Defense Department News Briefing

Pete Williams spoke to reporters in the Pentagon on current events involving the Department of Defense around the world. He announced the International Red Cross had turned over the remains of four MIA’s found in Kuwait after the end of the Persian Gulf war, leaving four members of the U.S. armed forces, all pilots, remaining listed as missing in action. He also announced that U.S. personnel are conducting investigations in Kuwait for possible evidence on war crimes committed by Iraqi soldiers during their occupation of Kuwait. Mr. Williams stated that during a March 17 meeting between Gen. Johnson and his Iraqi military counterpart, one of a series of meetings between coalition forces and Iraqi military leaders to work out the details of the cease-fire in the Persian Gulf war, Gen. Johnson, in the interest of avoiding military confrontations, told Iraq it could not move its aircraft around its country. close