St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • Page 22

65DEC171998 A6 ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH NEWS THURSDAY, DECEMBER 17, 1998 www.postnet.com The Attack on Iraq Assault asms H4ii iipipuiiuii. uiiunauH i i iiJUifp.mii iwwj :u.u to punish Iraq for defying U.N i 1 fh. A 4 ii LwJ Li-Miarj-iaiiiMBWMiwMii Saddam's biggest palace in Baghdad, witnesses and officials said. At least two people were killed and 30 were injured, a doctor said.

In a televised address from the Oval Office, Clinton said the attack was designed to cripple Iraq's ability to produce nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. Clinton said the riming of the attack, which, unlike previous ones, had not been forecast, resulted from a desire to surprise Saddam. Clinton also said he was trying to avoid alienating Islamic countries by not launching the strikes over the weekend, the beginning of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, a sacred period in Iraq and other Islamic countries. Wednesday's barrage was unleashed barely a month after Iraq and the United States stepped back Nov. 14 from the brink of war.

At that time, Clinton called off an attack less than an hour before it was to begin when Saddam agreed to allow U.N. inspectors open access to suspected weapons sites. Then, in the face of broad Capitol Hill criticism for pulling his punches, Clinton promised that a military pounding awaited Saddam if he obstructed the inspectors again. Operation Desert Fox was intended to last up to four days and involved American and British aircraft and U.S. warships.

The Pentagon announced that extra aircraft and ground troops were being sent to the area. Clinton said he acted "to protect the national interest of the United States and Iraq's neighbors in the Middle East. He gave the go-ahead after consulting with his top advisers and reviewing a U.N. report that said Saddam had refused again to fulfill Iraq's obligations to cooperate with U.N. weapons inspectors.

'Saddam Hussein must not be allowed to threaten his neighbors or the world with nuclear weapons, poison gas or biological weapons, Clinton said. I have no doubt to- Clinton's motives are questioned; Britain joins attack From News Services WASHINGTON President Bill Clinton on Wednesday unleashed an aerial assault on Iraq designed to punish Baghdad for its repeated defiance of U.N. mandates to destroy weapons of mass destruction. British forces joined in the attack, dubbed 'Operation Desert Fox," and U.S. officials indicated that the airstrikes would continue, perhaps for several more days.

The attack, coming just one day before an impeachment debate in the House of Representatives, triggered charges from some Republicans that the foreign military action was designed to help Clinton's domestic political survival. In Baghdad, Iraqi gunners fired volleys of anti-aircraft flak into the sky and explosions were heard in the capital. Saddam Hussein accused the West of cowardice for attacking with long-range missiles. The Iraqi president urged Iraqis to 'fight the enemies of God, enemies of the nation, enemies of humanity." He said "several targets were hit, in the statement carried by the official Iraqi News Agency. Saddam said the attackers did not 'come to meet you face to face and depended "on a long technological arm, which is not a measure of bravery.

Unlike during previous Western alliance attacks on Baghdad, there was no blackout. There were no reports of casualties, and the streets of Baghdad were nearly empty. Hundreds of missiles fell on Iraq, and at least one hit an area near The light streak of the afterburner from an FA-18 Hornet lights up the Chanik, the commanding officer, was monitoring the first wave of strike THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Persian Gulf early today. Capt. Marty I flight deck on the Enterprise in the aircraft.

is in charge of Iraqi disarmament. Since then, Saddam has kept up and even intensified Iraq's obstruction of the inspectors' work, Clinton said. The House had been scheduled to begin debate on four articles of impeachment against Clinton today, with votes likely by Friday. Incoming House Speaker Bob Livingston, said House Republicans support U.S. troops in the Persian Gulf and would leave it to the American people to decide whether the riming of the attack was influenced by the impeachment debate.

The two top Democrats in Congress voiced their support for the attack. "Saddam Hussein should make no mistake that despite domestic political differences in the United Firepower won't match Officials don't expect attacks to end Iraqi arms programs States, the American people and Congress stand firmly behind the defense of our nation's vital interests, Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota and House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt of Missouri said in a statement. Clinton also alluded to the impeachment debate. I' 'Saddam Hussein and the other enemies of peace may haye thought that the serious debate currently before the House of Representatives would distract Americans, weaken our resolve to face them down," he said. "But once more, the United States has proven that although we are never eager to use force, when we must America's vital interests, we will do UNSCOM and 'we would then have no oversight, no insight, ho involvement in what is going onto Iraq.

Wednesday, with air strikes against Iraq underway, senior administration officials said they feared that the UNSCOM inspection program was dead, as the president had predicted. 'After this, it's hard to imagine that Saddam will ever allow the inspectors back in," said one American official. 'So what is our policy? What do we do in a post-UNSCOM world? I dont know. Rather than relying on Iraq, monitored by UNSCOM, to disarm itself, U.S. officials said, Washington will now try to degrade Irag's capacities, rather than eliminate them, and to deter Saddam from daring to use the terror weapons he may have.

