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This war is now behind us.
Ahead of us is the difficult task of securing a potentially historic peace.
President Bush declares victory and a temporary ceasefire in the Gulf War.
Earlier, in the desert of southern Iraq, Allied forces won the biggest tank battle since the Second World War.
This is NBC News at Sunrise.
Good morning everyone, I'm Margaret Larson.
The message flashed in New York City's Times Square said it all.
There may be some mopping up yet to do on the battlefield and on the diplomatic front,
but for all intents and purposes, the war in the Gulf has ended.
A smashing victory for the Allies, a crushing and embarrassing defeat for Iraq.
But President Bush did not gloat last night when he went on national television to announce a ceasefire
and to lay down conditions for an Iraqi surrender.
NBC's Jim Miklashevsky is at the White House now with more. Good morning, Jim.
Good morning, Margaret.
It was exactly six weeks ago to the minute that President Bush had announced that the U.S. had started the war against Iraq.
When he went on television again, this time to declare victory.
Kuwait is liberated. Iraq's army is defeated. Our military objectives are met.
White House officials say the President had become convinced that the war was over,
that Iraq's military backbone had been broken, and he wanted the fighting stopped to avoid unnecessary killing.
The temporary ceasefire would become formal in 48 hours
if Iraq releases all POWs and Kuwaiti detainees, informs Kuwait of the location of all land and sea mines,
and fully complies with all 12 U.N. resolutions.
Also, Iraq must not fire on any coalition forces or launch any Scud missiles.
The President appeared confident the terms would be accepted and declared the war is now behind us.
Tonight, though, let us be proud of what we have accomplished.
Let us give thanks to those who risked their lives.
Let us never forget those who gave their lives.
Just because the shooting has stopped doesn't mean the war is really over.
It gets pretty complicated from here, and the U.S. has expected the press for continued economic sanctions
and an arms embargo against Iraq to keep Saddam Hussein in the box.
Meanwhile, White House officials say that if all things go well,
some U.S. troops could start coming home in a matter of days.
Margaret?
Jim, thank you. Emotions are still running high in free Kuwait.
There is joy over the liberation, but worry about the many Kuwaitis who are still missing.
NBC's Brad Willis is in Kuwait City, where the celebrations continue this morning, but there is a huge challenge ahead.
Brad, what's going on there?
Well, good morning, Margaret. Tremendous celebrations going on in Kuwait City today.
Coalition forces, the Arab coalition forces, rolled into town from the outskirts.
Kuwaiti soldiers, followed by Saudi soldiers, followed by the Egyptians.
They were greeted literally by thronging crowds of thousands upon thousands of Kuwaiti citizens,
thanking those soldiers for liberating their city.
It was a day of joyous celebration again, but as you said,
there is a terrible task ahead for the people of this city that once comprised about one million people.
The entire city has been devastated, as we have been reporting.
The more we travel throughout the city, the more we see the scope of that devastation.
Many buildings have been bombed out, looted, run over.
There are huge tank holes from tank rounds and artillery rounds in all of the buildings.
The infrastructure here has been devastated. There is very little running water or electricity.
It's going to take a long time to put the city back on its feet.
We understand now that some coalition forces are going door to door through various neighborhoods,
trying to secure those neighborhoods.
There is still concern that there might be Iraqi soldiers who, I mean, yes, Iraqi soldiers who failed to flee,
still hold up in some of these buildings.
There are helicopters all around me as we speak.
Some are right on the coast looking for landmines.
Others are trying to secure the tops of high-rise buildings.
We understand that the newly-arrived, newly-appointed U.S. Ambassador, Edward Janim,
is scheduled to arrive at the U.S. Embassy sometime today, which is right behind me.
So the city is starting, just beginning the process of bringing back its officialdom,
starting to get back to normal. But there's a very long way to go. Margaret?
Brad, we heard so much about atrocities during the war.
What are people there telling you about what happened under the occupation of the Iraqis?
Excuse me. Let me tell you that right now behind us we're having more military helicopters come in,
and we expect that this could be the Ambassador coming to the Embassy right behind me now.
