Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 5, 1991 TAG: 9103051258
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A/1 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
The returning soldiers will include members of the Army's 82nd Airborne Division, which was the first American combat force sent to the gulf last August, the sources said.
About 4,400 members of the XVIII Airborne Corps, including members of the 82nd Airborne from Fort Bragg, N.C., will be in the first group to be greeted by Bush, the sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Within three days of the initial return ceremony, about 15,000 members of all service branches are expected to be back in the United States from the gulf area, the sources said.
Meanwhile, civil strife apparently intensified in Iraq today, but U.S. officials said they didn't know if Saddam Hussein was in serious danger of being overthrown. Iraq freed 35 more allied POWs, and said they were the last.
U.S. military officials had earlier expressed anxiety that the turmoil in Iraq could slow prisoner exchanges. Today, that turmoil was said to be growing.
The worst appeared to be in the area of Basra, in southern Iraq, where remnants of Saddam's loyalist Republican Guards and anti-government troops faced off with tanks, U.S. military officials said.
In Basra, Republican Guards operated checkpoints and exchanged machine-gun fire with the regular army, U.S. officials in Saudi Arabia said.
Fifteen Americans were among the POWs turned over to the Red Cross in Baghdad. On Monday, 10 allied prisoners, including six Americans, had been freed.
"We're hoping it's all of them that's left, but we don't know," said White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater.
Bad weather, however, stalled what was to have been the first release of Iraqi prisoners by the allies. U.S. commanders said 294 Iraqis were to have been flown from Saudi Arabia to Baghdad today but rain and high wind delayed the release until Wednesday.
"You get the distinct impression that it's growing. . . . There is a groundswell toward greater civil disobedience," one U.S. military official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
"At the same time I wouldn't guess right now how it might turn out. The one thing that Saddam does best is handle things like this, although this could be his greatest challenge," the official said.
Refugee accounts also spoke of unrest flaring in one city after another. In addition to Basra, refugees reaching the Iraqi border town of Safwan said demonstrators were marching in the cities of Karbala, Nasiriyah, Shutra, Suq ash-Shuyukh, Amara, Samawah and Kut.
Pentagon officials said earlier that the U.S. military also had reports of unrest in Najaf, Zubayr, Kumayt and Qalat Salih.
And a Kurdish opposition leader in Damascus, Syria, reported that Kurdish guerrillas seized Erbil, a provincial capital of about 900,000 people, and the nearby northern Iraqi towns of Salah al-Dine, Khabat, Daratow and Eskiklik.
Jalal Talabani, head of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, also said anti-Saddam demonstrations took place Sunday in Tikrit, Saddam's hometown.
The Iraqi opposition, in separate reports from Iran and Syria, said the Shiite holy cities Karbala and Najaf had fallen into the hands of anti-Saddam rioters Monday evening.
The reports could not be verified.
Baghdad Radio, without mentioning the demonstrations, accused the allies Monday night of plotting to "disturb Iraq's security and national unity."
In announcing today's POW release, Baghdad Radio said Iraq has "completed the handing over of all prisoners of the countries that had taken part in military operations against Iraq."
The announcement did not mention the estimated 30,000 Kuwaitis that Kuwait says were abducted by Iraq. A Red Cross spokesman, Angelo Gnaedinger, said the agency and the Iraqi government were conducting discussions on the release of an undetermined number of Kuwaiti civilians.
In addition to the Americans, nine Britons, nine Saudis, an Italian and a Kuwaiti were freed today, the Red Cross said.
"I am crying with happiness," Giulio Bellini said after hearing of his son's release. Maj. Gianmarco Bellini was the pilot of an Italian Tornado fighter-bomber downed on the second day of the war.
After Monday's release, at least 54 allied servicemen were listed as missing and at least eight as POWs. Six Americans were among those known to still be held and 35 Americans were listed as missing.
The six American POWs freed Monday arrived at the U.S. hospital ship Mercy off the Persian Gulf emirate Bahrain after a 17-hour trip from the Iraqi capital via Jordan. The commander of U.S. forces, Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf, spent some time with them aboard the ship, military officials in Bahrain said. Army Spc. Melissa Rathbun-Nealy, 20, of Grand Rapids, Mich., the only female POW of the Persian Gulf War, carried flowers as she arrived aboard ship. Once on deck, she and the others were able to telephone their families for the first time since their release.
"I'm pleased to report that they are all in good shape and in good spirits," said Air Force Col. Wynn Mabry, who headed the medical team checking the former captives on a flight from Jordan.
He said there was no evidence of torture or serious maltreatment of the POWs. Three Britons and an Italian also were freed Monday. The Britons traveled on to Cyprus.
The release of prisoners was among truce terms agreed to Sunday by allied and Iraqi commanders.
In what might be largely a symbolic move to comply with other allied terms, Baghdad Radio said Iraq's ruling Revolutionary Command Council had decided to release all assets seized after the invasion of Kuwait. However, it did not say what those assets were.
During the seven-month occupation, the Iraqis plundered the emirate, stealing cars, appliances and equipment, wrecking oil installations and setting oil fields ablaze.
Kuwait's government-in-exile, headed by Crown Prince Saad al-Sabah, returned from Saudi Arabia on Monday, but no date has been announced for the arrival of Kuwait's emir.
A senior Kuwaiti Cabinet minister, Abdul Rahman al-Awadi, told reporters security had to be ensured first. As part of that effort, a 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. curfew was imposed throughout Kuwait as of today, the Kuwait News Agency reported.
In Washington, Lt. Gen. Thomas Kelly raised concerns that the civil strife in Iraq could slow the withdrawal of allied forces from Iraqi territory and create problems for setting up a permanent cease-fire.
However, Kelly, director of operations for the Joint Chiefs, said Monday he did not believe the U.S. military would intervene to stop the violence "unless it became very serious."
"We never have had any desire to take over Iraq," he said.
Kelly said the large-scale releases of Iraqi POWs, who number more than 60,000, could inflame the strife by adding to the ranks of anti-government demonstrators.
Red Cross representatives in the Saudi capital of Riyadh also said they foresaw problems with the release of the Iraqis, some of whom have said they do not want to return to an Iraq ruled by Saddam.
Kelly also provided more details about the allied-Iraqi agreement Sunday. He said Iraq agreed to keep its armed forces outside a zone of occupation in southeastern Iraq until allied forces there withdraw under terms of a formal cease-fire.
Kelly said Iraqi and coalition forces are not allowed to come within about half a mile of the line on their respective sides, forming a buffer intended to prevent accidental clashes. Sporadic clashes have flared since the halt to hostilities a week ago.
by CNB