ACCESSION
ACCESSION NUMBER:263088 FILE ID:POL504 DATE:01/15/93 TITLE:BUSH WARNS IRAQ TO PERMIT LANDING OF U.N. AIRCRAFT (01/15/93) TEXT:*93011504.POL BUSH WARNS IRAQ TO PERMIT LANDING OF U.N. AIRCRAFT (Says "sufficient warnings" have been given) (560) By Alexander M. Sullivan USIA White House Correspondent Washington -- President Bush warned Saddam Hussein January 15 to permit United Nations aircraft into Iraq at once or face the consequences. 1 Declaring that Baghdad had failed to give clearance to a U.N. aircraft carrying United Nations inspectors, Bush said he and other members of the Persian Gulf coalition "are firm in demanding compliance with United Nations resolutions." Bush would not say what action the coalition might take if Iraq refuses to comply (by 2100 GMT), but he added, "sufficient warnings have been given." The president made his brief statement as he was departing to spend a long weekend -- his last in office -- at the presidential retreat, Camp David, in Maryland's nearby Catoctin Mountains. "We continue to monitor Iraq's behavior for compliance with United Nations resolutions," Bush told reporters. "We continue to demand access by United Nations aircraft for inspections in Iraq. The United Nations has made it clear to the Iraqis that the United Nations inspection teams are prepared to resume their work and have the right to fly U.N. aircraft into that country at any time." The president said a U.N. flight scheduled January 15 "did not receive clearance to enter Iraqi air space." He said the United Nations "has informed Saddam Hussein that if flight clearance is not granted by 4 p.m. Eastern Standard Time today (2100 GMT), Iraq will be in non-compliance" with the terms of the cease-fire ending the Persian Gulf war. Bush said coalition members "are firm in demanding compliance with United Nations resolutions." Asked if he meant to say that coalition members would again bomb Iraqi targets, as they had January 13, Bush told a questioner "I never say what we do do or don't do in terms of compelling compliance." He added that "sufficient warnings have been granted" to the Iraqis. "They know what they must do," he said. "This is not just the United States....It's a strong coalition whose determination has not diminished in any single way." Resolutions passed by the U.N. Security Council declare that Iraq must submit to U.N. inspections and to destruction of its weapons of mass destruction under United Nations auspices. One of the provocations leading up to the January 13 air strike on surface-to-air missile sites below the 32nd parallel was Iraq's refusal to allow access to a previous U.N. inspection team. Iraq's ambassador to the U.N. had announced late January 13 that Baghdad henceforth would comply with U.N. access demands. Bush termed the January 13 raid "a success" which "seriously depleted Iraq's air defense system" south of the 32nd parallel, in the "no-fly" zone imposed to protect Shia Muslims from oppression by the Baghdad regime. The president added that "the residual aspects of that mission" are being examined; he did not elaborate. The president apparently went over damage assessment reports earlier in the day, during a meeting with Secretary of State Eagleburger. Although Eagleburger was the only announced visitor, Defense Secretary Cheney and Brent Scowcroft, Bush's national security affairs adviser, were seen joining the meeting, Cheney carrying a portfolio-sized case such as those used to hold photographic blow-ups. NNNN .
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