This could be newly-appointed Ambassador Edward Janim arriving as we speak.
Helicopters are landing at the U.S. Embassy, Marine helicopters, on the compound of the U.S. Embassy.
I'm looking down at the street now and seeing several Marines with their M-16 rifles
securing the exteriors of the building about two blocks below me.
They have bringing in German Shepherds to sniff for explosives.
A second and a third helicopter is arriving.
We believe that this is the arrival of Edward Janim, the newly-appointed Ambassador to the U.S. Embassy here in the city of Kuwait,
a sign once again that the city has been secured, several helicopters circling the area.
To answer your other question quickly, Margaret, what we have heard is I have had many Kuwaiti citizens,
men and women, come up to me and tell me stories of how their loved ones were shot or captured, taken north to Kuwait,
the devastation that was brought upon them, women raped, horrifying stories.
They've been waiting for seven months to tell their stories to the world
and learning the scope of the Iraqi terror that was committed upon the city has only just begun.
Once again, it appears that the U.S. Ambassador behind us is arriving.
They're looking to make sure that the U.S. Embassy is completely secure.
This again is another historic day here in Kuwait City.
Margaret?
Brad, the U.S. Embassy was such a point of drama early in the occupation,
the arrival of the Ambassador certainly is a turning point here.
Before the ground war began, there was a lot of talk about the Republican Guard, Saddam's elite troops.
But when it came to a fight, Saddam's best were not nearly good enough.
More from NBC's Jim Polk at the Pentagon this morning. Good morning.
Good morning. It was a desert storm, thunder and lightning, and all over very quickly.
All over but the cheering. Saddam Hussein is one of history's bigger losers.
I can't think of a decision that he made right in the last several months.
In the final hours, the Allies won the biggest tank battle since World War II.
Iraq had only half a division left on the battlefield, and it was on the run, pinned back toward the sea.
These American paratroopers stood astride the main road of retreat only a few hours from Baghdad.
By the end, Iraq had lost 90 percent of all its tanks. For America, not one tank destroyed.
From the first shot of this war, America ruled the skies and won from above.
U.S. air power cut off Iraq's army, sapped its wheel, and hammered its tanks.
This was a war fought by more than a million men.
U.S. losses, dead or down behind enemy lines, just over a hundred.
It is almost miraculous as far as the light number of casualties.
It will never be miraculous to the families of those people, but it is miraculous.
The number of Iraqi dead in the tens of thousands. So many, there may never be a final count. Margaret?
James Polk, thank you. When we come back, the market report and the first check of the day's weather. After this.
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The stock prices posted their first gain of the week yesterday. The Dow Jones Industrial picked up more than 24 points.
Looking ahead to today's market day, here is the Wall Street Journal's Randall Smith. Good morning Randall.
Good morning, Margaret.
Overseas markets, how are they doing today?
European markets are up about 1%. We'll have a little bit of the euphoric pop.
U.S. stock futures are trading the equivalent of up 15 points on the Dow, but it won't be anywhere near like what we had six weeks ago when the war started.
But there are some stocks to watch here domestically.
Well that's right. Airline stocks are looking very good because people expect a resumption of travel that had been curtailed during the war.
Construction stocks are also active on the rebuilding program expected in Kuwait.
Randall, thank you.
Thank you.
Time now for the weather. Joe Witte, good morning, Joe.
Good morning, Margaret. They are singing in the rain in California. Let me tell you, some soaking rains, but some very welcome rains.
Los Angeles, almost two inches of rain, and there's more to come as the storms line up.
With that, there's going to be plenty of mountain snows in the Sierra Nevada, one to two feet of mountain snows.
Over the northern plains, a little cold air, highs only in the teens there, and 70s, but wet for parts of Florida and the Pacific Northwest, partly sunny skies today.
That's a quick look at the national weather. Now here's what's happening in your neighborhood.
Well, places like Denver, a mile 60 degrees, but Chicago, after a little morning snow activity, will rise up to 43 degrees.
