U.S. Pilots Are Expected to Face More Peril on Iraq Patrol

U.S. military aircraft are expected to face heightened risks in patrolling the newly expanded “no-fly” zone over southern Iraq despite this week’s missile attacks against Iraqi air defenses, Clinton administration officials and defense analysts said Friday.

Although the two salvos of cruise missiles that U.S. forces launched Tuesday and Wednesday apparently significantly damaged or destroyed as many as 11 of the 15 targets, analysts said Iraq still has important facilities hidden in concrete bunkers and has mobile launching platforms that can be used against American and allied planes.

Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has served notice that he will no longer go along with the allies’ restrictions on his airspace and has publicly ordered his troops to fire on allied warplanes.

As a result, some analysts have expressed concerns that Iraqis might shoot down a U.S. fighter, possibly taking a pilot hostage--and creating a foreign policy nightmare for the administration.

Pentagon officials have expressed confidence that U.S. warplanes will be able to deal with the situation. The military has moved additional fighter jets into the area to help patrol the added territory if the burden proves too heavy for the existing allied force.

Officials said it is not clear whether France will help ease that burden. France has agreed to continue helping patrol the original portion of the southern “no-fly” zone, which extended north from Iraq’s southern border to the 32nd parallel and was created to protect Iraqi Shiites in the region. But Paris has refused to join in enforcing restrictions in the added area, which now runs to the 33rd parallel.

Defense analysts said that if France sent more fighters to patrol the original portion of the zone, more U.S. aircraft would be freed up to patrol the new restricted area.

The Pentagon said Friday that although all of the results still are not in, the cruise missiles that it launched at Iraqi air defense facilities this week generally performed well, knocking out the bulk of their intended targets.

Officials said that of eight Iraqi missile sites targeted by U.S. weapons, five were destroyed or severely damaged and one was damaged or vacated. The remaining two--both mobile--apparently were moved before the missiles landed.

The officials said that of seven air defense targets, one was destroyed or severely damaged and four were damaged or vacated. Two others suffered either minor damage or none at all.

Pentagon spokesman Kenneth Bacon said the missiles are designed to land within a 13-yard radius of the target at least half the time.

“We are not flawless, and the weapons do not meet their specifications 100% of the time,” he said.

In a related development, the administration agreed to discuss new Turkish demands that the Western allies compensate Turkey for the economic hardships it has suffered as a result of the loss of trade with Iraq after the 1991 Persian Gulf War.

State Department spokesman Glyn Davies said the talks will begin next week but declined to say specifically how much the West might be willing to provide, or which countries might be asked to donate funds.

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Turkish Foreign Minister Tansu Ciller said in an interview with the BBC on Friday that her country’s losses have reached $27 billion. “It’s time for our allies to acknowledge our losses and compensate us,” she said.

She also served notice that Turkey wants to discuss the terms of “Operation Provide Comfort,” which enforces a second “no-fly” zone--this one over northern Iraq, near the Turkish border. The zone is being enforced by allied warplanes flying from bases in Turkey.

U.S. officials insisted that Washington regards Ciller’s concerns as legitimate, but they said that the United States is not ready to decide how to respond to the request.

In other action Friday, Iraqi troops supported by more than 100 tanks took up positions 10 miles south of Irbil in the Kurdish enclave. Their purpose was to support a Kurdish faction that is allied with Iraq and has been battling another group of Kurds.

Reuters news service reported that rival Kurdish militias clashed along the Iranian border and again along a strategic road to the city of Sulaymaniyah, citing reports from the field.

Also Friday, Iraq formally objected to Turkey’s plan to create a security buffer zone in Iraq’s Kurdish region, calling it a violation of Iraqi sovereignty.