By Ann Devroy and Dan Balz
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, February 25, 1991; Page A11

Post time line

Meeting with congressional leaders at the White House on Tuesday, talk of Soviet peace plans in the air, President Bush again heard cautionary advice on how he should conduct the final stages of the Persian Gulf War.

Senate Minority Leader Robert J. Dole (R-Kan.), Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Claiborne Pell (D-R.I.) and others spoke up to support the commander in chief but also to suggest that the air war against Iraq should go on longer, sources said.

Bush made no effort to disguise his intentions. According to those present, he said the war was "on schedule," the ground invasion "imminent." It was no idle comment. About a week earlier, Bush had approved an attack plan that called for the invasion to begin at 8 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 23, a time recommended by Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf, the commander of Operation Desert Storm. Only a massive withdrawal by Iraqi forces could stop it.

According to senior officials who briefed reporters on the decision-making involved in launching the ground war, the national security directive Bush signed on Jan. 15 was the basis for the air and ground phases of the campaign to liberate Kuwait.

The day after the United States went to war, Bush told the American people the battle was proceeding "on schedule." With his eyes fixed on the battle plan drawn up by the Pentagon late last year, over the next 37 days Bush displayed a single-minded commitment to the goals and schedule he and the allies had set despite the distractions of diplomatic efforts, anxiety over possible Iraqi chemical weapons attacks and the furor over Iraq's Scud missile attacks on Israel.

Bush, who conducts foreign policy in total secrecy and then springs surprises, in fact telegraphed his moves a half dozen times. Last Sunday he said Kuwait would be liberated "very, very soon." On Feb. 11, after Defense Secretary Richard B. Cheney and Gen. Colin L. Powell, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, returned from the Persian Gulf region and got Bush's approval for the ground war, Bush told reporters: "We are the ones that are going to set the time for how this war . . . the time for any action that is taken. We are not going to suit somebody else's timetable, whether it is in Baghdad or anyplace else."

Last Monday, with the Soviets suddenly involved in negotiations with Baghdad, the White House issued a statement noting the allied military plan "remains on schedule." On Thursday, after the Soviets announced Iraq had agreed to withdraw, the White House separated its schedule from the Soviet efforts and White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said, "There is no change at this point in our schedule for prosecution of the war."

According to Bush associates, the president rarely wavered from a personal belief that, as one official put it, "the war would have to be prosecuted to its logical military end." And Bush was unable to comprehend why Iraqi President Saddam Hussein acted as if he did not believe the U.S. threat. Only a week ago, Bush lamented, "As I said before, it's very very difficult to read somebody who is doing these horrible things. . . . I just can't predict him."

Bush was described on Saturday as "somber, very serious" but "confident." The same adjectives connoting confidence were used yesterday by White House aides to portray a leader in command. One senior official said a major reason Bush has been as seemingly unfazed by these momentous days of war is that there have been relatively few "nasty surprises."

For example, Bush has been told repeatedly in recent days by his briefers that the Iraqi Army is virtually on the ropes, pounded by air, low on food and supplies. "What seems to be happening is exactly what we've been told for days might happen," one official said yesterday. "Obviously, you never know what will actually happen, but the reason no one seems crazed is that today is not an overwhelming surprise."

In the days before he signed the Jan. 15 national security directive, Bush argued the moral case for the war with religious leaders, invited the Rev. Billy Graham to the White House and told his aides he had come to peace with his military decisions over the long Christmas holidays at Camp David. No similar signs of introspection were evident in the days leading to the ground war because, aides said, the original decision envisioned a military conflict that would require it.

The battle plan included about four weeks of aerial attack followed by a ground attack after mid-February. When Bush sent Cheney to the gulf on Feb. 9, the assignment was to assess whether the ground phase should proceed "on schedule," an official said. A few days were added to the original date for launching the ground assault because of bad weather that slowed down the air attack and the Iraqi Scud launchings that required more air attacks than originally planned.

Fitzwater said Cheney and Powell returned Feb. 11 with "a general plan for the conduct of the ground war" that Bush approved that day. That plan included a "window" for the launch of the ground war that included Saturday, Feb. 23, Fitzwater said. That was two days later than the date Pentagon officials had told the White House was the earliest the military logistically could be ready to invade.

More than a week ago, before the Soviets began their final negotiating effort with Iraq, Schwarzkopf recommended Feb. 23 as ideal. Officials said that from then, the military had a green light for Saturday that would only turn red at the hand of the president.

The only potential complication came when Moscow announced Thursday that the Iraqis were prepared to withdraw from Kuwait. Bush's response was to issue an ultimatum to Saddam to begin his withdrawal by noon Saturday. When the Iraqis rejected the deadline, and Bush issued a statement saying "military action continues on schedule," Schwarzkopf knew he had all the authority he needed to move.

With Bush at Camp David Saturday and the noon deadline passed, White House officials put on an air of studied normality. But throughout the afternoon, signs pointed to the imminent invasion.

As allied forces attacked, the White House announced Bush would depart Camp David at 9 p.m. and speak briefly at 10 p.m. About 9:30 p.m., Marine One, the presidential helicopter, whirred over the treetops toward the South Lawn of the White House through the cold, moonlit sky. Standing on the driveway was Bush's inner circle.

Bush descended the steps, saluted the military aide waiting at the bottom and started across the lawn, followed by Secretary of State James A. Baker III, who had been with him at Camp David. Vice President Quayle walked out to greet him, and the men headed into the Oval Office. "What have we heard?" Bush asked, 90 minutes after the invasion had begun.