Baker Talks Tough on Iraq : Threatens It With Quick, Huge Attack

Secretary of State James A. Baker III said today the United States will strike “suddenly, massively and decisively” if military force is needed to get Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s forces out of Kuwait.

Testifying before Congress, Baker staked out a hard line against Hussein. He said his planned trip to Baghdad this month is not an opening for negotiations.

“This is not to be a meeting of negotiation over the terms of the U.N. resolutions,” Baker said, adding that he would stick with the international demands for complete and immediate Iraqi withdrawal from Kuwait.

Baker stopped short of saying the United States would launch an attack to liberate Kuwait after Jan. 15, the deadline established last week by the U.N. Security Council. But he left no doubt about the White House’s resolve to remove Hussein quickly.

“If it (force) must be used, it will be used suddenly, massively and decisively,” he told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

On the other side of the Capitol, CIA Director William H. Webster echoed Baker, saying there are no indications that the sanctions are forcing Hussein to rethink his policy on Kuwait.

“Our judgment has been, and continues to be, that there is no assurance or guarantee that economic hardships will compel Saddam to change his policies or lead to internal unrest that would threaten his regime,” Webster told the House Armed Services Committee.

Baker underscored comments made last Friday by President Bush, who said he would not allow U.S. soldiers to become involved in another protracted, divisive war such as Vietnam.

Baker said that “it would be very helpful” if Congress would support the type of resolution passed by the U.N. Security Council.

“Congressional underscoring of the message that we are trying to send could significantly reduce the chance of war,” he said.

Saying that holding off a military clash with Iraq would hurt the United States and help Hussein kill Kuwait, Baker said the U.N.-imposed economic squeeze “has had little, if any, effect on (Hussein’s) inclination to withdraw.”

However, Sen. Paul S. Sarbanes (D-Md.) and several other senators challenged Baker, saying the Administration is giving up on sanctions prematurely.

He told Baker: “You’ve placed us on a course to war.”

Baker sought to rebut arguments made by members of Congress, some former U.S. military commanders and former Defense Secretary Robert S. McNamara that sanctions should be given more time to disrupt the Iraqi economy and compel Hussein to pull out of Kuwait.

“Waiting not only gives Saddam time to break the sanctions, but it imposes costs on us,” Baker said. “As we wait, Saddam will continue torturing Kuwait, killing it as a nation. . . . He will continue to fortify Kuwait, to build chemical and biological weapons and to acquire a nuclear weapons capability.

“As we wait, he expects other issues to deflect our attention, weaken our resolve and dissolve the international coalition. And as we wait, the burden of Saddam’s crime weighs heavier on the world. That is why we must make credible our preparations to use force.”