U.S. Jet Fires at Iraqi Radar as Spat Continues

A U.S. warplane fired a missile at an Iraqi antiaircraft radar installation Tuesday, punctuating a low-intensity but potentially lethal conflict made increasingly dangerous, U.S. officials say, by Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s growing level of frustration.

In the second such incident in two days--and the sixth in just over two weeks--the F-16 jet fired a radar-seeking rocket at an Iraqi ground-to-air missile site in the “no-fly” zone in Iraq’s north after the installation signaled hostile intent by training its radar on the plane, the Pentagon said.

Although such military face-offs are becoming almost routine, U.S. officials said they are a symptom of the Iraqi leader’s attempts to break out of the strategic box that has confined him since the 1991 Persian Gulf War.

Defense Secretary William S. Cohen, talking to reporters on a trip to Japan, said that Hussein is becoming increasingly “agitated and frantic” because of his inability to shake off the restraints imposed on Iraq by the allies after the Gulf War.

“He has indicated that he intends to disregard any recognition of the no-fly zones,” Cohen said. “To the extent that he does, then his forces will pay a penalty for it.”

White House Press Secretary Joe Lockhart added: “It’s been our experience that in times when he is isolated and frustrated, he tries to lash out, and we think now he is in a position where he has never been so isolated and never been so frustrated.”

At the same time, the United States faces a growing diplomatic isolation of its own.

Russia and France announced Tuesday that they will demand changes in the U.N. weapons inspection system to clear the way for the return of inspectors to Iraq as a step toward ending economic sanctions against Baghdad.

The United States and Britain said they will resist any attempt to water down the mandate of the U.N. Special Commission, or UNSCOM, but the French and Russian position appeared to be gaining support on the 15-member U.N. Security Council.

France described its approach to the other permanent members of the council--the U.S., Britain, China and Russia--during a closed-door meeting Tuesday, setting the stage for what could be a lengthy dispute.

“There are divisions in the council, which is not helpful,” U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said. “But I think the council members are discussing amongst themselves, and they are trying to see what they can do to develop a common ground with the task they have.”

For now, the shape of UNSCOM is virtually irrelevant. After last month’s U.S.-British strikes, Iraq announced that it would not allow the inspectors to return to the country.

Hussein’s regime has the power to bar the inspectors, but Washington and London insist that unless UNSCOM certifies that Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction have been dismantled, the sanctions will remain in place.

To maintain the sanctions, the United States or Britain might have to use a Security Council veto, a step that would make enforcement of the sanctions difficult even if they remained in place on paper.

“We do not think that it is possible to lift sanctions unless UNSCOM is able to do its work,” Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said Tuesday. “We have always favored improvements and welcomed suggestions for improvements, but the verification of a monitoring system has to be in place.”

In London, a senior government official was quoted by Reuters news service as saying that the French appear determined to gut efforts to prevent Iraq from obtaining nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.

“The French want a monitoring mission in Iraq but without a disarmament role,” the official said. “This is absolutely not acceptable to Britain because it rewards Iraq for not cooperating with UNSCOM. It doesn’t make sense.”

Hussein, meanwhile, has signaled his intention to challenge the no-fly zones imposed after the Gulf War to prevent him from attacking restive Kurds in the north and Shiite Muslims in the south. The Iraqi government also has mounted a rhetorical assault on Egypt, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.

In response, Kuwait mobilized part of its military Tuesday and authorized the United States to base eight F-16 warplanes on Kuwaiti territory.

“We have accepted the arrival of these eight F-16s to boost the defense of Kuwait,” the country’s defense minister, Sheik Salem Sabah al Salem al Sabah, told reporters.

Cohen said Washington will oppose any aggression by Iraq, including against its own Kurdish citizens.

“If he moves against the Kurds, then we are prepared to respond against him,” Cohen said.

Times staff writer John J. Goldman at the United Nations contributed to this report.