Retired Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf, who
topped an illustrious military career by commanding the U.S.-led international
coalition that drove Saddam Hussein's forces out of Kuwait in 1991 but kept a
low public profile in controversies over the second Gulf War against Iraq, died
Thursday. He was 78.
Schwarzkopf died in Tampa, Fla., where
he had lived in retirement, according to a U.S. official, who was not
authorized to release the information publicly and spoke on condition of
anonymity.
Former President George H.W. Bush, who
remains in the intensive care unit at Methodist Hospital, released a statement
on the passing of Schwarzkopf.
"Barbara and I mourn the loss of a
true American patriot and one of the great military leaders of his generation.
A distinguished member of that Long Gray Line hailing from West Point, General
Norm Schwarzkopf, to me, epitomized the 'duty, service, country' creed that has
defended our freedom and seen this great Nation through our most trying
international crises. More than that, he was a good and decent man — and a dear
friend. Barbara and I send our
condolences to his wife Brenda and his wonderful family."
A much-decorated combat soldier in
Vietnam, Schwarzkopf was known popularly as "Stormin' Norman" for a
notoriously explosive temper.
He served in his last military
assignment in Tampa as commander-in-chief of U.S. Central Command, the
headquarters responsible for U.S. military and security concerns in nearly 20
countries from the eastern Mediterranean and Africa to Pakistan.
Source: Politico. Photo by the U.S.
Army.
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