That policy includes an intention to strike later, again without warning, if Iraq attempts to reconstitute its weapons of mass destruction; It includes warnings to Saddam that he will be obliterated if he uses such weapons, and attempts keep harsh economic sanctions bn Saddam's regime, to limit its Income. It also will include, Clinton said, more U.S. support for the divided Iraqi opposition. That support was pressed on the administration by the Congress this year in the $97 million Iraqi Liberation Act. But senior U.S.

officials say that efforts to replace Saddam have failed badly in the past, and must be viewed as a long-term possibility- output from world producers. Exports have continued to flow from Iraq even as tension with the United States increased. I A disruption to Iraqi exports could help work off a global supply glut, which is estimated at 100 million to 150 million barrels, said Alan Struth, chief oil economist at Phillips Petroleum based in Bartlesville, Okla. 'It would take two months to make a dramatic impact, but at the end of two months, the market would be significantly different, and we'd be on target for $18 crude Struth said. "While I have been assured by administration officials that there is no connection with the impeachment process in the House of Representatives, I cannot support this military action in the Persian Gulf at this time," his statement said.

"Both the timing and the policy are subject to question." Asked about Lott's criticism, Defense Secretary William Cohen, himself a former Republican senator, said, "I am prepared to place 30 years of public service on the line to say the only factor that was important in this decision was what was in the American people's best interests." Just a month ago, Clinton ordered an attack on Iraq but called it off at the last minute when Saddam promised to cooperate with the U.N. Special Commission that War people on hand. News reports invariably call these 24,100 Americans "troops," a mis leading term. Cohen "Troops" suggests ground soldiers. But the majority of the "troops now in the gulf are sailors, with the next-biggest batch consisting of Air Force personnel and the medics and mechanics far outnumber the pilots.

The real number of "troops on hand is about 3,000 one brigade of tank and infantry soldiers deployed in Kuwait. A single brigade is far too small for any kind of offensive action. The mission of the GIs in Kuwait is to deter an Iraqi onslaught or, if necessary, to fight it. Here, from The Associated Press, is the American and British order of battle in the Gulf region: Navy: Twenty-two ships, eight of which can (and probably will) fire Tomahawks. The centerpiece of the fleet is the carrier Enterprise.

It has 72 aircraft, although only 50 or so are warplanes, designed to carry bombs to the enemy. The workhorse warplane for the Navy is the F-18 Hornet, made in St. Louis by Boeing. When the Vinson arrives, the Navy's striking power will double. Air Force: The Associated Press lists 201 aircraft in the region.

But if that total includes the air wing on the Enterprise, the Air Force contribution is only 124. More than two dozen of the Air Force planes are B-52 bombers based at Diego Garcia, in the Indian Ocean. The bombers are old and slow, but they carry cruise missiles that can be launched far out of enemy range. Army: The brigade in Kuwait. Britain: Twenty-two warplanes probably attack planes, which are light bombers deployed in the region.

Saudi Arabia has been touchy in the past about letting the Air Force use its runways to bomb fellow Muslims in Iraq. The Saudi thinking seems to be that although the fickle Americans can fly home tomorrow, the Saudis must live with Iraq next door. Still, the Saudis apparently are willing to let the Air Force fly its tankers and other support planes from their soil. i pwi I day that, left unchecked, Saddam Hussein will use these terrible weapons again." Clinton cautioned that unintended Iraqi casualties were a certainty-Speaking to reporters later, Sandy Berger, the president's national security adviser, said there was nothing the Iraqis could say or do now to blunt or abort the attack. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said the attacks were not designed to "get Saddam Hussein." But she said the United States would step up its contacts with opposition groups and "work with them in a sustained way." In the charged political atmosphere of the day, Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, criticized the military action even before Clinton formally announced it that of Gulf and germs to remote sites.

Despite thousands of sorties (a sortie is one flight by one plane), many of the factories and weapons escaped damage. But since then, inspectors from the United Nations have spent almost eight years rummaging around Iraq, looking for just such weapons. Presumably, the people making the target list this time have a better idea of what's where. The Associated Press quoted unidentified military officials as listing a third type of target the Republican Guard, the palace force that keeps Saddam Hussein in power. How much harm the warplanes can wreak on the Republican Guard is a question mark.

A weapons factory is usually prominent and always stationary. But a tank is small and mobile. In 1991, going after tanks one by one proved to be a wearying and frustrating task for pilots. Another question is the duration of the campaign, dubbed Operation Desert Fox. Clinton said the timing of the first wave had been dictated in part by the imminence of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month.

Ramadan commences this weekend, and Clinton said the United States was reluctant to offend the Muslim world by starting a campaign once the holy month arrived. Likewise, Cohen used the word "start." Neither mentioned whether a campaign that started before Ramadan would continue during Ramadan. If not, this Desert Fox has only three or four days in which to run. Last month, when the United States walked up to the edge of attacks on Iraq, planners spoke in terms of weeks, not days. For last month's mission, the United States set a stream of military muscle in motion toward the Persian Gulf.

