Retired U.S. General Norman Schwarzkopf, who led
Operation Desert Storm - the international coalition into Kuwait in
1991 to oust Iraqi forces from the country - died Thursday in Florida
at age 78.
Schwarzkopf, one of the best-known military officers in the US,
was a "brilliant strategist and inspiring leader," US Secretary of
Defense Leon Panetta said. Panetta praised Schwarzkopf for 35 years
of service that "left an indelible imprint on the United States
military and on the country."
Noting Schwarzkopf's service in three conflicts - the Vietnam war,
Grenada and the first Gulf war - Panetta said in the latter "General
Schwarzkopf's skilled leadership of that campaign liberated the
Kuwaiti people and produced a decisive victory for the allied
coalition."
The cause of death was not immediately available.
The decision to go to war in the Persian Gulf came during the
presidency of George HW Bush. In a statement from Houston, where he
is in hospital, Bush called Schwarzkopf "one of the great military
leaders of his generation."
Colin Powell, who was chairm of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during
Operation Desert Storm, remembered Schwarzkopf Friday as "a great
patriot and a great soldier." Powell said, "He was a good friend of
mine, a close buddy. I will miss him."
In the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections Scwharzkopf supported
President George W Bush, who also issued a statement Friday, saying
"Barbara and I mourn the loss of a true American patriot and one of
the great military leaders of his generation."
Schwarzkopf, an imposing figure who stood more than 187
centimetres tall and weighed more than 109 kilogrammes, emerged from
the Gulf with the nickname Stormin' Norman. His so-called left hook
strategy of going into Kuwait behind Iraqi forces was widely credited
with a rapid routing of the Iraqi forces in just four days.
Prior to the war Schwarzkopf was a four-star general who commanded
the US Central Command in Florida. In that post he oversaw military
activities in 19 countries in the Middle East and Africa. He also
developed a strategy for the defence of the oil fields in the Persian
Gulf against a hypothetical invasion by Iraq.
In August 1990 when Iraqi President Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait,
those plans became the basis for Operation Desert Storm. Schwarzkopf
later supported the invasion of Iraq in 2003, which led to the ouster
of Saddam.
Schwarzkopf, born August 22, 1934, in Trenton, New Jersey,
attended a military school as a boy, and from 1946 to 1950 he lived
in Iran, Switzerland, Germany and Italy with his father, who was a
decorated Army officer. He graduate from the US Military Academy at
West Point in 1956.
In Vietnam, Schwarzkopf served two tours, first as an adviser to a
South Vietnamese airborne division in 1965, then as a battalion
commander in his second tour in 1969-70. He was wounded twice and won
three Silver Stars for bravery.
In recent years he was out of the limelight, but he served on
corporate boards, promoted prostate-cancer awareness and raised money
for charities that help abused or abandoned children.
Schwarzkopf and his wife, Brenda, had three children.
