THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, September 5, 1996 TAG: 9609050592
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: FROM WIRE REPORTS
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: 111 lines
Iraq pulled back most of its troops from a contested Kurdish enclave after two U.S. missile strikes, and U.S.-led air patrols met only token resistance in enforcing a newly expanded prohibition on Iraqi military flights, President Clinton said Wednesday.
Although Pentagon officials reported that Iraq kept enough tanks in the enclave to retain control of it, the president declared the military mission a success.
The White House asserted that the back-to-back cruise missile strikes against Iraqi military targets in the southern part of the country forced President Saddam Hussein's troops into at least a temporary retreat from the northern enclave, and momentarily defused the crisis.
About 20 to 25 Iraqi fighter jets fled the south hours before the allies expanded by 60 miles the area in southern Iraq where they ban the use of Iraqi aircraft. The expanded zone brings U.S.-led air patrols north to within 30 miles of Baghdad.
``Our mission has been achieved,'' Clinton said. ``There has been a withdrawal of the forces, a dispersal of the forces, but it's too soon to say that this is permanent or that further action will not be taken.''
A senior Navy officer said, ``This is it for a while unless they do something really dumb.''
But just minutes after the broadened zone took effect at noon local time, two Iraqi MiG fighters approached allied aircraft that were monitoring the area. They retreated before reaching the new boundary just outside Baghdad's southern border.
Shortly after that, the crew of an Iraqi SA-8 mobile missile battery briefly targeted a U.S. Air Force F-16 fighter, prompting the American pilot to fire a high-speed, anti-radiation missile at the weapon, apparently knocking it out of action.
The Iraqi maneuvers, Baghdad's first effort to challenge the American-ordered expansion of the ``no-fly'' zone, were not deemed a serious threat by Defense Secretary William Perry.
But Clinton vowed to stand tough against such Iraqi threats, saying, ``We will do whatever we have to do in the future to protect our pilots.''
Anti-aircraft fire boomed over Baghdad early Wednesday, but U.S. officials denied attacking the Iraqi capital, and blamed the shooting on skittish Iraqi gunners firing at phantom targets.
The expanded no-flight area, which senior Pentagon officials said is permanent and will not shrink when the crisis subsides, provides a broader buffer zone between Iraqi forces and America's oil-producing allies to the south, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. It also extends a safe corridor U.S. warplanes would fly through if ordered to bomb Baghdad.
``We have improved our strategic position,'' a senior Pentagon official said. ``We've taken this opportunity to expand our security zone permanently.''
Senior military officials were cheered by intelligence reports that many of the 40,000 Iraqi troops who last week drove into the Kurdish enclave were withdrawing, perhaps to barracks in Mosul and Kirkuk. A mechanized division, however, still remains near Irbil, intelligence officials said.
``He's moved significant forces away, but still has enough there to retain control,'' a senior Pentagon official said.
Administration officials credited the success largely to the pilotless cruise missiles. Military planners acknowledged Wednesday that not all 44 Navy and Air Force missiles may have hit their targets, but enough reached their mark to destroy or disable Iraqi air defenses in the expanded area and make it safe for allied warplanes to patrol the zone.
Perry, perhaps Clinton's most plain-spoken Cabinet member, conceded that Saddam will continue to be a huge thorn in Washington's side. Ousting the Iraqi leader is not a U.S. goal, Perry said, so the only option is to continue the expensive and frustrating policy the United States adopted after the Persian Gulf War: contain Saddam and his military.
``Maintaining security and stability in Southwest Asia is apt to be a longtime problem for which there's no single solution,'' Perry told reporters.
The administration still faced diplomatic problems. Saudi Arabia and Turkey refused to give permission to U.S. aircraft based in those countries to join in any attack on Iraq.
To add to the confusion, an official at the French Embassy in Washington said French planes enforcing the no-flight zone Wednesday did not venture above the 32d parallel and may not in the future. But Perry expressed hope that the French would eventually join the United States and Britain in patrolling the expanded zone.
Clinton and his top aides sounded a defensive note when asked whether the gulf war coalition that defeated Iraq was fatally divided. ``I don't think it's dead,'' Clinton said. ``I think that, quite the contrary, we have received good support from the British. I think things are on track and I feel good about it.''
But administration officials privately expressed bitter disappointment with its allies, particularly the French. ``We would have liked to have heard more positive things from the French,'' one senior administration official said.
House Speaker Newt Gingrich raised questions about the administration's failure to generate broad-based support for the U.S. military action. ``The contrast between Desert Storm and the current level of support is a concern,'' the Georgia Republican said.
Echoing Republican sentiment in the House and the Senate, Gingrich said Congress would support U.S. troops but not every part of Clinton's policies toward Iraq. MEMO: This story was compiled from reports by The New York Times, The
Los Angeles Times and The Associated Press. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
WEB SITE
Pilot Online's special Attack on Iraq report offers news updates,
background and related World Wide Web links. The Internet address
is:
http://www.pilotonline.com/
KEYWORDS: IRAQ INVASION U.S. NAVY SADDAM
HUSSEIN by CNB