HoustonChronicle.com

Current Page 1 stories:

Glenn insists he's feeling great

November 08, 1998, 09:14 p.m.

U.S. drafts two strategies to attack Iraq

By STEVEN LEE MYERS
New York Times

WASHINGTON -- As the Clinton administration once again considers using force against Iraq, the Pentagon has drafted separate plans for a sharp, swift strike that could begin at any time, and a larger, more punishing assault that would require sending more forces to the region, officials say.

President Clinton met for two hours Sunday with his senior national security aides at the presidential retreat at Camp David, Md., to discuss strategies for responding to the new defiance by Iraq's president, Saddam Hussein, of the U.N. weapon inspections.

Officials emphasized that Clinton had not yet decided to use force in the latest confrontation with Saddam and that the plans could change.

But with no 11th-hour diplomatic initiative in sight and with frustration over Iraq growing not only within the administration but among allies in Europe and the Persian Gulf, the possibility of a strike has loomed larger than at any point since the showdown last winter with Saddam.

Either of the two plans now under consideration could cause significant damage to Saddam's bases of power, including Iraq's military and special police and factories or other sites suspected of producing chemical and biological weapons, the officials said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

They declined to discuss the planning in greater detail.

The swift strike has the advantage of speed and surprise. The United States could launch the strikes with forces already in the Persian Gulf, including warplanes aboard the carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower and seven other Navy vessels that can fire Tomahawk cruise missiles.

The larger strike could do more damage, the officials said, but would require Clinton to activate air and naval forces based in the United States. Those forces, already on call in case of a crisis in the region, could arrive in the gulf region within 96 hours.

"The trade-off is speed vs. power," said one official familiar with the planning.

During the meeting Sunday with his national security aides, Clinton asked for a review of all diplomatic and military options on the table, and told his advisers to report back to him "over the next several days," said David Leavy, the spokesman for the National Security Council.

"He had some important questions he wanted to get some more information on," Leavy said.

Clinton made no decisions at the meeting, Leavy said. In attendance were Secretary of State Madeleine Albright; Secretary of Defense William Cohen; the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Henry Shelton; the national security adviser, Sandy Berger; and the director of central intelligence, George Tenet.

Sunday's meeting came on the heels of diplomatic missions by Clinton's aides. On Friday, Cohen completed a whirlwind tour of nine Arab states, where he gauged anti-Iraqi sentiments. He won no public backing for military action, but officials said he received private pledges of support from allies whose territory or air space might be needed for strikes. Berger met with his French and British counterparts outside Paris on Saturday.

"The patience among all the allies is frayed, badly frayed," an official said Sunday.

The United States has not set a deadline for Iraq to reverse its decision to end all cooperation with UNSCOM, the U.N. commission overseeing the dismantling of Iraq's weapons programs.

Administration officials also said they had not decided whether to issue an ultimatum before acting. One official said the administration did not foresee a new diplomatic appeal to Iraq, like the one the U.N. secretary-general, Kofi Annan, made in February to avert a U.S.-led strike.

While the administration had refused to discuss any timetable for action, there are external factors that could affect decisions in the days ahead. A significant one is the president's schedule. He plans to leave the United States on Friday for a nine-day trip to Asia.