President Bush and Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev on Sunday vigorously condemned Iraq`s invasion of Kuwait and demanded the total withdrawal of Iraqi troops from the Persian Gulf nation. Despite the display of superpower unity, they openly differed on ways to achieve that goal.
The two leaders ended a one-day summit with a joint statement that left little doubt about their intent to resolve the Middle East crisis, though Gorbachev`s reluctance to consider a military option against his longtime ally seemed to dilute the pressure on Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
”We are united in the belief that Iraq`s aggression must not be tolerated,” the two leaders said in a joint statement. ”No peaceful international order is possible if larger states can devour their smaller neighbors.
”Nothing short of a return to the pre-Aug. 2 status of Kuwait can end Iraq`s isolation.”
Still, the U.S. appeared to have made a series of concessions to the Soviets to ensure their continued support in the international confrontation with Iraq, including a recognition by Bush that Moscow has a role in the future settlement of wider Middle East questions.
Secretary of State James A. Baker III, briefing reporters after the meeting, said that differences remain over the use of military force.
The seven hours of meetings ended with the Soviet Union continuing to stress the need to find a diplomatic solution and to avoid a military confrontation. Gorbachev said it is not necessary at this time to commit Soviet troops to the multinational forces gathering in the region.
Recognizing that some nations, particularly Iran and China, had signaled they may send food and medicine to Iraq, the two leaders agreed that shipments of humanitarian food supplies to Iraq should be permitted despite the UN economic embargo.
The two called upon nations to respect the UN economic embargo but said their nations recognize the need to make exceptions for food and medical supplies.
”The United States and the Soviet Union further agree that any such imports must be strictly monitored by the appropriate international agencies to ensure that food reaches only those for whom it is intended, with special priority being given to meeting the needs of children,” the statement said.
More Top Picks Migraine Glasses How They Actually Work
Both leaders avoided specific comment on what steps would be taken next to force Iraq to withdraw its troops from Kuwait.
Bush said later that he and Gorbachev did not discuss military options and didn`t agree on ”specific and concrete steps” to enforce the sanctions. The U.S. president said he had not asked Gorbachev to commit troops to the gulf, but he left open the possibility the Soviets may join such a force at the invitation of Saudi Arabia.
Gorbachev said that a resort to military means to resolve the confrontation would ”draw us into consequences which we can`t at this stage forecast.”
Baker said that among the other options being considered are the imposition of further sanctions on Iraq, the imposition of sanctions on nations that break the embargo, and the use of elements of the UN charter that allow the unilateral use of force to enforce the embargo.
In a one-hour joint news conference by the two leaders, Gorbachev emphasized that the Soviet cooperation with the U.S. is not linked to any future increase in trade or economic assistance.
”It would be very oversimplified and very superficial to judge that the Soviet Union could be bought for dollars,” he said.
Both leaders appeared highly conscious that their actions were aimed at resolving what has been called the first post-Cold War crisis.
”This is a test of the durability of the new approach to resolving world problems,” Gorbachev said. ”History dictates that a lot is going to depend on whether the two countries can work together.”
As he headed home aboard Air Force One, Bush said he ”couldn`t be more pleased” by his talks with Gorbachev.
Asked how the summit had changed things, Bush told reporters: ”I think he (Hussein) has been hopeful that he could divide and peel the Soviet Union away from the United States and from the rest of the world.”
Bush asked for the meeting with Gorbachev less than two weeks ago, hoping that the symbolism of the two superpower leaders joining to condemn the occupation would put additional pressure on Iraq.
Gorbachev said they wanted to ”remove the danger of an explosion.” But he also warned Hussein to display ”sobriety,” saying that if the Iraqi leader were to provoke military action ”then the result would be a tragedy first and foremost for the Iraqi people.”
Bush said that as a result of the position that the Soviets have taken during the crisis, he is prepared to press for increased U.S. financial assistance for Moscow.
He repeated that he wants to see Gorbachev`s domestic reforms succeed, but he also noted that the U.S. has economic problems of its own and is ”not in the position, operating at the enormous deficits, to write out large checks.”
On Monday, Baker and Commerce Secretary Robert Mosbacher will lead a delegation of U.S. business executives to Moscow for talks on expanding U.S. investment in the Soviet Union.
Gorbachev, acknowledging that his country is eager for increased economic cooperation with the U.S., said that such help would not affect foreign policy decisions.
Gorbachev said that some of the Soviet military advisers who were in Iraq at the time of the invasion of Kuwait had been brought home. He said about 150 advisers remain in Iraq, compared with 196 at the time of the attack on Kuwait, and that they are leaving gradually.
Bush said he told Gorbachev that questions about the continued presence of these advisers were being raised in the U.S., but the president also insisted that it ”is not a major irritant.”
A senior administration official briefing reporters after the news conference said that besides the use of military force, the only point on which the U.S. and the Soviets had disagreed was over the withdrawal of the advisers.
The official said Bush had asked Gorbachev for the immediate withdrawal of the advisers.
Although the Persian Gulf crisis was the overriding topic of the day, the two leaders also agreed to encourage arms control negotiators to move forward rapidly in their efforts to agree on reductions in conventional and nuclear arms before the end of the year.
Bush also said that Gorbachev had invited him to Moscow and that he had accepted, presumably for a summit to sign the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty. In what appeared to be a significant shift in longstanding U.S. policy, Bush conceded that the Soviet Union has a role to play in Middle Eastern affairs and hinted that the U.S. might be prepared to participate in an international conference that would focus on the decades-old Palestinian problem.
But Bush was quick to emphasize that the U.S. would not allow the wider Palestinian issue to be linked to the current crisis.