File: 082696_d50028_144.txt
Page: 144
Total Pages: 274

in parts of Iraq, if Soviet diplomacy fails to avert the land war which officials maintain is imminent
(i~ii~on Times, February 20, p. 1.)

February 20
Wednesday ---In a series of sharp encounters with Iraqi ground fdrces, American troops destroy
large numbers of enemy tanks and howitzers and take more than 450 prisoners of war. In one of the
skirmishes, four Army helicopters descend on a complex of 13 Iraqi bunkers and unleash a devastating
barrage; large numbers of Iraqi soldiers emerge and surrender. (New York Times, February 21, p.
Al.)

The U.S. and Britain tell Moscow that they find its proposal for a cease-fire unacceptable because
it lacks a tight timetable for Iraq's withdrawal from Kuwait and does not compel Baghdad to accept all
Security Council resolutions on the crisis. (New York Times, February 2-1, p. Al.)

Baghdad radio announces that Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz will be sent to Moscow "soon to convey
the leadership's response to the Soviet proposal." The broadcast gives no hint of what the response will
be. (New York Times, February 21, p. Al3.)

---India, which joined the U.N. Security Council in January for a two year term, circulates the first
draft of a resolution callIng for the Security Council, rather than the United States and its allies, to be
responsible for designing any wider post war settlement. (New York Timc~, February 21, p. Al:~.)

Grenades are hurled at the British, Italian and Turkish embassies in Iran in attacks apparently linIc~
to the U.S.-led war against Iraq. (Washington Times, February 21, p. 9.)

The Pentagon `-s Defense Technology Security Agency reveals that Iraq has received night vision
devices from Hughes Mrcraft Co., which thought it was sending them tc the Dutch armed forces.
(Washington Times, February 21, p. 2.)

February 21
Thursday --- Moscow announces that President Saddam Hussein has given a "positive" response to
the Soviet peace plan and has agreed to withdraw - from Kuwait. The seven-point Soviet proposal
contains the following key elements:

1. Iraq agrees to a "full and unconditional withdrawal" from Kuwait;

2. The withdrawal would begin on the second day after fighting stop~~(i;

3. The withdrawal would be completed in a fixed period. The length of this period was not
specified;

4. The U.N. economic sanctions against Iraq would lapse when Iraq had withdrawn two-thirds of
its forces now in Kuwait;

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