Chicago Tribune from Chicago, Illinois • 1

I Smm wSbsm E9EE 144th Yr-No. MSCNeigo Triton 78oni JiMs President suspends offensive, lays down cease-fire terms 'Our military objectives are met' A i if )f Agenc. Frinc-PrnM photo Bush: "Kuwait Is once more in the hands of Kuwaitis." By George de Lama and Timothy J. McNulty Chicago Tribune WASHINGTON Declaring "this war is now behind us," a triumphant President Bush announced Wednesday night that he had ordered the suspension of all offensive combat operations against Iraqi forces in the Persian Gulf. In a national television address from the Oval Office just four days after launching a decisive land assault to retake Kuwait, Bush reported a crushing allied military victory over Iraq and suggested again that the Iraqi people should depose their leader, Saddam Hussein.

"Kuwait is liberated. The Iraqi army is defeated. Our military objectives are met," Bush said. Kuwait is once more in the hands of Kuwaitis in control of their own destiny." Bush told the American people and a global audience that the United States would redouble efforts to secure a lasting peace in the Middle East, and he instructed Secretary of State James A. Baker III to travel to the region next week for talks with key allies.

The president's coming six weeks after the start of the gulf war, marked an end to America's, "largest single military undertaking since World War II and one of the most sweeping and successful combat operations in mil- Agonc Fftnce-PresM photo A Kuwait City resident exults Wednesday asudi soldiers roll pastJKuwaitis by the thousands poured into the streets to welcome the allies. Gush's conditions for ccaso-f iro Olraq must release immediately all coalition prisoners of war, third country nationals and the remains of all who have fallen. Iraq must release all Kuwaiti detainees. Iraq also must Inform Kuwaiti authorities of the location and nature of all land and sea mines. Iraq must comply fully with all relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions.

-i imC ji itary history. The 42-day gulf war left in shambles Hussein's dream of swallowing Kuwait and projecting his See Bush, pg. 13 i Along battle front, allies hold their fire W' I i i I''--- I DOO pool photo vK AP The sign speaks for itself as U.S. Marines roll into Kuwait City airport Wednesday. Kuwait City is liberated, presidents honk, hug and cheer By Storer H.

Rowley and Nicholas M. Horrock Chicago Tribune EASTERN SAUDI ARABIA Allied armies freed Kuwait on Wednesday as the best and most powerful U.S. armored divisions routed elements of Iraq's Republican Guard in a tank battle west of the Iraqi city of Basra. As ordered, the allied troops suspended hostilities and took up defensive positions exactly 100 hours after the start of the ground war to liberate Kuwait Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's soldiers continued to surrender in huge numbers. At least 80,000 Iraqis were prisoners of war by Wednesday afternoon and many thousands more were expected to give up as allied troops reached their bunkers and fortifications.

American military sources said Thursday morning that the remnants of Iraq's forces were being Full coverage of the war In the gulf on pages 5 to 13. allowed to pass through allied lines untouched after the cease-fire started at 8 a.m. (11 p.m. Wednesday Chicago time). "If they come up to our positions and do not then our policy now is to allow them to pass with their weapons," an American source said.

However, there wasn't much left to head back: At least 40 of Iraq's 42 divisions had been "rendered ineffective," leaving "remnants of one and a half, maybe two divisions," said the source. There was still some fighting going on up until the final ceasefire hour in northern Kuwait and Iraq. There, may be isolated instances of conflict after the deadline, the source said, but See Gulf, pg. 11 Stephen Franklin Chicago Tribune I KUWAIT CITY The air may be filthy with billowing black smoke from oil fires set by the 'departing Iraqis, but no matter this is a city shaking with wild celebration. Machine-gun and rifle fire rocked this capital Wednesday as people excitedly marked their liberation by Kuwaiti, Saudi and American forces.

