RETIRED ARMY OFFICERS NOT SURPRISED BY ATTACK

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- The president's action to move to obliterate Iraqi forces inside Kuwait was a difficult but justified one, say two retired Cape Girardeau military officers.

The ground invasions, agree Col. Henry H. Gerecke and Lt. Col. Jack Grisham, both retired Army officers, predictably began in fast fashion despite some anticipated resistance by entrenched Iraqi troops.

Military officials from Saudi Arabia said that allied troops sped north into Kuwait, west into Iraq and dropped by parachute into occupied territory Sunday as the U.S.-led coalition opened its massive assault on Iraqi forces.

"I've found that when President Bush makes a statement he carries it out and I approve of that," said Gerecke, former police chief here and a 35-year-veteran of the nation's military.

"When the president stated that Iraqi troops would have to pull out of Kuwait by noon Saturday, I felt quite simply that was it. Again, I approve," Gerecke said.

"This war is so different from that of Vietnam. Here, Bush has given the military full authority to do what has to be done to get the job done," he added. Although Gerecke, like most Americans, is reluctant to pinpoint a time frame for the war's end, he believes it will be a "short haul" rather than a long one.

"I believe the ground assault will move quickly at first, meet some resistance ... and will finally slow down, using a balance of firepower from land, air and sea to surround the Iraqis."

Gerecke said late Saturday night that he expected to see large numbers of prisoners taken as the allied forces move deeper into Kuwait. Gerecke said did not consider himself alone in that belief. More than 8,000 military police have been sent to the Persian Gulf since Saddam Hussein moved into Kuwait in August of 1990.

"When I had a command in Viet Nam, we had only 3,500 military police there at that time," said Gerecke. The former police chief's prediction is already being realized. Thousands of Iraqi troops surrendered to allied forces on Sunday.

"There is no doubt in my mind it is a justifiable conflict and we will win it," added Gerecke.

Grisham, a history teacher at Cape Central High School and a 28-year veteran of the active military much of it in the airborne division saw action in World War II, Korea and Vietnam.

He agrees that the time was right to start the ground troops, and is confident that the Persian Gulf war will not linger.

"I don't think it will be a long campaign," he said. "I have no doubt as to the outcome of this action. I feel that everything in this war at least to its present point has been done right."

Grisham added that he feels Saddam "never realized it, but from day one, there has been no possibility of his accomplishing any of his goals. Saddam, and a lot of other people, have misjudged our president."

He added that every move had been well planned.

"We haven't jumped into anything unprepared," he said. "We waited until all of our aerial equipment and people were ready before starting bombing raids, and we waited until we had our ground troops and plenty of equipment in place before launching the ground attack."

Glued to the television set over the weekend, as were most Americans, Grisham said he finds credibility in the analyses of former military officers who are working with the major television networks.

"I felt that there would be broad flanking with the allied troops blocking the Iraqi forces and trapping them in Kuwait," said Grisham. "I think we'll continue to strangle Iraqi's hold on Kuwait, hammering them with more air power and continuing to follow with ground power."