peacenik gallery complained that President Bush failed to blind himself to the second part of Saddam's response which calls into question their own morale posturing. That they invested an iota of reliability in the Saddam-Gorbachev maneuvering called into question their grasp of history. --- Los Angeles Daily News: The fear that Saddam inspired was simply the fear of the what-if: What if he has chemical or biological weapons of mass destruction? What if he can get the Arab masses to overthrow America's allies? What if his ground troops are fanatics who will fight to the death? The power in these questions is the power of the unknown. Once the answers are known - once Saddam is forced to deliver and fails to measure up to the worst Another file downloaded from: ! -$- ! . /_\ /-o-\ & the Temple of the Screaming Electron (o..) | * Walnut Creek, California + |:| /^\ /~\ ! |:|/\ _| |____|:| 2400/1200/300 baud 415-935-5845 /^\ / O |/...\ /_-_\ Jeff Hunter, Sysop |@ \_| @ /:::::|/|- : -| \ | | | /~ |/| _ | - - - - - - - - - * |____|/~ @ /~\ |/|_(_)_| Aaaaaeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! / /_______|_|_|/ Specializing in conversations, obscure information, high explosives, arcane knowledge, political extremism, diversive sexuality, insane speculation, and wild rumours. An ALL-TEXT BBS. Full access for first-time callers. We don't want to know who you are, where you live, or what your phone number is. We are not Big Brother. "Raw Data for Raw Nerves"