Boston, 42, New York, 47, Atlanta, 64, Dallas, Fort Worth, going up to a high of 69 degrees in LA.
Rather wet, but nice, 59.
And a stormy forecast for Saturday in a few minutes. Margaret?
See you in a few minutes. Thanks, Joe.
Coming up, the Utah Jazz move into its high for first in the Midwest Division. Sports is next.
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In sports, the mailman made a special delivery last night, and that's why Utah is now tied with San Antonio for first place in the NBA's Midwest Division.
Carl, the mailman Malone, scored 38 points with the Jazz Beat Golden State 118-103.
Another action, it was Orlando over Phoenix and Charlotte over Sacramento.
Philadelphia won its sixth game in a row shooting down the Hawks 107-103.
The Celtics took Minnesota by five and Dallas downed Indiana by four.
In college basketball, Oklahoma State moved into a tie for first in the Big Eight.
The Cowboys rode past Nebraska at 80-69.
And in top ten action, number eight, Duke defeated Clemson 79-62.
That's sports. The news continues in just a moment.
You're watching NBC News at Sunrise.
The allied troops keep the pressure on Iraq, and today turns to the Gulf.
Bryant Gumbel and Catherine Curry are in New York with Tom Prokaw in Kuwait. Watch today all this week.
Central Ohio, you've done it all to show your support of our troops in the Persian Gulf.
You've sung, you've baked, you've rallied together in sub-zero weather.
Hi, I'm Gail Hogan from 530 Live.
Channel 4 wants to help you show even more support with one of these free support-to-troop stickers.
Pick one up at either of these custom-sized today locations.
Stickers are also available at Channel 4.
And if you stop here, pick up one of these brass flagpins that all of us are wearing.
Keep up the support, Central Ohio.
Register now.
Among the stories we're following this Thursday morning on NBC News at Sunrise,
the U.S., Britain, and Iraq say the war is over, but new conditions are set for a formal U.N. ceasefire.
Details just ahead.
NBC's Brad Willis is in Kuwait City this morning, and he has details now of the arrival of the new U.S. Ambassador to Kuwait,
obviously a major turning point in the events of the country of Kuwait. Brad, good morning.
Oh, good morning, Margaret. Just 10 minutes ago, we believe the U.S. Ambassador, Edward Janine, may have arrived
or a major marine security force arrived in preparation of his arrival here.
They flew in in numerous helicopters. They landed in the compound of the U.S. Embassy, which is just right behind me.
They put a force of marines on the rooftop with weapons. They secured the whole area. We saw...
Absolute doom.
We saw down on the streets marines surrounding the perimeter of the U.S. Embassy,
and they are still up there on the rooftop as we speak, making sure that the building is secure.
Several helicopters again landing that we were told earlier that Edward Janine was going to come here.
We expected he may have arrived in this aerial convoy, or they may be securing the Embassy,
doing another sweep to make sure everything is safe before he arrived,
but it appears to be a very historic moment that we witnessed. It is right now about 1.47 in the afternoon here in Kuwait City,
although it looks very dark. It is a combination of some cloud cover
and a tremendous amount of the smoke from the burning oil fields that were lit afire by the Iraqis
as they retreated before the onslaught of the coalition forces.
Edward Janine is replacing Nathaniel Howell. You might recall that he is the U.S. Ambassador
who braved the Iraqi Army and stayed in the Embassy compound even after Iraq invaded last year.
He stayed in there for several weeks before he was finally forced to leave
by the political and military circumstances of the situation here.
Down on the Corniche, we are right by the Gulf, down on the Corniche behind me, there is a convoy of cars.
They have been going along there all day long celebrating freedom and independence for the country of Kuwait.
People with Kuwaiti flags, with American flags, we have seen several Marine vehicles roll along the Corniche there as well.
It is a sort of Embassy row. Embassies from around the world are here.
Once even the Iraqi Embassy was here, we assume that that has been taken over now and thoroughly sacked by the Kuwaitis.
