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

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

Pentagon sources said that 17 cruise missiles were launched from four Navy vessels at about 3 a.m. Iraqi time today. “This operation is designed to eliminate sites not destroyed in Tuesday morning’s initial cruise missile attack,” the White House said in a terse statement.

That earlier strike involved 27 missiles fired at 14 targets in southern Iraq. The initial damage reports Tuesday from the first attack indicated “several sites were not destroyed,” Pentagon spokesman Kenneth Bacon said.

Clinton explained the U.S. military response in a nationwide address early Tuesday morning, just hours after the initial attack. “We must make it clear that reckless acts have consequences, or those acts will increase,” he said. “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 might be taken--especially if Hussein did not retreat from the Kurdish north, a region that has been under U.S. protection since 1991. Iraqi troops invaded Kurdistan in northern Iraq on 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.

The second round of U.S. strikes occurred this morning and targeted Iraqi air defense sites below the 33rd parallel, officials said, referring to a newly extended “no-fly” zone in Iraq’s south. Bacon said the second attack also required Clinton’s approval, which he gave Tuesday afternoon.

The new attack came within 24 hours of the first so as not to allow Iraq time or opportunity to move equipment at the target sites, the sources said.

In other developments:

* Iraq showed no sign of buckling. Hussein on Tuesday 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 crosses just south of Baghdad.

The U.S. attacks were designed to eliminate air defense systems “to ensure the safety of [allied] aircraft and crews” enforcing the flight restrictions in the expanded zone, the White House said in its statement.

* 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.

* The United States received support from some of its key allies, such as 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 during the Gulf War.

* Bob Dole, the Republican presidential nominee, supported U.S. 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 its aircraft stationed in allied countries near Iraq for the initial mission. Instead, the Pentagon used Navy ships and flew B-52 bombers 19 hours from Guam--and back again--refueling in both directions.

In the first attack, 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.

From the Persian Gulf, the guided missile destroyer Laboon and the guided missile cruiser Shiloh together launched 14 Tomahawk cruise missiles.

The weapons were aimed at these Iraqi targets: in the vicinity of the Tallil air base in southeastern 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 Bacon rejected claims by Iraqi officials that a missile struck a housing complex.

The second wave of missiles was launched from the destroyer Hewitt, the attack submarine Jefferson City, the guided missile destroyer Russell and the Laboon.

Cmdr. Peter Daly, commanding officer of the Russell, said in a telephone interview from aboard ship that his vessel fired eight Tomahawk missiles in the raid. “The system worked perfectly,” he said.

The move to expand the southern “no-fly” zone in Iraq 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 U.S. 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 reconnaissance photos showed 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.

After six years of U.N. economic sanctions, food and medicine are badly needed, especially among growing numbers of malnourished Iraqi children--many of them in the Kurdish region under attack by Iraqi forces.

The immediate impact of the news was a jump in oil prices because it means that $2 billion worth of Iraqi oil will no longer be heading for world markets this fall.

The Reaction

Global reaction to the missile strikes varied, with U.S. allies such as Britain, 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.

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.”

Japanese Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto told reporters that the raid was in line with 1991 U.N. resolutions calling on Iraq to stop suppressing its Kurdish minority. “Japan understands it and will support it as needed,” he said.

The French, however, urged a political solution. Foreign Minister Herve de Charette said 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 Moscow 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 Countdown

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.

On Aug. 18, Clinton began to receive intelligence assessments alerting the White House to the potential for the clashes to open the way for Iraqi intervention. But the evidence at that stage was “less than conclusive,” White House Press Secretary Mike McCurry said at a briefing Tuesday.

On Thursday, during the Democratic Convention in Chicago, Clinton delayed work on his acceptance speech to get briefings from White House National Security Advisor Anthony Lake. He also began considering military options and conferring with allies. By day’s end, he ordered an increase in U.S. flights over the two “no-fly” zones over Kurdistan and Shiite-dominated southern Iraq.

On Saturday, Iraq moved its forces. The strike on Irbil took only hours.

In Washington, the National Security Council staff came up with a “decision memo” that Clinton received on a campaign stop in Dyersburg, Tenn. The plan was approved by Clinton on Saturday night.

Gen. John M. Shalikashvili, the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, and Assistant Secretary of State Robert H. Pelletreau Jr. were dispatched to the Middle East to confer with heads of state in Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt.

On Sunday, Clinton called leaders of Saudi Arabia, Britain, Jordan and Egypt to inform them of the likely course of action. After an afternoon of golf, the president met with Lake, who had flown in from Washington, with maps and photos of the target sites.

On Monday, Clinton signed off on the last set of questions for decision, mostly a formality completed by checking “yes” or “no” boxes on White House memos. As he flew home from a campaign stop in Wisconsin, he gave the final authorization for execution of the mission at 8:11 p.m.

“We have to go forward. This is the right thing to do,” he said, according to McCurry. By then, the first B-52s were almost halfway to Iraq.

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

Persian Gulf Crisis

* VICTORIOUS KURDS: The battle for Irbil was a pushover for Kurdish fighters and Iraqi troops, members of the winning faction said. A12

* U.S. GOES IT ALONE: The missile assault on Iraq was exclusively an American show, staged without help from Washington’s allies. A13

* PRICE JUMP: Crude oil and gasoline prices surged on commodity markets, but analysts were divided on how consumers will fare. D1

* O.C. REACTION--The U.S. missile strikes renewed debate over the Gulf Way legacy by O.C. experts on Kurdish and Mideast affairs. (Orange County Edition, B1)

* RELATED COVERAGE: A11-13

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

A Roundup on the Raids

Tensions in the Mideast escalated today. Among the developments:

MILITARY

U.S. action

* President Clinton launches a second set of raids on targets in southern Iraq, following an initial strike early Tuesday.

* An extended “no-fly” zone takes effect today in southern Iraq.

Iraqi action

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

DOMESTIC

* Presidential rival Bob Dole quickly offers support for Clinton’s action, setting aside earlier criticism. But with Clinton ahead in the polls, his moves against Iraq so far are unlikely to greatly alter the race.

ECONOMIC

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