Released: 17 Dec 1998
WASHINGTON -- U.S. military forces launched a "strong, sustained series of air strikes" against Iraq shortly after midnight Dec. 17 in Baghdad. President Clinton said the United States and its allies had to act now rather than wait "even a matter of days" to let Iraq prepare for an attack.
Besides the initial air attacks, the United States will also send an air expeditionary wing, including 36 aircraft such as F-117s, and ground troops into the Persian Gulf to support continued military action in what is dubbed Operation Desert Fox.
Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen said U.S. objectives are to degrade Saddam Hussein's capacity to threaten his neighbors and degrade his capacity to produce weapons of mass destruction.
The attack comes after the latest in a series of roadblocks thrown up by the government of Saddam Hussein against weapons inspections conducted by the U.N. Special Commission. UNSCOM Chairman Richard Butler's report to the U.N. secretary general Dec. 15 stated that Iraq officials had, in Clinton's words, failed in four of five benchmarks for cooperation with the inspectors.
"Rather than the inspectors disarming Iraq," the president said, "Iraq has disarmed the inspectors."
The president noted that for the last six weeks the United Nations had struggled with Iraq's continued refusal to cooperate with UNSCOM. He recalled that he called off one strike "with our airplanes already in the air." At that time, Clinton said, he decided "to give Saddam Hussein one last chance to prove his willingness to cooperate."
The president said that at that time he, along with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, "made it equally clear, if Saddam failed to cooperate fully, we would be prepared to act without delay, diplomacy or warning."
Clinton said Butler's UNSCOM report to the secretary general reached conclusions that are "stark, sobering and profoundly disturbing. "Rather than cooperate, according to the report, Saddam Hussein had put new restrictions upon the inspectors.
Iraq, according to Butler, repeatedly kept inspectors from suspect sites, such as the headquarters to the ruling party. Iraq officials, Clinton said, "repeatedly restricted UNSCOM's ability to obtain necessary evidence, "going so far as to empty a building of everything, including furniture, before an inspection.
"So," the president concluded, "Iraq has abused its final chance."
He then quoted from the UNSCOM report: "Iraq's conduct insured that no progress was able to be made in the fields of disarmament. In light of this experience, and in the absence of full cooperation by Iraq, it must regrettably be recorded again that the commission is not able to conduct work mandated to it by the security council with respect to Iraq's prohibited weapons program."
The president said, "Iraq's deceptiveness has precluded [the inspector's] effectiveness.
"This situation presents a clear and present danger to the stability of the Persian Gulf and the safety of people everywhere. The international community gave Saddam Hussein one last chance to resume cooperation with the weapons inspectors. Saddam had failed to seize the chance. And so we had to act, and act now."
Clinton added, "In halting our air strikes in November, I gave Saddam Hussein a chance, not a license. If we turn our backs on his defiance, the credibility of U.S. power as a check against Saddam will be destroyed."
Neither Clinton nor Defense Department officials would estimate how long the U.S. military action would last.
"Their mission is to attack Iraq's nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs and degrade its military capacity to threaten its neighbors," Clinton said. "Their purpose is to protect the national interests of the United States and the interests of the people throughout the Middle East and around the world.
"Saddam Hussein must not be allowed to threaten his neighbors or the world with nuclear arms, poison gas or biological weapons."
The president said he acted upon the unanimous recommendation from his national security team to use force in Iraq.
Recalling that a decade ago Iraq used chemical weapons against soldiers and civilians in its war with Iran, President Clinton said, "The international community had little doubt then - and I have no doubt today - that, left unchecked, Saddam Hussein will use these terrible weapons."
The swift strike was necessary now, rather than wait "even a matter of days after Chairman Butler's report" so as not to allow Saddam Hussein time to disperse his forces and prepare for an attack.
