Saddam Hussein has responded positively to an eight-point Soviet plan for full and unconditional withdrawal of Iraqi troops from Kuwait, and the U.S. said Thursday night it would study the proposal to end the five-week-old Persian Gulf war.
A spokesman for President Mikhail Gorbachev, revealing details of the plan for the first time, said it calls for the pullout to begin two days after a cease-fire, orders the immediate release of all prisoners of war and requires an end to economic sanctions when the withdrawal is two-thirds complete.
Soviet officials, though, made it clear that the Iraqi leadership has not yet given its formal endorsement of the peace plan, and that negotiations on the cease-fire, withdrawal and eventual armistice will continue Friday in Moscow.
A senior U.S. official said early Friday that President Bush had found serious faults with the plan.
The administration official in Washington said Bush had termed the proposal to end the 5-week-old Persian Gulf war ”unacceptable” in its present form because it sets conditions for Iraq`s withdrawal from Kuwait.
Bush determined he could not accept key provisions of the Soviet plan after a late-night White House meeting with Secretary of State James A. Baker III, National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft and other aides, said the official, speaking on the condition that he not be identified.
Among other things, Bush objected to the plan`s provisions that would lift the United Nations economic embargo against Baghdad after two-thirds of Iraq`s troops left Kuwait and rescind all UN Security Council resolutions against Iraq after the withdrawal is completed, the official said.
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Despite finding the plan unacceptable, the president appeared willing to discuss possible improvements with Moscow in the hopes of forcing a deal on his own terms, minus any concessions to Baghdad, before resorting to a ground offensive to liberate Kuwait.
Bush`s negative response came about four hours after White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater went on national television to praise the Soviet peace efforts as ”useful” despite ”serious concerns” about some of the plan`s elements.
In Washington, White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said the Bush administration has ”serious concerns about several points in the plan.”
”Considerable analysis” is required because there are ”a number of issues to resolve,” Fitzwater said. ”It`s just too soon to characterize it . . . We have had our hopes raised before.”
The president and his advisers were transmitting their response to leaders of the allied coalition and would provide more details later Friday, the U.S. official said.
In his comments Thursday, Fitzwater also emphasized that technically, the peace plan is a matter between Moscow and Baghdad and the U.S. is ”not directly involved.”
In the meantime, he added, the allied air war against Iraq will continue, though no decision has been made to launch a ground assault.
Secretary of State James A. Baker III immediately placed calls to discuss the proposal with his counterparts in Britain, France, Canada and Egypt, all key U.S. partners in the anti-Iraq coalition.
Soviet officials, though, made it clear that the Iraqi leadership has not yet given its formal endorsement of the peace plan, and that negotiations on the cease-fire, withdrawal and eventual armistice were to continue Friday in Moscow.
There was little immediate official reaction elsewhere, though Saudi Arabia`s ambassador to the United Nations, Samir Shihabi, said the Soviet plan involved ”too many conditions.” Canadian External Affairs Minister Joe Clark called it ”promising.”
Early Friday in Moscow, a spokesman for President Mikhail Gorbachev, revealing details of the plan for the first time, said it calls for the pullout to begin two days after a cease-fire, orders the immediate release of all prisoners of war and requires an end to economic sanctions when the withdrawal is two-thirds complete.
Soviet officials, though, made it clear that the Iraqi leadership had not yet given its formal endorsement of the peace plan, and that negotiations on the cease-fire, withdrawal and eventual armistice were to continue Friday in Moscow.
There was little immediate official reaction elsewhere, though Saudi Arabia`s ambassador to the United Nations, Samir Shihabi, said the Soviet plan involved ”too many conditions.” Canadian External Affairs Minister Joe Clark called it ”promising.”
In Jerusalem, an Israeli official said Friday the Soviet plan appeared to be an attempt by Iraq to buy time.
”From our perspective, there is nothing new here,” said Yossi Olmert, head of Israel`s Government Press Office.
Olmert said the main objective was to make sure Iraq would not pose a threat in the future.
Progress on the eight-point Soviet plan, presented by Gorbachev in a final gambit to avert a bloody ground war, does mean ”it is possible to find a way out of the military conflict in the gulf,” said Vitaly Ignatenko, the Soviet president`s chief spokesman.