Kuwaiti resistance fighters are continuing to go door to door here looking for Iraqis or Palestinian collaborators.
We have noticed today that several people, presumed to be Palestinians, some from Jordan, have been dragged from their cars
and beaten by Kuwaiti resistance fighters.
We now have another helicopter arriving right now at the U.S. Embassy compound.
This again may be U.S. Ambassador Edward Janine, certainly part of his contingent.
More U.S. Marine helicopters arriving as we speak at the U.S. Embassy compound in the heart of Kuwait City
on the Arabian Gulf, landing now.
One helicopter just landed in the compound as the other one is hovering over the roof of the United States Embassy,
right above the roof of the Embassy now.
One helicopter is down.
The other large Marine helicopter right over the white building.
Just below that, the American flag is flying. You cannot see it. There is a group of eucalyptus trees blocking our view of it right behind.
And now we're seeing Marines roping down out of the rear of the helicopter into the U.S. Embassy.
More than half a dozen now have what is called firing, firing down the rope into the U.S. Embassy.
Eight, nine Marines, ten Marines coming down, continuing the process of securing the Embassy.
Back to you, Margaret. This is part of what is Kuwait City.
Brad, thank you very much. Obviously, as we mentioned before, it has been a real point of drama, the U.S. Embassy,
and the arrival of the Marines and the American restoration of the Embassy is going to be a momentous event.
We'll be back with more news after this.
Topping our news this morning, we return to Brad Willis, who is live in Kuwait City and showing us some very dramatic scenes
of the new U.S. Ambassador returning to the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait City.
Brad, what can you see?
Well, first, Margaret, I have to point out that we don't know if Edward Janim has arrived yet.
We assume he has either arrived at the Embassy or this is tight security for the preparation for his arrival here.
We have seen several helicopters land here at the U.S. Embassy compound, which is right behind me in the heart of Kuwait City
on the Persian Gulf, preparing the way or the actual arrival of Edward Janim, the newly appointed U.S. Ambassador to this city.
We just saw about a dozen Marines in a helicopter hovering above the Embassy itself,
spired down on ropes into the Embassy.
About 15 or 20 minutes before that, we had more than half a dozen helicopters land here,
putting in even more security forces at the Embassy compound, securing the entire area.
We are still in the background, as I speak, hearing some sporadic gunfire, but we assume,
we assume that that is a gunfire of celebration by Kuwaiti resistance fighters who have been firing their weapons into the air for the past several days here.
Margaret?
Brad, you mentioned just a few moments ago that there were Kuwaiti resistance fighters who were pulling some Palestinians and other people out of cars.
There were repercussions. Certainly there has got to be enormous rage and, in some cases, I'm sure, hatred.
What are the repercussions inside the city today for people who may have backed the Iraqis?
Well, the people of Kuwait have been celebrating for the past few days, but when they have had the opportunity,
they have also vented their tremendous rage.
Not only the rage at the Iraqis. Many women and young children, not to mention the men here,
have told me that their greatest dream now would be to kill any Iraqi that they could lay their hands upon for what the Iraqi soldiers did to their nation.
But they also have a tremendous rage at the Palestinians who have supported the Iraqis in this conflict, by and large.
And there are a significant number of Palestinian people that live here in Kuwait City.
Most of them, their lives are seriously in jeopardy.
More gunfire now going off on the Corniche behind me.
Heavier gunfire, it sounds like, but we again have to assume that this is the gunfire of celebration and not any sort of conflict.
Resistance fighters are going door to door, street to street, looking for anyone that they might believe is Palestinian, Jordanian, might sympathize with the PLO.
It's going to be a very serious problem.
A lot of these resistance fighters are out for blood, and they have already, as I said earlier,
we have seen them drag several people out of their vehicles and take them away.
Brad, excuse me just one moment.
We're taking a look now at the videotape of the Marines descending out of the helicopter into the U.S. Embassy compound.
As you mentioned, we're not entirely certain whether they're simply making preparations for the Ambassador or if he has actually arrived,
but of course, you'll continue to keep an eye on the situation.
