U.S. Forces Hit Iraq Again in 2nd Round of Missile Strikes

U.S. forces struck Iraqi targets for a second time Tuesday as part of an operation that President Clinton pledged would continue until Iraqi President Saddam Hussein complies with standards of international conduct.

Hours after the first attack, in which 27 U.S. cruise missiles struck air defense systems in southern Iraq, Clinton told the nation in an early morning address: “We must make it clear that reckless acts have consequences or those acts will increase. We must reduce Iraq’s ability to strike out at its neighbors, and we must increase America’s ability to contain Iraq over the long run.”

Asked if the United States would continue military strikes against Iraq, Clinton said at the time, “It depends entirely on what he [Hussein] does--not on what he says, but what he does.”

Other leading U.S. officials warned repeatedly Tuesday that more measures may be taken--especially if Hussein does not retreat from the Kurdish north, a region that has been under U.S. protection since 1991. Iraqi troops invaded Kurdistan in the country’s north Saturday and captured the Kurdish capital, Irbil.

“We certainly reserve the right to conduct further actions,” Defense Secretary William J. Perry said at a Pentagon briefing.

Indeed, the second round of U.S. strikes occurred Tuesday night at Iraqi air defense sites below the 33rd parallel, officials said, referring to an extended “no-fly” zone in Iraq’s south. The officials noted that the actions had been authorized under a presidential order allowing for a “mopping up” operation against any of the originally identified U.S. targets.

The second strike, a terse White House statement said, was “designed to eliminate sites not destroyed in Tuesday morning’s initial cruise missile attack.” Officials said the second assault was “necessary to ensure the safety of aircraft and crews operating” in the area.

U.S. warplanes returned the same day so as not to allow Iraq time or opportunity to move equipment at the target site, the sources said. Initial damage reports Tuesday indicated at least one target was missed in the first raid, Pentagon sources acknowledged.

In other developments:

* Iraq showed no signs of buckling. Hussein called on his military to “fight, resist these aggressors and teach them a new unforgettable lesson.” He also claimed that the cruise missiles had not seriously damaged Iraqi installations.

* Clinton announced plans to squeeze Hussein still tighter by expanding the region over southern Iraq where Iraqi flights are banned. The zone had extended from the country’s southern border north to the 32nd parallel. As of today, the southern “no-fly” zone will extend to the 33rd parallel--which touches the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.

* The United States announced it will block any international attempt to push ahead with the U.N.-approved agreement to allow Iraq to sell oil for the first time since the 1991 Persian Gulf War, with revenues from such sales to be used for humanitarian supplies.

* America received support from some of its staunchest allies, like Britain, Canada and Japan. Its Gulf incursion drew criticism from Russia and China and tepid reaction from nations that had been part of the U.S.-led coalition in the Gulf War.

* Bob Dole, the Republican presidential nominee, supported American forces involved in the Gulf but avoided discussing Clinton’s conduct as commander in chief during a foreign policy crisis.

The Action

The United States acted alone in its missile attacks, an assault known as “Operation Desert Strike,” because allied support was lacking in the region. Without it, the United States could not use American aircraft stationed in allied countries near Iraq for its initial mission. Instead, the Pentagon used Navy ships and flew B-52 bombers 19 hours from Guam--and back again--refueling in both directions.

The two aging bombers fired 13 missiles against surface-to-air missile sites, radar installations and command-and-control centers in the area between the 32nd and 33rd parallels.

In the Persian Gulf, the destroyer Laboon and the submarine Shiloh launched 14 Tomahawk cruise missiles.

The weapons were aimed at these Iraqi targets: in the vicinity of the Tallil air base in southwestern Iraq, the nearby city of Nasiriyah on the Euphrates River, the city of Iskandariyah just south of Baghdad and Kut, a southern city on the Tigris River.

The Defense Department confirmed Iraqi reports of five Iraqi deaths, but Pentagon spokesman Kenneth Bacon rejected claims by Iraqi officials that a missile struck a housing complex.

Few details were available about the second cruise missile salvo Tuesday night.

But after the earlier assault, Clinton took further diplomatic and economic steps against Iraq, for example, extending the “no-fly” protective zone, effectively to the very suburbs of Baghdad.

The move does not directly affect conditions in the Kurdish north, where a similar “no-fly” zone extends from the 36th parallel to Iraq’s northern border. Rather, it is designed to deny Hussein control of Iraqi airspace and limit his ability to launch offensive operations in the Persian Gulf region, Clinton said.

“Saddam Hussein’s objectives may change, but his methods are always the same--violence and aggression, against the Kurds, against other ethnic minorities, against Iraq’s neighbors,” he said. “Our answer to that recklessness must be strong and immediate.”

