Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, January 7, 1993 TAG: 9301070149
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
IRAQ TOLD TO REMOVE MISSILES
The United States and its key Persian Gulf War allies ordered Iraq on Wednesday to remove newly deployed, surface-to-air missiles from a protected zone in southern Iraq within 48 hours or face military retaliation.The Iraqi ambassador to the United Nations, Nizar Hamdoon, was handed the ultimatum late Wednesday by U.S., French, British and Russian officials after a daylong round of allied consultations.
White House Press Secretary Marlin Fitzwater said Iraq was told to remove the missile batteries because they violate United Nations resolutions invoked in August to bar flights of Iraqi aircraft south of the 32nd parallel. The "no-fly" zone was established to protect the Shiite population there from air attack and has been patrolled by allied planes.
Tensions between Washington and Baghdad have flared anew since Dec. 27, when U.S. planes shot down an Iraqi MiG fighter over the zone. Other recent moves by Baghdad, including interference with humanitarian relief for Kurds in northern Iraq and with U.N. inspections of weapons facilities, have added to concerns that Iraq may again be trying to test U.S. resolve at a time Washington is changing administrations.
Hamdoon said Iraq has "no hostile intentions against anybody" and insisted his government's actions were "purely defensive, within its sovereign right." He said Iraq is not testing the Bush administration and questioned the right of the allies to enforce the no-fly zone, arguing it is not specifically supported by a U.N. resolution but is an allied initiative that grows out of their interpretation of broad resolutions.
Senior officials said the Soviet-made, anti-aircraft batteries, which have been positioned along the 32nd parallel, "are a threat" to U.S. and other pilots patrolling in the zone, though some experts doubted the efficacy of the missiles given their age.
A senior official said Iraq was told to "move the batteries back to where they came from" - that is, north of the 32nd parallel. The page-and-a-half diplomatic note handed Hamdoon warned of "appropriate and decisive" retaliation if Iraq does not comply, diplomatic sources said.
The Iraqis already have been told in military-to-military exchanges not to aim anti-aircraft radar at U.S. planes and not to fly into the protected zone. Both warnings were renewed in Wednesday's ultimatum, sources said.
Whether the Bush administration would resort to retaliatory military actions in its final days is part of the calculation Iraqi President Saddam Hussein now has to make. In order to persuade him of Bush's resolve, the White House has begun taking steps - issuing diplomatic protests, imposing deadlines, consulting with allies and congressional leaders - previously taken as a buildup to military action.
A senior official said the movement of the batteries into the no-fly zone was part of an "increasing series, a pattern of actions" by the Iraqi leader, intended either to engage Bush in one last test of wills or present President-elect Clinton his first test.
In Little Rock, Ark., Clinton spokesman George Stephanopoulos told reporters: "The president-elect joins President Bush in saying that we will tolerate no violation of any resolutions by Saddam Hussein." Stephanopoulos said Clinton's national-security adviser-designate Anthony Lake had been consulting closely with national-security adviser Brent Scowcroft on Iraq developments.