Gorbachev phoned President Bush early Friday (Moscow time), immediately after completing nearly 2 1/2 hours of talks with Iraqi Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz, Ignatenko said.
The two men spoke for 33 minutes, according to Fitzwater, and Bush thanked the Soviet leader for his ”intensive and useful” mediation efforts. Bush, who had received a secret briefing on the Gorbachev initiative, snubbed it at first as ”falling well short of what would be required” to comply with United Nations resolutions authorizing force to liberate Kuwait.
In an unsual midnight meeting that clearly reflected Soviet fears that a ground war in the gulf is imminent, Gorbachev whisked Aziz into the Kremlin to discuss the Soviet plan, and the reaction from Hussein and his Revolutionary Command Council.
Ignatenko emerged after the talks to announce: ”The response is positive.” However, he noted that negotiations were arduous before compromise was reached.
The Soviet spokesman said that, ”after thorough discussion and the comparison of the various positions, the two parties came to the conclusion that it is possible to find a way out of the military conflict in the gulf.” Ignatenko revealed that the Gorbachev peace initiative includes these points:
– Iraq must agree to a full and unconditional withdrawal of its forces from Kuwait.
– The withdrawal must begin on the second day after a cease-fire begins.
– The pullout of Iraqi troops must be accomplished according to a fixed timetable. (No details of that schedule were revealed).
– After two-thirds of the occupying forces in Kuwait are withdrawn, economic sanctions imposed by the UN against Iraq after the Aug. 2 invasion must be lifted.
– After the withdrawal is completed, all UN Security Council resolutions censuring Iraq, ordering an economic blockade and sanctioning the use of force must be revoked.
– All prisoners of war must be released at the time of the initial cease- fire.
– The withdrawal of Iraqi forces will be monitored by a UN-appointed international peacekeeping force made up of troops from nations not currently involved in the gulf war.
– Work to finalize details of the peace plan will continue, with a report made later Friday to members of the UN Security Council.
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”So I do think that I can say it is a very good morning,” Ignatenko told correspondents gathered at the Foreign Ministry. ”We can give ourselves some applause.”
Ignatenko made no mention of linking the Iraqi withdrawal to the resolution of other conflicts in the Middle East, most notably the Israeli-Palestinian question. The UN resolutions demand an Iraqi pullout free of political conditions, although Hussein previously said he would withdraw his forces only when Israel pulls out from the occuppied territories.
However, Ignatenko`s summary of the Soviet plan also did not contain any requirement that Iraq pay reparations to Kuwait, which has been a tenet of the U.S. and allied position.
Soviet Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Belonogov echoed Ignatenko`s comment that ”a breakthrough to peace can be made,” but cautioned that
”work has not been finished.”
Negotiations with Aziz were to continue Friday after Foreign Minister Alexander Bessmertnykh returns from a mission to Spain, Tass news agency reported.
Ignatenko`s upbeat report came just nine hours after Baghdad Radio broadcast a defiant speech by Hussein declaring his nation`s willingness to continue the war.
”The mother of all battles will be our battle for victory and martyrdom,” Hussein said in the 35-minute speech. ”They want us to surrender, but of course they`ll be disappointed.”
The Iraqi foreign minister was already on his way to Moscow when that speech aired. Aziz was forced to travel overland from Baghdad to Tehran and then on to Moscow in a Soviet plane to avoid allied fighter jets.
Aziz`s personal mission to Moscow, his second this week, apparently was necessary because telephone links to domestic Iraqi lines are unreliable. Communications are a prime target of the allied war effort.
Moscow has been the focus of an exhaustive flurry of diplomatic activity in recent days as Gorbachev eagerly sought to balance the monopoly of the American-led alliance in determining the future of the gulf region.
Soviet endorsement of the UN resolutions were a keystone of the diplomatic and military structure to oust Iraqi forces from Kuwait, and Gorbachev never wavered from that support.
Gorbachev`s policy also results from a disquieting belief that the conflict could get out of hand and, perhaps, spread to the USSR`s southern flank, where the nation`s restive Islamic population borders on the war zone. However, the Soviet president has issued careful statements warning that the sweeping military campaign risks overstepping the United Nations mandate to liberate Kuwait.
Gorbachev`s strategy is likely to appease hardliners at home who regret the loss of all Soviet influence in the region.