Meantime, let me ask you this.
Those were very tense days during the Iraqi occupation as the U.S. Embassy staff tried to hang on, eating whatever food they could,
using pool water, I remember, from the swimming pool to try to survive.
Their arrival back there at the Embassy certainly marks a turning point for Kuwait.
Will their presence help bring normalcy to the city?
Well, it's a sign of normalcy coming to the city.
It's a sign that for the people of Kuwait, the war has come to an end.
We understand that the Arab coalition forces came into the city as well today in their military vehicles.
So, yes, you're right.
This is just the beginning of a long process of bringing the nation of Kuwait back to what it once was.
And the answer of many prayers, I'm sure.
Thank you, Brad.
We'll have more news after this.
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With the war and the Persian Gulf all but over,
attention will again be shifting back to economic problems here at home.
The Wall Street Journal's Alan Murray joins us now from our Washington newsroom,
as he does each Thursday. Good morning, Alan.
Good morning, Margie.
We've noted that the invasion of Kuwait coincided with the beginning of some real economic problems here at home,
and a lot of people have speculated that with the war over, the recession will be likely to end.
What do you think?
Well, Margaret, you won't find this in any of the official economic statistics yet,
but I think there are already some very tentative signs out there that the recession is coming to an end.
I spent a lot of time this week talking to people around the country and found that auto dealers, for instance,
in Illinois, Maine, North Carolina, are already seeing some pickup in activity and traffic in their showrooms.
Homes are starting to sell in New England and here in the Washington area.
Domestic travel is beginning to recover.
One travel agent told me that there's been a big pickup in the last couple of weeks
since the brave Barbara Bush made her trip on a domestic airliner.
So this is all very spotty. It could be a false start,
but it looks like the early stirrings of an economic recovery.
Well, the economic activity that you're talking about is all related to consumer spending.
That has a lot to do with confidence, right?
That's a big part of it. You know, when the war started, there was a sharp drop-off in spending.
People stopped using their credit cards. They stayed at home.
But as it became increasingly clear that we were going to win the war,
confidence picked up. You saw more activity.
And now that the war is over, I think the economy will get an even bigger boost of confidence.
But we're still hearing about unemployment problems, layoffs with jobs, bank failures, trouble in the industry.
Is that all just going to go away?
No, there's no question that this economy had a lot of problems before the war even started.
The problems you mentioned, the budget crisis, the SNL crisis, and all of those things are still with us.
But I don't think those will prevent an economic recovery.
They may mean that any economic recovery we have will be somewhat slower and more sluggish than usual.
Some encouraging news this morning. Alan Murray, thank you.
Let's check now with Joe Whitty in the National Forecast.
Thank you, Margaret. And I've got good news for California.
Lots of rain and more on the horizon.
Let's take a look at the travel delays for parts of the country.
That includes Southern California.
There's that storm system moving onshore to California, giving Los Angeles about two inches of rain,
heavy snows in the Sierra Nevada, another storm lined up behind that, and another storm of that.
So possible airport delays due to that rainy weather.
San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Phoenix, chance of thunderstorms.
Also Miami a little damp and wet.
It'll be basically dry in the east.
A few lake-effect snows today and 38 degrees for high Minneapolis, 69 Dallas-Fort Worth.
Do have a safe trip. Margaret?
Thank you, Joe.
Here again are the latest developments in the situation in the Persian Gulf.
Iraq has directed its troops to stop fighting just hours after President Bush ordered the end of the allied offensive.
And just moments ago we brought you exclusive videotape of the Marines descending from the helicopter over the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait City.
They are apparently preparing the embassy for the arrival of the new U.S. Ambassador to Kuwait.
This, of course, marks the turning point in Kuwait's history and the restoration, possibly, of normality in Kuwait City.
That's NBC News at Sunrise. We'll see you again tomorrow. Have a great day.
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Meet the hot and talented Demi Moore. Take flight with Michael Ayer Jordan and see the courageous comeback of Gloria Estefan on First Person with Maria Shriver tonight.
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