Gulf War Ended at the Right Time, U.S. Ex-general Tells UJA Leaders

The Persian Gulf War was stopped at the right time, a recently retired U.S. Army general said here Tuesday, defending a decision by the White House that many Israelis took issue with.

They thought the war should have continued until Saddam Hussein was removed from power in Baghdad, one way or another.

But according to Lt. Gen. Thomas Kelly, the decision to end the war after the liberation of Kuwait was right for the simple reason that all the objectives of the war had been achieved.

The objective was to regain Persian Gulf stability, not regional stability in the Middle East. “To have gone into Baghdad would have meant more casualties, much more money, and we would have bought Iraq’s problems,” Kelly said.

The general has been on the lecture circuit since his retirement. In that capacity, he joined the United Jewish Appeal’s Prime Minister’s Mission presently in Israel to observe the absorption of Soviet and Ethiopian immigrants.

The mission is limited to the UJA’s largest contributors, each of whom made a personal commitment in excess of $100,000 toward the 1992 annual campaign.

Kelly spoke at length to the UJA leaders on the Gulf War, during which he became widely known for his daily news briefings.

He predicted Hussein would not stay in power long. Sooner or later, the Iraqi people will realize the calamity that he brought upon them and will depose him, Kelly said.

“Iraq will not rebuild itself as long as Saddam Hussein is in power,” he said.

One reason Hussein will be overthrown, Kelly said, is the destruction of his capacity to wage war and Iraq’s technological inability to rebuild itself.

Thanks to the Gulf War, said Kelly, the world has been spared the threat of Hussein using nuclear and chemical warfare, threatening global stability.

Kelly also praised the Patriot missile, which, he said, “very possibly changed the course of the war” by keeping Israel from entering the conflict.