The commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East said today there will be no war unless Iraq starts one, a move he said would be ``an awfully stupid mistake.'' Army Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf, in his first news conference since moving his command post to Saudi Arabia, repeatedly ducked questions about specific U.S. military options under consideration. But he said the United States was not looking to start hostilities. ``There's not going to be any war unless the Iraqis attack,'' Schwarzkopf told reporters after spending the day visiting American troops in northeast Saudi Arabia. Schwarzkopf called the Aug. 2 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait ``not only a mugging but a rape.'' He said said Iraqi forces in Iraq and Kuwait appeared to be in defensive posture but were capable of taking the offense. ``They certainly have the capability to attack, although I think if they were to do so it would be an awful stupid mistake,'' Schwarzkopf said. The general glanced at the floor before answering a question about how much impact Iraq's holding of American and other Western hostages had on his military planning. ``I would tell you that obviously I am just as concerned as anyone else about every single human life,'' Schwarzkopf said. But, he added: ``What I have to do is plan the military component and not concern myself with the hostages.'' He refused to answer a question about whether his early declaration about war prospects meant that the United States would not make an offensive push to drive Iraqi forces from Kuwait. He also refused to say whether the military was aiding the Kuwaiti resistance. There have been reports that Army special operations forces are helping the resistance movement. There has been speculation that the United States would seek a permanent military foothold in Saudi Arabia regardless of the outcome of the current staandoff _ a delicate subject because of anti-American sentiment in parts of the Arab world. When asked about such prospects, Schwarzkopf said: ``We have no intention of establishing a permanent base in Saudi Arabia.'' Schwarzkopf laughed when asked who was in charge of the multinational forces. ``This is not NATO,'' he said. ``This is not a single command and there doesn't need to be.'' The United States has by far the biggest military presence in Saudi Arabia and many nations that have committed forces to the region have not yet sent them, or sent only small contingents. Asked by a French reporter if France should send more forces, Scwarzkopf said only: ``I would like all the help I can get.'' Schwarzkopf is a bear of a man and can be gruff at times. But he was grandfatherly during stops at several U.S. staging areas, filling the troops in on the latest developments in the crisis and promising them more newspapers and radios. After a briefing by commanders of the 101st Airborne Division's air assault brigade, Schwarzkopf walked into a garage area and immediately encountered Staff Sgt. John Frady, of Sylva, N.C., a member of a maintenance platoon who was in the process of receiving a haircut. The general asked him: ``Ready to do the job?'' Frady answered: ``Ready to go to war, sir.'' He next visited the 354th Tactical Fighter Wing from Myrtle Beach, S.C., telling them the arrival of the wing's A-10 tank-killers had made him more confident of the deterrent power of the U.S. deployment. He said the United States was there to defend Saudi Arabia but ready to fight back if Saddam Hussein ordered Iraqi forces to invade the kingdom. ``Let's face it, if he dares come across that border and comes down here, I'm completely confident that we're going to kick his butt when he gets here,'' Schwarzkopf said. Speaking to a group of officers in an air-conditioned tent at the same airstrip, Schwarzkopf said. ``Every now and then people have to go to war and ask themselves whether they are on the right side or the wrong side. There is no doubt that we are on the right side now, because the whole world is telling us that.'' His next and last stop was a Marine support camp in northeast Saudi Arabia, where Schwarzkopf received yet another briefing and visited with Marines digging a sandbag-lined foxhole. ``Our attitude has to be to be in this for the long haul,'' Schwarzkopf told a small group of Marines who had asked him about the latest developments in the crisis. One Marine said he had heard a rumor about the C-5 crash in Germany this week. Schwarzkopf told the group the transport indeed had crashed, killing 13 people. As the Marines shook their heads, Schwarzkopf said: ``That's 13 more counts against Saddam Hussein.''
