Signs of U.S. Victory Greet Iraqi Generals

Just minutes before the Iraqi generals showed up Sunday at this forlorn airstrip for cease-fire talks, Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf issued one final order.

“I don’t want them embarrassed,” said the U.S. commander of the 28-nation, anti-Iraq coalition. “I don’t want to see pictures of them being searched.”

Wait until they get inside the well-guarded tent, Schwarzkopf directed, before putting the metal detector to them.

Thus the eight Iraqi military men were spared one final, very public loss of face at this barren airstrip that Saddam Hussein’s Republican Guard abandoned last week in the face of the hard-charging U.S. 1st Infantry Division.

Otherwise, the humiliation was complete.

The Big Red One, with support from other U.S. military elements, had arranged an extraordinary welcome for the enemy’s military leaders.

As the Iraqis were slowly driven toward the large, olive-green meeting tent near the end of the runway, they passed scores of fully manned M-1A1 tanks, Apache helicopters, Bradley Fighting Vehicles and other machines of war--all pointed in their direction.

And then there was the large plywood sign that read: “Welcome to Iraq Courtesy of the Big Red One,” the nickname for the vaunted 1st Infantry Division out of Ft. Riley, Kan.

Escorting the Iraqi convoy were more U.S. tanks and Bradley Fighting Vehicles. Two Apache attack helicopters hovered noisily above.

And as the Iraqis followed the burly Schwarzkopf into the tent to begin their talks, another Apache screamed low overhead. All around the tent, a couple of dozen stone-faced MPs, along with soldiers from the allied coalition, stood guard. All were in full combat dress, flak jackets and all, and armed with M-16 rifles. Some brandished grenade launchers to boot.

The massive show of force, said one U.S. officer, was intended “to convey the message that we control the situation.”

The Iraqis had been told to come without arms, that Schwarzkopf would guarantee their safe passage.

And so the Iraqis had arrived at the outskirts of the airfield unarmed, although no one seemed to know whether they had come from Baghdad or Basra, the wartime staging area less than 30 miles from here. The airfield is about eight miles north of Kuwait.

On their way in, they could see numerous anti-missile Patriot launchers--all pointing toward Baghdad.

Schwarzkopf reached the meeting by jetting from Riyadh to Kuwait city. At the Kuwaiti capital’s ravaged international airport, the general took off for Iraq in an armada of well-armed Blackhawk and Apache helicopters, Hellfire missiles at the ready.

He arrived just before 10 a.m., resplendent in his desert camouflage uniform, a pistol strapped to his left hip and a canteen on the right.

He went directly to his personal tent, where a red flag with four stars on it flapped vigorously in the warm desert air. From time to time, the general emerged to greet the arrival of other allied military commanders.

The meeting in the desert, Schwarzkopf said, was intended to lay the foundation for a cease-fire. But it might as well have been a full surrender, for the Iraqis agreed to every coalition demand.

Before the talks began at 11:30 a.m., Schwarzkopf told reporters: “This isn’t a negotiation. It’s purely a discussion. I don’t think there’s any question about it--I’m not here to give them anything.”

The meeting took place inside a large tent with a plywood floor.

On one side of the small, rectangular table sat Schwarzkopf and Lt. Gen. Khalid ibn Sultan, the Saudi prince who commands the joint Arab forces.

Across from them sat Lt. Gen. Sultan Hashim Ahmad, the Iraqi army deputy chief of staff who led the enemy delegation, and Lt. Gen. Salah Abbud Mahmoud, an aide. The other six members of the Iraqi delegation sat behind them.

Until the Iraqis showed up, the allied commanders had no idea whom Saddam Hussein would dispatch to the cease-fire talks. Even afterward, the allied commanders were not entirely certain. Said Lt. Gen. Peter de la Billiere, commander of the British forces in the Middle East, “I understand he was the deputy chief of staff, but I haven’t actually confirmed that.”

During the talks, De la Billiere and the commanders of the other coalition members sat behind Schwarzkopf and Khalid, as observers.

As the talks continued behind closed tent flaps, hundreds of GIs milled about, many with cameras as well as weapons in hand, intent on capturing the historic event.

Shortly before the talks broke up for good, Schwarzkopf and Ahmad emerged, followed by a few aides, and quickly ducked into Schwarkopf’s tent next door. Ten minutes later, it was all over, and Schwarzkopf escorted Ahmad to a U.S. Humvee, to be driven off the airfield.

Then Schwarzkopf and Prince Khalid held a news conference.

“I’m very happy to tell you that we agreed on all matters,” Schwarzkopf said.

He added that agreement had been reached on an immediate exchange of prisoners of war, on the release of all Kuwaiti civilians taken hostage by Iraq, and on Baghdad’s assistance in locating mines and booby-traps in the Persian Gulf as well as in Kuwait.

“We also made it very clear that upon signing of the cease-fire, but not before, all coalition forces will be drawn back from Iraqi territory that we currently occupy,” Schwarzkopf added.

“We are well on the way to a lasting peace,” he declared.

Iraq’s Ahmad had nothing public to say, upon arrival or departure.

“I’d describe (the Iraqis) as wishing to see this resolved as quickly as possible,” De la Billiere said. “There was no argument in them.”

Khalid agreed. “We have all the answers for all our questions,” he said.