72                                    U.S. MARINES IN THE PERSIAN GULF, 199~1991


forces out here, and the weather conditions and everything else, I feel that we
were quite lucky that we did not have more of this type of incident.
    I would also tell you that because we had a few earlier that you know about,
that we went to extraordinary lengths to try and prevent that type of thing from
happening. It's a terrible tragedy, and I'm sorry that it happened.

    Q. Was it at night?
    A: I don't know. I don't believe so because I believe the information I have,
that a forward air controller was involved in directing that, and that would indi-
cate that it was probably during the afternoon. But it was when there was very,
very close combat going on out there in that area.

    Q: General, the United Nations General Assembly was talking about peace.
As a military man, you look at your challenge, and you can get some satisfac-
tion out of having achieved it.  Is there some fear on your part that there will
be a cease-fire that will keep you from fi'lfiThng the assignment that you have?
Is your assignment as a military man separate from the political goals of the
    A: Do I fear a cease-fire?

    Q. Do you fear that you will not be able to accomplish your end, that there
will be some political pressure brought on the campaign?
    A: I think I've made it very clear to everybody that I'd just as soon the war
had never started.  And I'd just as soon never have lost a single life out there.
That was not our choice.
    We've accomplished our mission, and when~the decision makers come to the
decision that there should be a cease-fire, nobody will be happier than me.

    Q:  General, we were told today that an A-JO returning from a mission
discovered and destroyed 16 Scuds. Is that a fact, and where were they located?
    A: Most of those Scuds were located in western Iraq. I would tell you that
we went into this with some intelligence estimates that I think I have since come
to believe were either grossly inaccurate, or our pilots are lying through their
teeth, and I choose to think the former rather than the latter, particularly since
many of the pilots have backed up what they've been saying by film and that
sort of thing.
    But we went in with a very, very low number of these mobile erector
launchers that we thought the enemy had.    However, at one point we bad a
report that they may have had 10 times as many. I would tell you though, that
last night the pilots had a very, very successful afternoon and night as far as the
mobile erector launchers, most of them in western Iraq were reportedly used
against Israel.