20 December 1998
BERGER SAYS "OPERATION DESERT FOX" WAS "CLEARLY" A BLOW TO IRAQ
(Promises "prudent, effective" aid to Iraqi opposition) (860) By Ed Taishoff USIA Staff Writer Washington -- President Clinton's National Security Advisor Samuel R. "Sandy" Berger says Saddam Hussein's claim of victory in the aftermath of the "Desert Fox" aerial offensive against him "was a bit of whistling past the graveyard." The operation "clearly has been a blow," Berger said during a December 20 interview on CNN. He said the "substantial strike" involved more cruise missiles than in the Gulf war and more than 300 air sorties against over a hundred targets. "We've damaged his command and control his military," Berger said. "We've damaged his security forces, including his elite Republican Guard. We've damaged his missile production system and air defense system and, I think, across the board he's certainly in a weaker position." Berger also said that the strikes "certainly have degraded" Saddam's weapons of mass destruction capabilities. "We hit command and control facilities that are involved in his weapons of mass destruction system. We hit missile plants that are involved in delivering them." He stressed that the allied attacks "systematically and substantially went after essentially the infrastructure that controls" weapons of mass destruction "as well as military infrastructure that threatens his neighbors, including his elite Republican Guard, his special Republican Guard and the things that are most important to him." These have been substantially degraded, Berger said. "In the course of doing that," he continued, "if we've also weakened the underpinning of his regime, so be it." Berger said the first priority in the wake of "Operation Desert Fox" is "to continue to contain Saddam Hussein, which means if he tries to rebuild his weapons of mass destruction, if he threatens his neighbors, if he goes after the Kurds in the north or our airplanes, we have to be prepared to use force again. And this time, he knows for sure that we will use force, because he's just seen what's happened." Over the longer term, Berger said,,"the only solution here is going to be a different government in Baghdad. He noted the President has made clear that the United States will work with opposition groups in a "prudent, effective way" to assist them in ways that "ultimately can result in a different regime in Baghdad." He said he had no illusions that this goal "is achievable easily or quickly, but we are determined to pursue that objective in a very steady, deliberate, sustained way." Asked whether he has given up on the possibility that UNSCOM weapons inspectors will ever be able to return to Iraq, Berger pointed out that it was "Saddam Hussein who rendered UNSCOM ineffective." He noted that its chairman, Richard Butler, has stated that UNSCOM no longer can do its job because of the "deceit and deception and harassment of Saddam Hussein and his regime." He said the United States would hope that UNSCOM could return to Iraq, "if it were able to go back in under circumstances in which Saddam Hussein would fulfill his affirmative obligation to disclose the weapons of mass destruction programs that he has. That's an undertaking that he took as a condition of the cease-fire in the Gulf War. He said he would do it in 15 days. That was seven years ago." Berger said that he did not believe Russia's sharp criticism of the US actions against Iraq will cause "irreparable" consequences for relations between the two countries over the long run. "I believe firmly," he said, "that the Russians understand the importance of our relationship as do we, and that while they disagree with the use of force in this situation it will not damage our relationship." Asked whether the House vote to impeach President Clinton will have any impact on his status in the world, Berger said that what strikes him as he travels around the world is that "the President is a highly respected figure around the world." He said he thinks the international community believes Clinton "is a peacemaker. He has been someone who has stood up for security and freedom in the world -- that he is the leader of the world, and I believe all the leaders that we have spoken with have volunteered the fact that they strongly support him." Berger also pointed out that during his recent trip to Gaza and Israel that the President was received "with extraordinary warmth and respect" in both places. Berger said he was "very concerned" about the threat posed by terrorists supporting Iraq, specifically Osama bin Ladin, who is held responsible for the attacks on the US Embassies in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. "The terrorist threat is a serious one," he said, "one that we have to deal with seriously both in terms of protective measures that we can take, as well as aggressive measures that we can take to thwart it." He also said that despite the Israeli cabinet's decision to suspend withdrawal from the West Bank, "we firmly believe that both parties have an obligation to live up to the commitments of the Wye agreement. It is the only path toward peace."
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