12 January 1999
PENTAGON SAYS NO-FLY ZONE ENVIRONMENT IS "HIGHLY-CHARGED"
(Doubleday attributes change to Iraqi challenges) (725) By Susan Ellis USIA Staff Writer Washington -- The Pentagon announced January 12 that a U.S. F-16C/J aircraft conducting routine enforcement over northern Iraq had fired a high speed anti-radiation missile (HARM) at an Iraqi early-warning radar which was operating as part of an integrated Iraqi surface-to-air missile (SAM) system. It was the latest in a series of incidents during the past several weeks involving U.S. responses to challenges over the no-fly zones in Iraq. At the regular January 12 Defense Department news briefing, Captain Mike Doubleday said the incident occurred near the city of Mosul "and, as in the past, this was done because this was part of a system that was a threat to coalition forces enforcing the no-fly zone there. "The aircraft and air crew involved in the incident returned safely to their base," he added. "The damage to the Iraqi site is still being assessed and we will continue to enforce the no-fly zone there in the north and also in the south." Asked about Iraqi assets in the vicinity of Mosul, in view of several incidents in that region recently, Doubleday would not comment directly but said, "The best way to characterize Iraqi activity over the past several weeks has been that they have been attempting to challenge the enforcement of the no-fly zones both on the ground in their integrated air defense systems and also in the air with these periodic incursions they make into the no-fly zones." There were a number of such incidents on January 12, he said, citing "in the south five violations involving 21s, 23s, 25s and at least one F-1. And in the north there were two involving 21s and F-1s." A reporter pointed out that in the recent incidents where the U.S. has acted, planes were actively targeted or fired on by missiles. When asked if this had happened in the most recent case, the spokesman said there was no launch of a missile but the incidents involved an early-warning site "fully integrated into their SAM system; and certainly when our pilots and air crews feel threatened by the activities of the Iraqis in the no-fly zone, we take action to protect (them) and this was exactly what happened in this case." Refusing to comment on the rules of engagement, Doubleday said, "We don't want to reveal to the Iraqis any details they may find valuable as they go about these challenges." However, he said, "What has changed in the last several weeks is a decision, evidently on the part of Saddam Hussein, to challenge the no-fly zones and...you've seen this in the actions that he has taken with regard to flights into both the southern and the northern no-fly zones, and the use of his integrated air defense systems and SAM systems against coalition aircraft that are trying to enforce these no-fly zones." The environment is "different...from what it was six months ago," he said. "It's an environment which is very highly-charged....The environment clearly plays a major role in the kinds of responses that we make to threats....But the thing that has not changed is, we have said from the very outset, that our pilots and air crews are going to take those measures that they feel are appropriate to protect themselves." The United States, he added, has flown more than 140,000 sorties in support of the no-fly zones since they were established (in 1991), and more than 200,000, if coalition aircraft flights are included. Asked if Iraqi military strategy has changed during that time, he said, "I think that their overall goal is to get rid of all of the constraints on Iraq, and those constraints are no-fly zones, sanctions, all of the inspections of their weapons of mass destruction -- all of the things that the international community is concerned about. All of these actions on the part of the international community...(were) to contain Iraq, keep Iraq from threatening its own population and threatening its neighbors and continuing to develop weapons of mass destruction."
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