THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 1, 1996 TAG: 9609010080
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: 187 lines
Iraqi President Saddam Hussein defied U.S. warnings Saturday and sent armored columns into a northern Kurdish enclave, overrunning the city of Irbil and triggering a new confrontation with the United States and its allies.
President Clinton voiced ``grave concern'' about the Iraqi attack and put U.S. forces in the Persian Gulf region, including the Norfolk-based carrier Enterprise in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, on ``high alert.'' Clinton also ordered unspecified reinforcements. The United States took no military action Saturday against Iraq, and administration officials said they were reviewing options and deliberating with allies about how to respond.
At the Pentagon, spokesman Col. Doug Kennett said Clinton ordered the Defense Department to take ``prudent planning steps'' in case a later decision is made to deploy extra air and naval power.
The Enterprise battle group was preparing to move down the Suez Canal into the Red Sea to better position itself, White House aides told the Boston Globe. Its presence would be considered a key to mounting any kind of military response to Iraq, officials said.
The carrier Carl Vinson, based in Bremerton, Wash., is already on patrol in the gulf with about 70 warplanes. Carrier-based air patrols over Iraq were increased Friday.
The Air Force was assembling an ``air expeditionary force'' of 30 to 40 planes that could deploy to the
Middle East - possibly Jordan - as a quick-reaction force, officials said. They include F-15s from Langley Air Force Base in Hampton and Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, N.C.; and F-16s from Shaw Air Force Base, S.C., said an official speaking on condition on anonymity. Four B-52 bombers also were being readied.
The Pentagon notified members of a Marine Amphibious Ready Group of seaborne troops to be prepared. One such group of Marines already is afloat in the Arabian Sea.
Langley, headquarters of the First Fighter Wing, recalled all personnel Friday afternoon, but has not been ordered to deploy.
Langley already has the 27th Fighter Squadron, comprised of F-15s, in Saudi Arabia as part of its normal rotation.
Iraq's swift assault took Saddam over a line the United States had insisted he not cross and propelled his army, for the first time since 1991, into an area of Iraq populated mainly by 3.5 million Kurds who U.S.-led forces are pledged to help. But unlike five years ago, when Saddam's troops stormed into northern Iraq to put down a united Kurdish rebellion, Saturday's assault came in the more complex context of a divided Kurdish community and attempts by Iraq and Iran to exploit the split.
Iraq claimed it had invaded at the invitation of Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani, who has been feuding for control with archrival Jalal Talabani, whose group recently received help from Iran. Forces loyal to Barzani were widely reported to have participated with Saddam's troops in taking Irbil, a Talabani stronghold.
``If there's any blame for what happened, some of it rests with the power struggle among the Kurds,'' said a U.S. official familiar with administration deliberations. ``We've tried to get the Kurds to stay together, but one got in bed with Saddam, the other with Iran.''
Nonetheless, administration officials said the United States has an interest in doing something to counter Saddam's aggression.
``There is a compelling interest which arises from the fact that one more time Saddam Hussein has shown he's prepared to use force to change the status quo and to advance his own agenda,'' said a senior administration official in Washington. ``In this case, he's used it against his own people. This is a dangerous man, and therefore this is a serious development.''
But a top administration official traveling with Clinton, when asked whether military action was imminent, said, ``Not at all.''
Accounts from witnesses in Irbil described heavy shelling of the city, numerous casualties and fleeing residents. Three armored divisions of more than 30,000 soldiers from Iraq's Republican Guard spearheaded the assault.
``Shelling has been continuous for about 5 1/2 hours. They are not distinguishing between military and civilian areas,'' Ahmed Allawi of the opposition Iraqi National Congress told the Reuter news service from Irbil. ``There are too many fires and too much smoke.''
As tanks and armored vehicles rolled into the city, there were reports of house-to-house searches and atrocities.
