Schwarzkopf Salutes Coalition’s Accomplishments on Kuwait Visit

KUWAIT CITY —  Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf, visiting Kuwait as a permanent cease-fire was about to take effect, said Thursday that the allied forces “accomplished every single mission” assigned to them in the Gulf War.

The U.S. Desert Storm commander, who arrived by helicopter from the Saudi capital of Riyadh, said neither Saddam Hussein’s brutal repression of internal rebellions nor the chaos in Iraq diminished the allied success.

Schwarzkopf made a one-day trip to Kuwait to present the Legion of Merit to the acting commander of the Kuwaiti armed forces, Maj. Gen. Jabbar al Khaled al Sabah.

Schwarzkopf said Iraq’s battered military is no longer a threat to its neighbors even though it had sufficient strength to crush rebellions by the Kurds in the north and Shiite Muslims in the south.

“It doesn’t take a well-trained military to beat a bunch of rebels in the mountains,” he added.

Schwarzkopf is expected to retire soon. Asked what he plans to do, he said: “I’m looking for another cause.”

He also said he will go fishing, play with his dog and “enjoy being a father. It’s something I haven’t done for about eight months.”