White House Daily Briefing

Press Secretary Marlin Fitzwater, speaking to reporters in the briefing room at the White House, said the U.S. had serious reservations about the peace initiative put forward by the Soviets to attempt to end the Persian Gulf war. The initiative had been drawn up by Iraq’s foreign minister Tariq Aziz and Soviet Union president Mikhail Gorbachev the previous day and presented to President Bush by President Gorbachev on the previous evening. Mr. Fitzwater said the U.S. found the peace initiative to contain conditions for peace, which is unacceptable to the coalition forces under the U.N. resolution calling for the unconditional withdrawal of Iraqi troops from Kuwait. Mr. Fitzwater also said there was no evidence that Iraq was in the process of withdrawal. In order to end the war, he said Iraq must publicly accept the conditions of the United States terms for peace: Iraq must begin withdrawal from Kuwait by 12 noon E.S.T. on February 23, 1991, and in one week Iraq must return all its force close