10 Years After War, Hussein ‘Still a Menace,’ Bush Says

Iraqi President Saddam Hussein “is still a menace” a decade after the Persian Gulf War, President Bush said Thursday following a close attempt by Baghdad’s military to shoot down a U.S. U-2 spy plane.

“We’re going to keep the pressure on Iraq,” Bush said at the White House when asked by reporters about Wednesday’s attempt to hit the high-flying U-2 using a Russian-made antiaircraft missile.

Senior defense officials said the missile just missed the unarmed, single-seat U-2, which was operating in a “no-fly” zone over southern Iraq. One said that the pilot felt a shock wave and that the close call was a surprise because the missile was apparently fired without the use of targeting radar.

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld has warned that American and British pilots patrolling the no-fly zones that Western allies imposed over northern and southern Iraq face increasing danger from Baghdad’s military forces.

“We are concerned that the Iraqis might be using some new tactics or modifications,” a Pentagon official said. “We reserve the right to respond to such attempts at the place and time of our choosing.”

After the 1991 war, Iraq was banned from using all aircraft, including helicopters, in the no-fly zones, which were set up to protect minority Kurds and Shiite Muslims in Iraq from attack by Hussein’s military.