'Stormin Norman' Schwarzkopf dead at 78

WASHINGTON: Norman Schwarzkopf, the US general who led Operation Desert Storm, which liberated Kuwait from Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein in 1991, died on Thursday at the age of 78.

Schwarzkopf, an American hero known popularly as "Stormin' Norman," died in Tampa, where he retired after his last posting as head of US Central Command, which controls US operations in the Middle East and South Asia.

"The men and women of the Department of Defense join me in mourning the loss of General Norman Schwarzkopf," Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said. Panetta said the decorated combat leader -- a hulking, shaven-headed bruiser of a commander -- had in "35 years of service in uniform left an indelible imprint on the United States military and the country."

Former president George H. W. Bush, himself sick in intensive care in Texas, was among the first to issue a statement mourning the loss of the man he chose to lead the war that came to define both of their careers. "Barbara and I mourn the loss of a true American patriot and one of the great military leaders of his generation," his statement said