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30 June 1998

AMB. BILL RICHARDSON SAYS US FIRING AT IRAQI RADAR WAS APPROPRIATE

(Action in no-fly zone has little effect at UN headquarters) (250)
By Judy Aita
USIA United Nations Correspondent
United Nations -- US Ambassador Bill Richardson said June 30 that the
firing at an Iraqi radar site was "simply an appropriate response" to
Iraq's "violation of military protocol."
A US F-16 plane, flying a routine patrol mission over the allied
imposed no-fly zone in southern Iraq, fired at the site after Iraqi
radar apparently locked on the aircraft. All allied planes returned to
their base safely and there was no immediate report on damage to the
radar site.
Britain, France and the United States declared the no-fly zones in
Iraq after the Gulf War to protect the Kurds in the north and the
Shi'ite in the south. The zones do not effect nor have any relation to
the wide-ranging economic sanctions imposed on Baghdad and the work of
weapons experts on the UN Special Commission overseeing the
destruction of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction (UNSCOM).
Responding to questions by journalists at the UN about the incident,
Richardson said that "there was a violation of military protocol. This
is simply an appropriate response to a violation. That is the American
position."
UN officials refused to comment.
"This action was carried out by the multinational force which is
responsible for the no-fly zone in the region," said UN spokesman Juan
Carlos Brandt.