Baker Sees ‘Formidable’ and Very Costly War

Secretary of State James A. Baker III today told Congress the task of ousting Iraq from Kuwait is “formidable” and said the fight against Saddam Hussein’s military machine will be very costly.

“The military actions now under way necessarily involve many casualties, great hardships and growing fears for the future,” he said in testimony to the House Foreign Affairs Committee. “Tough times lie ahead.”

Baker said the United States is trying to wage “a just war in a just way,” trying to minimize damage to civilians and to religious and cultural sites.

“The task is formidable,” he said, “and no one should underestimate (Hussein’s) military capabilities.”

Baker did not predict how long it may take to force the reversal of Iraq’s Aug. 2 invasion of Kuwait or give any hint when an allied ground offensive might begin. But he vowed to maintain the devastating drive to oust the 500,000 Iraqi troops.

“This dangerous and brutal dictator must be stopped, and he must be stopped now,” Baker said.

On the other hand, Baker repeated the Administration’s oft-stated declaration that “we have no quarrel with the Iraqi people.”

In fact, he said, allied troops are putting themselves in danger to minimize the risk to innocent lives.

But, Baker said, Hussein, in “shocking contrast,” is engaged in a relentless assault on the values of civilization, attacking cities in Israel and Saudi Arabia, abusing prisoners of war and attempting to poison the waters of the Persian Gulf with oil.

Baker warned the Iraqi president not to make use of his stockpile of chemical and biological weapons.

“We have warned him--and he would be well advised to heed our warning--that we will not tolerate the use of such weapons. Any use of chemical and biological weapons will have the most severe consequences,” he said.

The commander of U.S. forces in the Persian Gulf War, Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf, said earlier that the Iraqis are “capable of the most heinous acts.”

“It’s sort of the mad dog syndrome,” he said in an interview broadcast today by CBS. “In a mad dog there is no predictability.”

Schwarzkopf is to meet later this week with Defense Secretary Dick Cheney and Gen. Colin L. Powell, who are being dispatched by President Bush for a firsthand report on the war’s progress.