SUNS 4348 Friday 18 December 1998
UNITED NATIONS: IRAQ ATTACKED AGAIN
United Nations, Dec 16 (IPS/Farhan Haq) -- U.S. and British military forces struck at Iraq Wednesday leaving the United Nations - a key player in resolving previous standoffs involving Iraq - on the sidelines.
A White House spokesman announced briefly shortly after 2200 GMT that military action had begun.
Later Clinton appeared on TV, speaking from the Oval Office of the White House, to say that he had acted "to protect the national interest of the United States and Iraq's neighbours in the Middle East".
Iraqi President Saddam Hussein "must not be allowed to threaten his neighbours with nuclear weapons, poison gas or biological weapons," Clinton said.
He said the U.S. military had been joined by British forces in the action against Iraq, which British Prime Minister Tony Blair revealed, in a similar TV address, was codenamed 'Operation Desert Fox'.
Clinton said Saddam Hussein's refusal to cooperate with the weapons inspectors of the UN Special Commission (UNSCOM) that has been trying to monitor Iraqi disarmament presented a "clear and present danger to the stability of the Persian Gulf and the safety of people everywhere... Iraq repeatedly obstructed UNSCOM's effort to photograph bombs related to its chemical weapons programme... It tried to stop an UNSCOM biological weapons team from videotaping a site and photocopying documents..."
Clinton declared "the hard fact is that so long as Saddam remains in power, he threatens the well-being of his people, the peace of his region and the security of the world... The best way to end that
threat, once and for all, is with a new Iraqi government, a government ready to live in peace with its neighbours - a government that respects the rights of its people.... Bringing change in Baghdad will take time and effort," he added." We will strengthen our engagement with the full range of Iraqi opposition force and work with them effectively and prudently."
The U.S. strike came in for stiff criticism among groups wondering what the operation could accomplish.
"There is no reason to believe that further bombings or sanctions will do anything to bring about a change of government in Iraq," argued the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee in a Wednesday statement. "In fact, it is entirely unclear what the precise purpose of such an attack would be."
"One cannot help but be sickened by the prospect of a military attack on the eve of (a House of Representatives vote on) Clinton's impeachment (for perjury over his affair with Monica Lewinsky and the Paula Jones affair) and in the midst of the holiday season," professor Simona Sharoni of American University argued.
Military officials, in a news briefing, said the air strikes against Iraq that began with a volley of long-range cruise missiles, would last up to four days.
The Muslim holy month of Ramadan is due to start at the weekend, a point Clinton underlined in his speech as justifying the timing of the attack against Iraq so as not to offend "our friends in the Arab world"
U.S. Secretary of Defence William Cohen said later Wednesday in Washington (early Thursday in Baghdad) that Clinton's decision to strike Iraq had "clear military goals... We want to degrade Saddam Hussein's ability to make and to use weapons of mass destruction," Cohen said. "We want to diminish his ability to wage war against his neighbours and we want to demonstrate the consequences of flouting international obligations."
The United States has arrayed 22 warships, eight armed with Tomahawk Cruise missiles, in the Gulf region along with 201 military aircraft and more than 24,000 military personnel.
In London, British Prime Minister Tony Blair went on television to announce the operation, codenamed "Desert Fox", had started in retaliation for Iraq's latest refusal to cooperate with U.N. weapons inspectors.
As with the previous action against Iraq in 1991, television viewers were treated to pictures from Baghdad over the Cable News Network (CNN) but showed little activity beyond anti-aircraft fire which lighted the sky over the Iraqi capital. Within 30 minutes the guns had fallen silent.
Iraq's outgoing U.N. ambassador, Nizar Hamdoon, had resigned himself to the attack, regardless of whether the U.N. Security Council approved the action. "Clearly the Security Council is not going to provide such an authorization," Hamdoon said, adding that a U.S. attack is expected regardless.
"We reserve our rights to whatever retaliation, whatever self-defense we might take," the Iraqi envoy added.
The U.N. Security Council met to consult on the latest crisis, which began late Tuesday when Richard Butler, the chairman of the U.N. Special Commission (UNSCOM) which monitors Iraq's disarmament, reported that Baghdad had not kept its promises to the world body.
"There is absolutely no excuse or pretext to use force against Iraq," Chinese Ambassador Qin Huasun said after the meeting. Qin assailed Butler's critical report as "apparently one-sided" and added that many Council members questioned Butler's decision to pull all U.N. weapons inspectors out of Iraq on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Yet even as the Council discussed the crisis, U.S. defense officials said U.S. troops were "in execute mode" in the Persian Gulf, awaiting President Bill Clinton's orders. More than 24,000 U.S. troops and dozens of ships and warplanes are stationed near Iraq.
U.S. State Department spokesman James Rubin defended Washington's action, saying there is a consensus that "the failures are Iraq's, the consequences are Iraq's and the international community believes that (President) Saddam Hussein is failing to comply with his required
obligations."
On Nov. 14, Iraq agreed to allow unhindered UNSCOM inspections in a bid to avert U.S. missile attacks - which Clinton already had ordered but then called off. In his report late Tuesday, Butler concluded that "Iraq did not provide the full cooperation it promised on Nov. 14."
Instead, "Iraq initiated new forms of restrictions upon the Commission's work ... Iraq's conduct ensured that no progress was able to be made in either the fields of disarmament or accounting for its prohibited weapons programmes," Butler said.
Butler told reporters Wednesday that all UNSCOM and International Atomic Energy Agency staff has left Iraq by plane and road late Tuesday night, explaining that "they are not able to do their work adequately and therefore I removed them."
Butler did not cite any safety concerns among his reasons for pulling out the weapons inspectors.
But U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan confirmed that U.S. Ambassador Peter Burleigh had announced the departure of U.S. civilian personnel in the region and had also "advised Butler to withdraw UNSCOM". Annan added that all UN humanitarian personnel have been regrouped "for their own safety, in one location in Baghdad".
With the approach of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month of fasting set to begin on Friday, Washington has a limited time-frame to complete its operation against Iraq before it draws the ire of Muslim nations.
U.S. support among Arab nations for an attack, which had peaked in November after Iraq briefly ceased all cooperation with UNSCOM, has ebbed. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision to suspend a planned withdrawal of troops from Palestinian territory, and Clinton's inability to prompt him to budge during a visit to Israel this week, did little to mollify Arab leaders about a new U.S.-Iraq standoff.
Butler's report, however, fuelled U.S. demands for action as he argued there was "clear evidence that Iraq had taken advance actions" to empty suspected weapons sites of any incriminating evidence before the inspectors arrived. The headquarters of the Special Security Organisation "had been emptied of any relevant materials."
His report cited last week's blocking of UNSCOM inspectors from the headquarters of Iraq's ruling Baath Party, when Iraqi officials "introduced various new requirements, including a formal letter of
request, indicating what was being sought at the site". Also, Butler contended, Iraq had failed to hand over requested documents detailing the use of chemical munitions during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war.
The Council's emergency session Wednesday had been intended to discuss the crisis with many members concerned about the possibility of an attack. Annan insisted last week that any military action would require Council approval.