United States Military Assaults Iraq

A U.S. F-16 fighter pilot wrongly thought that he was being targeted by radar when he fired a missile at an Iraqi installation Saturday in the "no-fly" zone over southern Iraq, the Pentagon said Sunday. "Further analysis . . . has not substantiated initial indications of Iraqi radar activity," the Defense Department said in a statement. The statement said instruments aboard the F-16 caused the pilot to believe incorrectly that he had been illuminated by Iraqi radar.

For the second time in three days, a U.S. F-16 jet fighter fired a missile at an Iraqi air defense site after the site's radar appeared to be targeting the jet, the Pentagon said. Reacting cautiously, Defense Secretary William J. Perry expressed some uncertainty about whether the jet really was threatened, acknowledging the possibility that its detection equipment might have given a false reading.

The Clinton administration moved closer Thursday to launching new, expanded airstrikes against Iraq amid serious constraints over which bases it could use as staging areas and which tactics it would use to prevent Iraq from downing--and capturing--U.S. pilots. In another move to position U.S. forces for possible action, the Pentagon ordered the aircraft carrier Enterprise, stationed in the central Mediterranean, to set sail for the Persian Gulf. It is expected to arrive there early next week.

The Clinton administration has sent Iraq new demands, and officials said Baghdad's response to them will determine whether the United States launches more attacks or gradually returns to a more normal military posture in the Middle East, U.S. officials said Tuesday. Although senior officials declined to disclose details, they said the list outlines steps that Washington considers essential to ensuring the safety of U.S.

President Clinton's proclaimed success in prodding Baghdad to withdraw its forces from a Kurdish enclave was marred Thursday as two rival Kurdish factions opened fire on each other and Turkey announced plans to establish a buffer zone on its border with Iraq.

French President Jacques Chirac on Thursday rebuffed Secretary of State Warren Christopher's plea for help in enforcing the expanded "no-fly" zone in southern Iraq, dashing U.S. hopes of refurbishing the Persian Gulf War coalition.

In the aftermath of Iraq's invasion of its Kurdish north and the U.S. response, the breakup of Kurdistan has begun. The fragmentation of the rugged and remote northern Iraqi enclave creates opportunities that are already being exploited by neighboring Iran and Turkey, creating even more volatility in the region. And, as a result, a complex situation could soon become even messier.

U.S. forces today struck Iraqi targets for a second time as part of an operation that President Clinton pledged would continue until Iraqi President Saddam Hussein complies with standards of international conduct. Pentagon sources said that 17 cruise missiles were launched from four Navy vessels at about 3 a.m. Iraqi time today. "This operation is designed to eliminate sites not destroyed in Tuesday morning's initial cruise missile attack," the White House said in a terse statement.

For days, Bob Dole and his campaign surrogates issued sharp criticisms of President Clinton's policies on Iraq, but with actual hostilities underway, the GOP presidential nominee abruptly shifted course Tuesday. In a speech to the American Legion convention here, which had been scheduled, in part, as a forum at which to criticize Clinton's foreign policy record, Dole offered only a veiled critique, saying of the U.S.