[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George H. W. Bush (1991, Book I)]
[April 23, 1991]
[Pages 417-418]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks Prior to a Meeting With General H. Norman Schwarzkopf, Commander 
of the U.S. Forces in the Persian Gulf
April 23, 1991

    Q. Mr. President, what did you have to say to General Schwarzkopf?
    The President. I'm listening. I'm in a listening mode. And besides, 
this is a photo op, at which I normally do not take questions.
    What I'll say to him and when he first got home is, welcome, well-
done, and what he

[[Page 418]]

and his troops did in terms of fulfilling our objectives is fantastic. 
And what he and his troops did for the morale of the United States of 
America is unbelievable.
    We have a great team in Secretary Cheney and General Powell and 
General Schwarzkopf, and the country knows it. You can feel it. Anytime 
you get out to this place, why, you sense it. It is fantastic. And I 
told him that and congratulated him.
    Q. General Schwarzkopf----
    Q. ----the Oval Office, General?
    The President. Would you like to see how a guy should handle the 
press? Come on, Norm. [Laughter] And don't change your style.
    Q. General Schwarzkopf, regardless of your agreement with the 
President to end the war, do you feel that you would have liked to have 
gone on and prosecuted it further?
    The General. What I'd really like to say is if the President's not 
going to answer any questions, I damn sure am not going to answer any. 
[Laughter]
    The President. Now you see how to handle them?

                    Note: The President spoke at noon in the Rose Garden 
                        at the White House. In his remarks, he referred 
                        to Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney and Gen. 
                        Colin L. Powell, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of 
                        Staff.