Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, January 19, 1993 TAG: 9301190197
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: From The Associated Press and The Washington Post
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
U.S., ALLIES HIT IRAQI DEFENSES
American-led warplanes thundered into Iraq in daylight bombing raids Monday as President Bush devoted his final hours in office to a tense showdown with President Saddam Hussein that strained the solidarity of the Gulf War coalition."Let's just hope that the message has been delivered loud and clear," Bush said, hours after allied planes rained bombs on air-defense missile sites in southern Iraq and hit other targets in the north in limited strikes. "We did the right thing," he said.
A senior Bush administration official said nothing beyond defensive actions in the two no-fly zones was likely during the remaining 48 hours of Bush's presidency.
President-elect Bill Clinton expressed support, but there was pointed criticism from Arab nations that once supported military action against Iraq.
The Cairo-based Arab League called on the United Nations "to adopt a policy of self-restraint and use the language of dialogue." Russia delivered a note to the State Department admonishing the Bush administration not to act militarily without the explicit approval of the U.N. Security Council.
The message, from Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev, said, "There are casualties among civilian populations, which is especially regrettable."
The Pentagon acknowledged that a cruise missile fired from a Navy ship Sunday had struck a Baghdad hotel. Iraq said two civilians were killed. The Pentagon said the missile was knocked off course by Iraqi fire.
"These attacks could proceed without further warning," Pentagon spokesman Pete Williams said. Officials said all allied planes returned safely. Iraq said 21 people were killed altogether.
Monday's raid was the second in 24 hours and the latest of blows that began with a bombing run on southern Iraq last Wednesday.
Appearing to back away from their wartime alliance with the West, Arab nations questioned why American resolve to enforce U.N. resolutions regarding Iraq did not extend to those concerning Israel or Bosnia-Herzegovina.
King Fahd of Saudi Arabia, who put his country's bases at the disposal of the allied jets carrying out the raids, said U.N. Security Council resolutions must "be respected and implemented . . . whether they pertain to the situation in the Gulf or the Palestinian case and that of the deportees, or that of the nation of Bosnia-Herzegovina."
The Pentagon declared Sunday's cruise-missile firing at a nuclear weapons-related complex a success.
Monday's bombing deprived Iraq of a coordinated system for an air-defense network in the south, U.S. defense officials said. The primary targets were anti-aircraft missile batteries that survived in the southern "no fly" zone last Wednesday.
In the latest strike, 69 American, British and French planes streaked into southern Iraq. "All bombs appeared to hit the target," said Lt. Col. Robert Haselhoff, an F-15E pilot.
The White House said the bombing came in response to Iraqi efforts to rebuild its air-defense system in the south and Baghdad's challenge of the no-fly zones imposed by the allies.
Another senior Bush official described the recent attacks as "raps on the knuckles" intended to keep Saddam fundamentally in place until Clinton takes over and sets his own policy for the region.
In the northern no-fly, above the 36th parallel, allied aircraft struck twice Monday, firing at surface-to-air missile batteries after Iraqi radars locked onto the American planes in one instance, U.S. officials said.
U.S. planes also bombed another anti-aircraft site.