U.S. Hits Iraqi Missile Site Tracking Jets

U.S. fighter-jets attacked a missile battery in northern Iraq on Thursday in the first military confrontation with Baghdad since President Clinton took office.

In Washington, Clinton immediately reiterated his intent to continue the Bush Administration policy of firing at Iraqi missile batteries that use radar to track allied jets over the country’s “no-fly zones,” as American authorities insisted happened Thursday.

The Pentagon said two U.S. Air Force jets--an F-4G Wild Weasel and an F-16 Falcon--aimed an anti-radar missile and two cluster bombs at an Iraqi antiaircraft missile battery that directed its radar at the U.S. planes and a French F-1 Mirage flying with them on a reconnaissance mission.

“We’re going to adhere to our policy,” Clinton told reporters. “It is the American policy and that’s what we’re going to stay with.”

In Iraq, President Saddam Hussein’s regime deliberately downplayed the incident and vowed to stand by a unilateral cease-fire it announced on the eve of the new President’s inauguration.

Hours after news of the clash was broadcast on foreign radio stations, a spokesman for the Iraqi Foreign Ministry in Baghdad formally denied that the missile battery had turned on its radar, saying that troops were under orders to keep their radar off.

“Iraq is committed to the cease-fire,” the spokesman said. He described the response by the American aircraft as “provocative and hostile.”

U.S. military authorities conceded that it is possible that an Iraqi soldier operating the radar either had disobeyed the cease-fire order or had never been informed of it.

In other developments Thursday:

* The first elements of a 70-member U.N. weapons-inspection team landed in Iraq. The commission’s director said the latest incident involving the jets would not deter the panel from continuing more flights this week.

* The U.N. legal department said it sees no language in existing Security Council resolutions that would give the United States, Britain and France authority to enforce the no-fly zones they have imposed in Iraq to protect the Kurdish and Shiite Muslim minorities.

* The Pentagon said that U.S.-manned Patriot air-defense missiles deployed on the outskirts of Kuwait city this week are operational and ready for use should Iraq launch a Scud missile attack, as happened during the Persian Gulf War.

* Turkey, ignoring domestic political reaction, backed the right of allied planes based there to continue to retaliate against Iraqi provocations, saying that Baghdad must dismantle the missiles that it has set up in the northern no-fly zone near the Turkish border.

The U.S. View

The Pentagon said Thursday’s incident--the first since Tuesday when Hussein declared a unilateral cease-fire, occurred at 1:09 p.m. Iraqi time (2:09 a.m. PST) about nine miles southwest of Mosul, just above the boundary of the northern no-fly zone in Iraq.

Officials said the two U.S. jets were flying cover for the French F-1 on routine reconnaissance when the Iraqi antimissile radar targeted the American planes. At that point, the F-4G fired an AGM-88 HARM anti-radar missile, while the F-16 dropped two cluster bombs.

They said that a few minutes before the incident, the American pilots noticed flashes from antiaircraft artillery coming from the direction of the site, but did not respond because they were out of range. No American damage reports were available immediately.

Pentagon officials said U.S. aircraft regularly fire back when they are “illuminated” by Iraqi radar, even if the radar has not “locked on” as part of a targeting procedure. Some Iraqi missiles can be fired without actually having to lock on to a target, they said.

While military authorities emphasized they do not know whether the incident was accidental or deliberate, they insisted that the American pilots had not made a mistake in assessing the situation.

Secretary of State Warren Christopher described the incident as “a reflection of the determination that the Clinton Administration will have” in its dealings with Iraq.

Defense Secretary Les Aspin and members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff met privately, apparently to discuss American policy toward Iraq. But no major policy changes are anticipated.

Iraq’s View

Iraq’s moderate response to Thursday’s events was evident both in New York and Baghdad.

At the United Nations, Nizar Hamdoun, Iraq’s ambassador, called Thursday’s incident “unfortunate” but asserted that “from Iraq’s point of view there is no change on the status of the cease-fire--it still stands. I don’t think it affects our goodwill offer.”

Indeed, back in Baghdad, the Hussein regime appeared to be trying to do its best to ignore the incident. There was no mention of the clash on the state-controlled evening television news Thursday--an omission widely interpreted as a sign of Baghdad’s restraint.

At the same time, the absence of any further Iraqi provocations after the shootings was taken as a strong indication that Hussein intends, at least for now, to avoid any major confrontations during the first months of Clinton’s term.

In fact, sources close to the regime initially were stunned and puzzled by Pentagon reports that U.S. aircraft had attacked the antiaircraft missile battery after it turned on its targeting radar.

They said all Iraqi antiaircraft crews in and near the allied-enforced no-fly zones have been under orders since the cease-fire announcement to keep their radars off. Allied commanders have served notice that they view the activation of such radar as a hostile act.

The Iraqis believe their leadership has gone out of its way to set a new tone of peace and reconciliation--both in word and in deed--in hopes that a fresh approach to the Clinton Administration ultimately will lead to a relaxation of crippling U.N. trade sanctions.

The U.N. Inspectors

In Baghdad, Kevin Saint-Louis, field office chief for the U.N. Special Commission enforcing the Persian Gulf War cease-fire resolutions, said the arrival of the U.N. plane carrying weapons inspectors went smoothly, with Iraqis even helping the team members with their luggage for the first time. “Just the statements that have come out over the past couple of days . . . I can say the team was greatly relieved that we’re coming in today,” he said.

Even so, diplomatic sources said that the real test of Iraqi willingness to comply with U.N. demands will be tested in coming days, when a U.N. ballistic-missile inspection team is expected in the Iraqi capital. Baghdad traditionally has balked most strongly at that.

No-Fly Zones

The interpretation by the U.N. legal staff on whether the allies have authority to enforce the no-fly zones came as something of a surprise and appeared to bolster Baghdad’s case--at least technically--that the coalition’s actions may be illegal.

The allies traditionally have based their enforcement actions on U.N. Security Council Resolution 688, which condemns the Iraqi government’s repression of minorities such as the Kurds and Shiites. They argue that enforcement authority is inherent in the language there.

But the U.N. interpretation contends that since the resolution was not enacted under Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter, which authorizes the use of force to maintain international peace and security, it contains no enforcement power.

Even so, U.N. officials conceded that the advisory ruling is unlikely to mean that the allies will have to stop using military power to enforce the resolution.

Fineman reported from Baghdad and Pine from Washington. Times special correspondent Hugh Pope in Istanbul, Turkey, contributed to this report.