[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George H. W. Bush (1991, Book I)]
[February 12, 1991]
[Pages 139-140]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Exchange With Reporters on the Persian Gulf Conflict Prior to 
Discussions With Defense Minister Thomas King of the United Kingdom
February 12, 1991

    Q. Going to talk about the ground war--possible?
    The Defense Minister. Are you going on, Mr. President, or----
    The President. No, I'm not. I defer to guests because I don't take 
questions in here. And that's Helen Thomas [United Press International], 
I think. [Laughter] I don't look over, so I can't see, but I----
    Q. We've got a better one for you.
    The President. She knows very well that I don't take questions here. 
But foreign guests are encouraged to, if you'd like to.
    The Defense Minister. Well, I just said to the President here--and 
the Vice President, who I had the pleasure of meeting last week in 
London, and with Dick Cheney, General Brent Scowcroft--the very close 
measure of the very close cooperation we have. I'm very grateful for it. 
We've been very appreciative of the close contact also we have. And I 
was going to say to the President that we have great admiration for 
General Schwarzkopf. We're working very closely with him. We have our 
1st Armored Division, which is with now the U.S. 7th Corps. And General 
Franks is commanding that. And we have General Smith working under him. 
And it's a measure of the cooperation that we have. I think both at sea, 
in the air, and on land that it's been an excellent illustration of very 
close cooperation. And I welcome the chance to meet the President. And 
one feels one knows these issues so well, communicating through various 
channels.
    Q. Mr. King, do you think it's too soon to go to a ground war? Do 
you agree with the President on that?
    The Defense Minister. It's a need to see some significant reduction 
in Iraq's military capability. You can't put precise figures on it, but 
there certainly needs to be a reduction in their capability. I know the 
President has always made very clear something that we support very 
strongly, that we want to see a tilt in the balance of military 
advantage so that when our forces embark--the allied coalition forces 
embark on that land campaign that the balance of advantage is with them. 
That will help us to minimize the casualties on our own side and 
actually hopefully minimize the casualties for the people of Kuwait who 
are going to be part of the battleground.
    Q. Is there concern, though, on the other hand, that if the air war 
is protracted that you start to lose some of the international

[[Page 140]]

support?
    The Defense Minister. There are a lot of considerations that have to 
be taken into account. We have great respect and confidence in General 
Schwarzkopf, in the military judgments that he will make on the ground. 
He talks closely to our commanders there as well, which is very valuable 
to us. And we appreciate very much--and obviously my relationship with 
Secretary Cheney--but particularly the President's excellent habit of 
keeping in very close touch with Prime Minister John Major. And so, as 
far as I can say for the United Kingdom, the cooperation couldn't be 
closer. And we know, I think all of us, in our hearts, a whole range of 
issues that have to be taken into account before the President will 
undoubtedly have to reach a very important judgment.
    Q. But right now do you think they have the balance?
    The Defense Minister. Oh, I think there's some work to be done.
    Q. Mr. President, do you feel there is pressure to get it over with? 
Either internal or international?
    The President. I'm not going to take any questions here. But I 
must--like to identify myself with the remark we've just heard here. 
[Inaudible]
    The Defense Minister. We've got a change of shift.
    The President. This may be some of your troops coming in.
    The Defense Minister. [Inaudible]
    The President. I think so.
    The Defense Minister. But it's been very useful to be able to see 
that exchange of views.
    The President. I think there's a conscientious effort on his part to 
try to raise the propaganda value--accusing us of indiscriminate bombing 
of civilians. And it's simply not true. And what's overlooked is the--a 
lot of the brutality that's so evident and so purposeful on his part--
the treatment of the prisoners. The Scud missile attacks have no 
military value. The environmental terrorism has not taken human life 
yet, but it's pretty bad. And we are doing the right thing. And I'm just 
delighted with the cooperation. And we are on track. And I think most of 
the world knows it. But to hear this one-sided propaganda machine 
cranking out a lot of myths and falsehoods--but I don't think the world 
is buying it, frankly.
    The Defense Minister. We didn't see many television pictures of the 
casualties in Kuwait, did we?
    The President. No. It's still going on.
    The Defense Minister. And of the civilians and the tens of thousands 
of civilians that must have lost their lives there?
    The President. No, I think we're right on track--right on track and 
very proud to be identified with you all in this enterprise.

                    Note: The exchange began at 2:05 p.m. in the Oval 
                        Office at the White House. The Defense Minister 
                        referred to Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney; 
                        Brent Scowcroft, Assistant to the President for 
                        National Security Affairs; Gen. H. Norman 
                        Schwarzkopf, commander of the U.S. forces in the 
                        Persian Gulf; and Lt. Gen. Frederick M. Franks, 
                        Jr., and Maj. Gen. Isaac Dixon Smith, commanding 
                        general and deputy chief of staff for personnel, 
                        1st Armored Division, U.S. Army Europe and 7th 
                        Army. President Bush referred to President 
                        Saddam Hussein of Iraq.