DATE=9/14/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=U-S /IRAQ (L ONLY)
NUMBER=2-266521
BYLINE=ALEX BELIDA
DATELINE=PENTAGON
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: U-S and British warplanes have attacked a
radar site in southern Iraq. V-O-A Pentagon
Correspondent Alex Belida reports it is the first
retaliatory strike since an Iraqi aircraft defied
post-Gulf War no-fly restrictions last week and
reportedly penetrated Saudi airspace.
TEXT: A Pentagon spokesman says coalition fighter-
bombers attacked the Iraqi radar site Thursday in
response to anti-aircraft fire aimed at earlier U-S
and British air patrols.
The spokesman, Admiral Craig Quigley, says it was the
first retaliatory strike undertaken by coalition
forces since September 4th, when he says Iraqi aircraft
twice violated the so-called southern no-fly zone.
Admiral Quigley declines to confirm news reports that
one of those September 4th incidents involved a brief
Iraqi over-flight of Saudi Arabia.
He says there were no scheduled coalition air patrols
on that day -- a factor that the spokesman says could
have prompted Iraq's violations.
He declines to say whether coalition aircraft were
scrambled in response to the Iraqi air activity or
whether other counter-measures were taken.
Nevertheless, the Pentagon spokesman says coalition
forces will ultimately respond to such violations.
/// QUIGLEY ACT ///
We will respond in a manner and a time and a
place of our choosing and it's not necessarily a
tit-for-tat [EDS: retaliatory strike] or an
immediate response to a provocation.
/// END ACT ///
U-S forces in the Gulf region have not seen any
unusual Iraqi troop buildups or maneuvers. However
Pentagon officials say surveillance activities have
been increased because they say this is the time of
year when Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein has historically
either decided to attack his neighbors or attack his
own people.
The so-called no-fly zones in both northern and
southern Iraq were set up by U-S led coalition forces
after the 1991 Gulf War. (Signed)
NEB/BEL/JP
14-Sep-2000 15:49 PM LOC (14-Sep-2000 1949 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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