Summary

Footage Information

CONUS Archive
335913
Dick Cheney / American Legion Conference (1991)
Washington, DC
TVD
2/27/1991
14:16
7:39
Dick Cheney, Secretary of Defense
Dick Cheney speaking at conference
During appearance at an American Legion conference, Cheney remarks on the Persian Gulf War.
(SUGGESTED TRANSCRIPT OF AUDIO) 00:24 Few days ago or actually several months ago, Saddam Hussein promised that he would conduct the mother of all battles. And obviously it looks like what's happened is that the mother of all battles is turned into the mother of all retreats. 00:48 The US and allied forces are on the verge of, I think complete and total victory in terms of liberating Kuwait and destroying Saddam Hussein's offensive military capability in within the next short period of time, General Schwarzkopf will the last several weeks. The situation as we meet is that there are reports now out of Baghdad that the Iraqi government has reconsidered and that they now are prepared to accept some more of the UN Security Council resolutions. They have not yet said that they are prepared to accept all of the UN Security Council resolutions. And if you have been as appalled as I have at the destruction and devastation that occurred in Kuwait City that we're now seeing as as coalition forces liberate Kuwait City, then I think everybody understands how enormously important it is that the world insist that Saddam Hussein be held responsible for the damage and the destruction that he's imposed upon his neighbors and that Iraq must be made to pay reparations for the grief that they brought up on such a large part of the world. And that will continue. 02:10 That will continue to be a key part of our requirements. As the President's made clear, we want to wrap up this operation just as quickly as possible. We are hopeful that that time is only a matter of a few days away. But even accurate representation, terms of miscalculation, I don't think there's any question about what Saddam Hussein is one of history's bigger losers. I can't think of a decision that he made right. In the last several months 02:50 he miscalculated when he took Kuwait, he miscalculated the depth of the opposition to him. I think he probably believed the Saudis would never agree to invite the United States in I think he questioned whether or not the US had the determination to stop his aggression and then roll it back. I think He misjudged the depth of world opinion. He clearly misjudged the relative capability of our military forces. I think he assumed from a military standpoint that we would go charging right smack on the ground right straight into the heart of his defenses in Kuwait. And of course, we had no intention of doing that whatsoever. I think he got ready to fight the Iran Iraq war all over again. And he ignored his flanks and he had absolutely no understanding of the capacity of US air power. And then most recently, when he was given opportunity, after opportunity after opportunity to reverse the situation to withdraw the January 15 deadline which he failed to take the deadline that we sat for last Saturday noon, which he failed to take. And And even today, now with his forces in auto retreat with we estimate this morning, the briefing I got before I came over the daily operational briefing is out of the some 42 divisions that we credited him with in the Kuwaiti theater of operations. That is in southern Iraq and Kuwait when the ground war started a few days ago out of those 42 divisions, and he's got maybe five or six left that the others have been rendered, as they say in the Pentagon combat ineffective. The system of what we do that has made our force so effective as contrasted with there's art in the tank battles we've had the last few days where US tanks have gone up against t 72. As a frontline Soviet tank. Our people have consistently, consistently time after time after time defeated them, partly because of the quality of the M one Abrams tank, partly because of the sight we have on it and the range of the gun on it, but partly also because they're working in conjunction with Apache helicopters firing Hellfire missiles standing off outside the range of the of the Soviet built tank, partly because we've totally dominated the air partly because we've got artillery and they don't partly because we had good intelligence partly because of our mobility, but most especially because of the quality of our force. I would guess, though, that, that the market for Soviet military hardware in the next few years is probably going to be a buyers market. We've conveyed to the Iraqis is insisting that there be an immediate exchange of prisoners, as soon as the conflict is over with as soon as there's a ceasefire, that they must immediately return all the prisoners that they hold. And I would expect that we will be able to get a full accounting for our people, both those who were are held prisoner as well as those that are unaccounted for. That's going to be a high priority item. For us. It's something we feel very deeply about, and something that I know the President will make, put right at the top of his agenda. Placing Emeril M1 Abrams tanks hasn't arisen yet, because I don't think the Iraqis have destroyed a single tank. We as of as of last night, we had two that had been damaged that I knew of. But I wasn't aware and I'm not aware of any Abrams tanks that have been lost yet. Well, comment has to do with the way in which the President has basically guided the operation. The fact is he set a specific guidance for us gave us overall direction in terms of what he wanted us to do. And he gave us a definable military objective. And then he let us go do it. And it was his determination to see to it that once you engage the military power of the United States, once you send one man or woman in harm's way that you send absolutely everything you've got to make certain that there's only one possible outcome that you deal with the quickest possible time. And you do it at the lowest possible cost in terms of casualties. It's what we've referred to as the don't screw around school of military strategy.
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Keywords

Desert Storm
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