But Hussein, in his address, declared that he would no longer honor the U.N.-declared “no-fly” zones and vowed to target any American warplane flying over Iraq, saying in a television address to his nation, “From now on, pay no attention to damned imaginary ‘no-fly’ zones above the 36th parallel and below the 32nd parallel.”

Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tarik Aziz told the official Iraqi News Agency that the attack would have “no effect” on the “will of Iraq and its decision to protect its people and sovereignty. This aggression will bring America nothing but added disgrace and shame.”

Aziz also claimed that Iraqi troops were completing their withdrawal Tuesday from Irbil, the Kurdistan capital captured by Hussein’s forces Saturday. But a White House official called Iraq’s moves around Irbil “a phony withdrawal. We all know who is still in control.”

U.S. officials said that reconnaissance photos had shown that the two divisions of the Iraqi Republican Guard that had attacked Irbil appeared to be pulling out of the area but that a division of mechanized infantry troops remained.

Iraqi tanks were withdrawn only because the offensive in Irbil is over and the new occupying force no longer faces opposition, Pentagon officials said.

Administration officials said intelligence reports also showed that the Iraqis had stopped shelling the area but that they appeared to be massing more troops around another city, Sulaymaniyah, and may be preparing to attack local Kurds.

As part of the retribution against Hussein, Clinton also said Tuesday that the United States will block any international attempt to push ahead with the U.N.-approved agreement to allow Iraq to sell oil for the first time since the Gulf War, provided the revenues are used for humanitarian supplies.

The Reaction

Global reaction to the missile strikes varied, with American allies like Britain, Germany, Canada and Japan supporting the president. Russia and China were critical.

The strongest show of support came from British Prime Minister John Major, who said that the United States was completely justified in its attack, designed to prevent a recurrence of “the humanitarian tragedy” after the Gulf War when Iraqi forces killed large numbers of Kurds.

Major said that Britain and the United States do not want to see a repeat of such events, which “stirred the conscience of the world” and led to the establishment of the haven for the Kurds in northern Iraq. “He has a human rights record in Iraq that is absolutely atrocious,” Major said of Hussein.

In Toronto, Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien strongly supported Clinton’s decision to attack Iraqi targets, describing the cruise missile launch as “a measured and clear response to Iraqi military actions, while ensuring to the extent possible the safety of civilian populations in Iraq.”

German Defense Minister Volker Ruehe, who was visiting Israel, said that the strikes provided a chance to get good information about the situation in Iraq. “I believe what matters now is that all in the free world stand together to make it clear that no one can do something like this without being punished. And the Americans deserve our full support,” he said.

The French, however, urged a political solution. Foreign Minister Herve de Charette said that talks between Iraq and the Kurds are “to us the only way to contribute, by a political solution, to the return to calm and stability in Iraqi Kurdistan.”

And in Moscow, Russia called on the United States to halt its military strikes, saying that they could send events in the region spiraling “out of control.”

An official statement issued by Russia’s Itar-Tass news agency said that Russia considers the U.S. military operation “a disproportionate and unacceptable reaction to the latest events in northern Iraq.”

In Beijing, China objected to the strike by the United States on targets in southern Iraq, expressing “deep regret over the new tensions in the Gulf.”

“We are seriously concerned about the U.S. bombing of Iraq’s air defense system,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Shen Guofang said Tuesday, shortly after the Pentagon announced the attack.

The Iraqi actions have been brewing since mid-August, when serious fighting broke out between the two main Kurdish factions, the Democratic Party of Kurdistan (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), long-standing political and tribal rivals.

For more than a year, the United States has been trying to mediate a permanent cease-fire between the feuding factions. A truce was agreed to in talks in Ireland last fall, but it went the way of earlier cease-fires this summer.

Contributing to this report were Times staff writers John Broder, Art Pine, Norman Kempster and Paul Richter in Washington, Maria L. LaGanga in Salt Lake City, Rone Tempest in Beijing, Craig Turner in Toronto, John Daniszewski in Amman, Jordan, and William D. Montalbano in Ankara, Turkey.

* PRICES JUMP: Crude oil, gasoline prices surge on commodity markets. D1

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Reaction to the Raids

On the day following the raid on Iraq, President Clinton received support from home and mixed reactions from abroad. The day’s developments included:

MILITARY

* The U.S. launched a second round of attacks on Iraqi targets.

* Iraqi President Saddam Hussein urged his air force to attack U.S. planes policing the exclusion zones.

* Clinton expanded the southern “no-fly” zone in Iraq.

* France and Russia criticized the airstrikes, marring Clinton hopes for allied unanimity.

DOMESTIC

* Rival Bob Dole quickly closed ranks behind Clinton, setting aside earlier criticism. But with Clinton ahead in the polls, the Iraq action so far is unlikely to greatly impact the presidential race.

ECONOMIC

* Price of U.S. crude oil jumped $1.15 to $23.40 with new uncertainty about world supplies. A sustained increase would fuel inflation.