20 December 1998
SHELTON SAYS SADDAM WILL BE "OUT OF BUSINESS FOR AT LEAST A YEAR"
(Saddam's production capability for missiles destroyed) (460) By Susan Ellis USIA Staff Writer Washington -- Saddam Hussein will "be out of business for at least a year," insofar as implementing his missile research and development program after US-British airstrikes destroyed nine targets, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Hugh Shelton said in an interview on ABC's "This Week" December 20. Shelton said there were "two main objectives," one to degrade the weapons of mass destruction program, and two "to reduce (Saddam's) ability to threaten his neighbors. From the objectives that we laid out, from the targets that we had, it has been very successful." Secretary of Defense William Cohen, appearing on the same program, said that while assessments are not yet complete, "based on what we've seen to date, looking at these photographs, you can see that that repair facility and its production capability for the missiles, that has been destroyed." When asked how the Allies will know what Saddam Hussein is doing if Iraq will not allow the UNSCOM inspectors back, Cohen said "all of the sanctions are going to remain in place. Saddam is not going to be in a position to rebuild or reconstitute in any easy fashion." He also said the Allied forces "will remain in place... so that if he tries to reconstitute that capability we're prepared to take it down again." Cohen noted that the UNSCOM inspectors were ineffective because they were being prevented from carrying out their mission and mandate. When asked about why allied forces attacked the Republican Guards, Cohen said "we have always indicated these are the people who maintain control of his (Saddam's) weapons of mass destruction program. They maintain the security of it. They also maintain the transportation of it." Cohen said it was "not our" objective to "destabilize" Saddam. "That was not our major goal. Our major goal was to hit those units that were in charge of his weapons of mass destruction program." Regarding additional air strikes in the future, Shelton noted that the United States has remained "a very substantial force in the Gulf for over 20 years... and our plan is to retain that to ensure that Saddam does not threaten the region." The general said the strikes were carried out "substantially by the force that was in the region and that we have kept in the region. We didn't have to build up almost anything. That is the same force that will stay there now and is prepared to do something equivalent." He added that the military also maintains a very large crisis response force in the United States "prepared to respond on very short order if needed."
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