Just south of the city, brilliant flames leaped skyward from fires the Iraqis had set The blazes seemed to be burning out of control and light from the setting sun, filtered through the smoke, left an eerie dark-red haze over the city, which has been darkened for the last two days by power failures. Proudly waving Kuwaiti flags and pictures of the ruling emir, Sheik Jaber Ahmed al-Sabah, thousands poured into the streets throughout the day and light-headedly drove around the -city. They honked their horns, hugged each other, screamed, cheered for their small nation's regained dignity and gathered in the middle of busy highways strewn with empty bullet casings, oblivious to the traffic. At the sight of any Americans or Westerners. Kuwaitis impulsively stopped their cars and approached to thank them for liberating their country from almost seven months of brutal Iraqi rule.

"We thank you, Mr. Bush, for coming to our OOO pool photo vu AP An American Marine aims his rifle during a house-to-house search in an abandoned Kuwaiti town Sunday. rescue," hollered an elderly Kuwaiti to a group of American journalists as he drove by. The fighting that swept into the heart of this city on Tuesday continued until late Wednesday as allied and Iraqi tanks battled near the city's international airport "It was so tough, you couldn't tell the players without a score card," said an American soldier who witnessed the battle on the city's See Kuwait, pg. 11 In 18 wards, it's down to 1 on 1 for alderman Schwarzkopf details allies' textbook triumph Aspen: Chicago's elite transformed this winter playground, adding glitz to pow- der.

In Tempo. ft) Editor's nbts: Extra of Thursday's Tribune dent Bush's speech on the Gulf War. Some copies do not con-tab certain feature sections. By Robert Davis A record 18 Chicago aldermanic seats were thrown into runoff elections by Tuesday's vote, promising to keep the campaign season alive and kicking for another five weeks. With Mayor Richard Daley's jopsided victory in the Democratic pnmaryvirtually assuring his election to a second term in the April general election, political attention will now turn to the runoff contests scattered throughout the city's SO wards.

1 Twelve of the races involve incumbent aldermen, including some of the best known City Council members, and the other six involve candidates making their first aldermanic bids. Daley's expected landslide victory apparently kept the voter turnout low, a boon to incum bents or annointed successors who counted on the Democratic Party machinery to give them victories. Dorothy Tillman narrowly averted a runoff election against former Aid. Tyrone Kenner in' the South Side's 3rd Ward. Chicago Board of Election Commissioners' figures showed she managed to scrape together S0.8 percent of the vote cast, giving her an outright victory.

And Aid. Lemuel Austin (34th), the only consistent black backer of Daley in the City Council, managed to eke out a slim victory over former heavyweight boxer Ernie Terrell on the South Side, late election board totals showed. Along the city's northern lakefront, the runoffs are already being billed as a test of Daley's See Runoffs, pg. 14 By David Evans Chicago Tribune SAUDI ARABIA To defeat the Iraqi army, U.S. and allied forces executed a huge out-flanking movement to sidestep Iraqi de-' fenses and to squeeze the Republi-.

can Guards between two forces that engaged them in a massive tank battle. "The gates are closed," Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf, commander of allied forces in the gulf war, said Wednesday. In his first detailed briefing on' the conduct of the ground war that began Feb.

24, Schwarzkopf described a massive battle in which allied fighting spirit and technology have killed thousands of Iraqi troops, many of them found lying heaped in bombed-out trenches, and knocked out or cap- tured two-thirds of the 4,200 Iraqi tanks deployed in the Kuwait Schwarzkopf said Wednesday that the allied strategy was very much like a football play, in which the air campaign set up the conditions for the running game to succeed, "When we took out the Iraqi air force, we took out his ability to see what we were doing down here in Saudi Arabia," Schwarzkopf said. "Once we had taken out his eyes, we did what could best be described as the 'Hail Mary play in football. When the quarterback steps up behind the center, and all of a sudden every single one of his receivers goes way out to one flank and they all run down See Battle plan, pg. 10 .1 ffffiffirr' Chicago and Vicinity: Thursday: Partly sunny, warmer, high 45 degrees. Thursday night Cloudy, mild; low -35.

Friday: Cloudy, mild, rain or snow likely, high 45. The, national weather report is in Sec 2, pg. 9. ft 4.