68                                    U.S. MARJNES IN THE PERSIAN GULF, 199O~l99I


and there were a lot of forces here, and what the Brits had to do was go through
the breach and then fill up the block, so the main attack could continue on
without forces over here, the mechanized forces over here, attacking that main
attack in the flank.  That was a principal role of the British.     They did it
absolutely magnificently, and then they immediately followed up in the main
attack, and they're still up there fighting right now.   So they did a great job.

    Q. General, these 40,000 Kuwaiti hostages taken by the Iraqis, where are
they right now! That's quite a few people.  Are they in the line of fire ? Do we
know where they are?
    A: No, no, no, we were told, but again, this is--a lot of this is anecdotal,
okay. We were told that they were taken back to Basra. We were also told that
some of them were taken all the way back to Baghdad.          We were told 100
different reasons why they were taken.   Number one, to be a bargaining chip if
the time came when bargaining chips were needed.            Another one was for
retribution because, of course, at that time Iraq was saying that these people
were not Kuwaitis, these were citizens of Iraq and therefore, they could do
anything they wanted to with them.    So I just pray that they'll all be returned
safely before long.

    Q. General, the other day on television, the deputy Soviet foreign minister
said that they were talking again about rearming the Iraqis.   And there's some
indication that the United States, as well, believes that Iraq needs to have a
certain amount of armament to retain the balance of power. Do you feel that
your troops are in jeopardy finishing this off when already the politicians are
talking about rearming the Iraqis? How do you frel about that?
    A: Well, I certainly don't want to discuss, you know, what the deputy
foreign minister of the Soviet Union says. That's way out of my field. I would
tell you that I'm one of the first people that said at the outset that it's not in the
best interest of peace in this part of the world to destroy Iraq, and I think the
president of the United States has made it very clear from the outset that our
intention is not to destroy Iraq or the Iraqi people. I think everyone has every
right to legitimately defend themselves.  But the one thing that comes through
loud and clear over, and over, and over again to the people that have flown over
Iraq, to the pilots that have gone in against their military installations, when you
look at the war machine that they have faced, that war machine definitely was
not a defensive war machine, and they demonstrated that more than adequately
when they overran Kuwait and then called it a great military victory.

    Q. General, before starting the land phase, how much were you concerned
by the Iraqi planes coming back from Iran? And do we know what happened to
the Iraqi helicopters?
    A: As I said before, we were very concerned about the return of the Iraqi
planes from Iran, but we were prepared for it.         We have been completely
prepared-for any type of air attack-the Iraqis might throw against us, and oh, by
the way, we're still prepared for it. We're not going to let down our guard for