CBS Evening News - 1991-02-23
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Read a transcript preview of “CBS Evening News - 1991-02-23” from malgent, uploaded on 2026-01-21.
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Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)
[0:00] Washington.
[0:05] >> Baghdad's rejection of the Bush
[0:07] ultimatum means a ground war could start
[0:10] at any moment.
[0:16] This is the CBS Evening News. Bob
[0:18] Schaefer reporting.
[0:20] Good evening. Everything apparently is
[0:22] in place tonight for a ground war of
[0:25] epic proportion in the Persian Gulf.
[0:27] David Martin, our Pentagon
[0:28] correspondent, reports the president has
[0:30] already given commanders in the field
[0:32] the authority they need to move into
[0:34] Iraq in Kuwait. Let's go to David now
[0:37] for the details. David. Bob. Even before
[0:40] the noon deadline expired, President
[0:43] Bush had issued the order to launch a
[0:45] ground offensive if Iraq failed to
[0:47] comply with the terms of his ultimatum
[0:49] for an immediate and unconditional
[0:51] withdrawal from Kuwait. Now that the
[0:53] deadline has expired, the timing of the
[0:56] offensive is up to General Norman
[0:58] Schwarzkoff, the commander in the field.
[1:00] And that means it could come literally
[1:02] at any moment.
[1:04] >> What What would affect the timing?
[1:07] >> A number of things from the readiness of
[1:10] allied forces to the state of the Iraqi
[1:12] army down to the weather. Today, the
[1:14] Central Command issued new estimates of
[1:17] the number of tanks, armored personnel
[1:19] carriers, and artillery that have been
[1:21] destroyed by the past 38 days of
[1:23] bombing. And taken together, they show
[1:25] that about 40% of the Iraqi armored
[1:28] forces in the Kuwaiti theater have been
[1:31] destroyed. Now, we have these reports
[1:33] that Iraq has started a scorched earth
[1:36] campaign, setting oil wells on fire and
[1:38] executing civilians. And that has got to
[1:41] lend a new urgency to the liberatio