When Clinton called off the bombing at the last minute, much of it had yet to arrive. Many of the planes paused in Europe, then headed back home. Now, more air power is heading to the scene. Cohen spoke of the dispatch of an Air Expeditionary Wing a grab bag of perhaps three dozen Air Force planes of different types as well as an undisclosed number of F-117 Stealth attack planes. Also headed toward the gulf and due within a day or two is the carrier Vinson and perhaps a brigade or so of Army so'Jiers.

They will join a force of 24,160 American military New York Times Newsservice WASHINGTON Although senior U.S. officials insisted Wednesday that airstrikes against Iraq would significantly hamper Saddam Hussein's programs to make poison gas and nuclear weapons, they readily acknowledged that the weapons programs would continue and perhaps accelerate. The also admitted that the airstrikes could mean the end of the 8-year-old United Nations weapons inspection program in Iraq. Without the inspection program, they said, the United States will have only a limited ability to monitor Iraq's program to manufacture weapons of mass destruction and to prevent Iraq from threatening its neighbors with poison gas. The United States, they said, will likely be forced to leave a large military force in the region for several years, ready to strike Iraq whenever American intelligence agencies develop evidence from aerial surveillance showing that the Iraqis are close to deploying chemical, biological or nuclear weapons.

President Bill Clinton has already acknowledged that a military strike like the one launched Wednesday would sound the death knell for the weapons inspections that have been carried out in Iraq by the U.N. Special Commission, or UNSCOM. When he called off airstrikes on Iraq last month, Clinton said then that he had made the decision in part because he believed such an attack 'would mean the end of will be done with air power cruise missiles, attack planes and heavy bombers. In a televised briefing, Defense Secretary William Cohen offered no details on targets and tonnage. But the first target was almost certainly Iraq's air defense system, with the weapon of choice the Tomahawk cruise missile.

Tomahawks carry no pilots and thus can fly in harm's way without risking American lives. With the uncommon accuracy of the Tomahawks, the United States can knock out the command and control that weaves an air defense system together. It's the military equivalent of blinding a Cyclops. Once the Iraqi system can no longer "see," its antiaircraft missiles are basically junk, even if untouched by bombs. With the system blinded, American attack planes and bombers can then roam across Iraqi airspace with something close to impunity.

True, they will face local antiaircraft fire. But it will probably be ill-organized and ineffective. like the scenes that CNN showed Wednesday from Baghdad, the local air defenses will amount to little more than a lot of noise and tracers. The targets for this wave of war-planes were spelled out emphatically by Cohen and President Bill Clinton. The planes will seek out the places where Iraq makes and stores "weapons of mass destruction the buzz-phrase for nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.

Back in '91, U.S. air power went after the same targets but had only mixed success. Although Iraq's nuclear effort took a heavy hit, the Iraqis had scattered their gases gallant meaning Only 201 aircraft are on the scene ready for action; in 1991, more than 1,000 warplanes were there. By Harry Levins Post-Dispatch Senior Writer Call it The Night That The Lights Stayed On In Baghdad which means that whatever violence is visited on Iraq in the days ahead, it will probably fall short of the American bombing in the Persian Gulf War. On Jan.

16, 1991, Americans watching CNN knew in a twinkling that the war had begun. Suddenly, the lights went out in Baghdad. But on Wednesday evening (early Thursday in Iraq), Americans watching CNN saw Baghdad ablaze with electricity. The city's power grid seemed to be on the safe side of whatever the bombs and missiles were aimed at. This time around, the American effort aided by a small slice of British air power looks more like a punitive campaign than the kick-off of a major war.

Indeed, given the amount of American air power on the scene The Associated Press puts it at 201 aircraft planners would be hard-put to match Desert Storm. Back in 1991, the Allied coalition could put more than 1,000 war-planes in the air. Many of them hammered for weeks on the Iraqi army awaiting an American invasion. This time around, nobody is talking about invading with a ground force. Whatever is going to be done 'Desert Fox has a less The Pentagon has given its air campaign against Iraq a catchy name Operation Desert Fox.

It evokes an image of action carried out cleverly and rapidly. But for people with long memories, the term 'Desert Fox has an ugly side. In World War II, "Desert Fox" was the nickname given to German Field Marshall Erwin Rommel, the hero of Germany's campaign in North Africa. Later, as the war's fortunes turned against Germany, Rommel came to oppose his Nazi overlords. Price of crude oil jumps 7 percent Bloomberg News NEW YORK Crude oil prices rose 7 percent Wednesday, their biggest gain in three months, as traders got word that the United States was likely to bomb Iraq, which pumps about 3 percent of the world's oil.

Crude oil futures rose 83 cents, to $12.38 a barrel, on the New York Mercantile Exchange. That is the highest price since Nov. 23 and the biggest one-day gain since Sept. 3. Oil prices still are 32 percent lower than a year ao because of weak demand from Asia and high Indeed, Britain's Winston Churchill even termed Rommel a gallant foe.

The Nazis came to suspect Rommel of subversion and forced him to kill himself in 1944. Nevertheless, Rommel came late to conscience. He had enthusiastically served a wicked cause and had campaigned under a flag forever associated with evildoing. Whether anybody in the Pentagon made the association was among many of Wednesday's unanswered 1 questions. Harry Levins.