Schwarzkopf saw combat twice - in Vietnam and Grenada - in a career that included command of units from platoon to theater size, training as a paratrooper and stints at Army staff colleges. He led his men in firefights in two tours of Vietnam and commanded all U. His chestful of medals included three Silver and three Bronze Stars for valor and two Purple Hearts for Vietnam wounds.
In Vietnam, he won a reputation as an officer who would put his life on the line to protect his troops. In one particularly deadly fight on the Batangan Peninsula, Schwarzkopf led his men through a minefield, in part by having the mines marked with shaving cream. In , Schwarzkopf was put in charge of the U. Within months, the plan was in use.
After retirement, Schwarzkopf spoke his mind on military matters. Bush, Schwarzkopf said he was unsure whether there was sufficient evidence that Iraq had nuclear weapons. Schwarzkopf and his wife, Brenda, who he married in , had two daughters and one son. Colin L. Powell, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Schwarzkopf agreed to end the war short of demolishing the Republican Guard and taking down Saddam Hussein — a decision that would dog him for the rest of his life, especially as the U.
To the end, Schwarzkopf insisted he had accepted the decision as the right one, even if he had not embraced it with enthusiasm — continuing to inflict carnage on retreating Iraqi forces for another day would have done little to upset the balance of power in the region and might have risked more American casualties, he said.
Likewise, he rejected criticism that the halt in combat had pulled the rug from underneath nascent rebellions by Iraqi Shiites in the south and Kurds in the north, leaving them vulnerable and exposed to slaughter once U. The Kurds had been battling the Iraqi regime for years, and would continue to do so, he said.
It takes a hero to be one of those men who goes into battle. Schwarzkopf was born Aug. By graduating from the West Point military academy in , he followed in the footsteps of his father, a general who served in both world wars and went on to found the New Jersey State Police, which investigated the kidnapping of the infant son of famed aviator Charles Lindbergh.
But Schwarzkopf went on to earn kudos from his own troops, at one point landing by helicopter in a minefield to rescue men trapped there. He was wounded twice and won three Silver Stars for bravery. He commanded ground troops in the invasion of Grenada in and in took over U. There, he quickly discarded the old playbooks that said the Soviet Union was the biggest threat to American interests in the Middle East. He turned his sights instead on Iraq. He often said he wished for more patience but sometimes bristled at the notion he had a bad temper.
I get angry at a principle, not a person. He is survived by his wife, Brenda; two daughters, Cynthia and Jessica; a son, Christian; a grandson; and sisters Ruth Barenbaum and Sally Schwarzkopf.
More turn to abortion pills by mail, with legality uncertain. Why quitting coal is so hard. Nations strike climate deal with coal compromise. After that proved false, he said decisions to go to war should depend on what U. He seldom spoke up during the conflict, but in late , he sharply criticized then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and the Pentagon for mistakes that included inadequate training for Army reservists sent to Iraq and for erroneous judgments about Iraq.
Schwarzkopf was born Aug. Norman Schwarzkopf Jr. The elder Schwarzkopf was named Herbert, but when the son was asked what his "H'' stood for, he would reply, "H. He also was outspoken at times, including when he described Gen. William Westmoreland, the U. As a teenager Norman accompanied his father to Iran, where the elder Schwarzkopf trained the country's national police force and was an adviser to Reza Pahlavi, the young Shah of Iran.
Young Norman studied there and in Switzerland, Germany and Italy, then followed in his father's footsteps to West Point, graduating in with an engineering degree. After stints in the U. In he volunteered for Vietnam and served two tours, first as a U. Army's Americal Division. While many career officers left military service embittered by Vietnam, Schwarzkopf was among those who opted to stay and help rebuild the tattered Army into a potent, modernized all-volunteer force.
On Jan. The six-week aerial campaign climaxed with a massive ground offensive on Feb.
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