``They're pulling people from their homes and executing them,'' said Kathryn Porter, president of the Human Rights Alliance, who spoke by phone with Talabani's wife in Irbil on Saturday. She said city residents fear that if they try to flee, Iraqi forces will kill them.
By evening, firing had become sporadic, and U.S. officials said Iraqi forces controlled all routes in and out of Irbil, whose population once numbered about 800,000.
As for Saddam's next move, a senior administration official said ``there was no hard information whether or not this is a first step in a broader campaign.''
Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan appealed for foreign intervention to prevent a ``humanitarian catastrophe.'' The group said the attack could be a prelude to revival of the Iraqi government's ``genocidal war'' against the Kurds, who are seeking independence from Baghdad.
Irbil lies about 12 miles north of the 36th parallel, the line that Iraqi military aircraft have been barred by allied forces from crossing since the 1991 episode. U.S., British and French warplanes are based in southern Turkey under Operation Provide Comfort to enforce the ``no-fly'' zone.
U.S. officials Saturday said there was no evidence Iraqi aircraft had violated the zone, although there were reports of some helicopter activity around the 36th parallel. The United States and its allies have never barred Iraqi ground forces from entering Kurdish territory.
But U.S. officials said Iraq's seizure of Irbil violated U.N. Resolution 688, adopted in April 1991, which condemned Saddam's suppression of the Kurds and demanded the Iraqi leader respect the human and political rights of all his country's citizens.
Should Clinton order retaliation, the United States already has military assets in the region capable of inflicting a quick and major blow against Saddam's forces.
In addition to the jets aboard the carriers Carl Vinson and Enterprise, Pentagon officials were preparing to move more warplanes from Europe and the United States to other land bases in the region, possibly in Jordan.
The United States already has about 200 ground-based Air Force fighter and attack aircraft in the region, split between the Turkish air base at Incirlik in the north and Saudi airfields along the Persian Gulf to the south. Langley's 27th Fighter Squadron is among them.
The 27th Fighter Squadron has 18 planes and about 275 personnel. They left at the end of June and were expected to be deployed for 90 days.
Remaining at Langley are the 71st and 94th fighter squadrons, each consisting of about 18 aircraft.
Langley, along with several other Air Force bases, routinely deploy to Saudi Arabia and Jordon to maintain a forward presence there in response to the United Nations sanctions against Iraq. MEMO: This story was compiled from reports by The Washington Post, The
Boston Globe, The Associated Press, the New York Daily News and staff
writer Jack Dorsey. ILLUSTRATION: Color photos
Graphics
WHAT IRAQ DID
Saddam Hussein's tanks and troops apparently joined one Kurdish
faction in overrunning the city of Irbil - controlled by a
different Kurdish group - in U.N.-protected northern Iraq.< U.S.
MILITARY ASSETS
The Norfolk-based carrier Enterprise is in the Mediterranean and
is reported to be preparing to move into the Red Sea. The carrier
Carl Vinson is in the Persian Gulf. About 200 ground-based aircraft
are also in the region.
WHAT'S AT STAKE
The Kurds
The Iraqi attack and renewed fighting between Kurdish factions
could delay any chance for an independent country for the Kurds.
Saddam also could be emboldened to renew his campaign of genocide
against the Kurds.
Saddam Hussein
He could regain control over an area that is home to his greatest
enemies within Iraq, while thumbing his nose at the West. But Iraq
could be subjected to military strikes or denial of U.N.
authorization to sell billions of dollars worth of oil products.
President Clinton
He must decide whether to risk the lives of U.S. troops in what
could be an internal Kurdish fight or do nothing and appear
ineffective just before the presidential election.
SOME FACTS AND FIGURES ABOUT THE KURDS
People: There are about 20 million Kurds - 10 million in Turkey,
5.5 million in Iran, 3.5 million in Iraq, others in Syria and the
former Soviet Union. They share a common language and are
overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim. They are famed as fierce warriors, but
are plagued by tribal rivalries.
Land: The 74,000-square-mile area occupied by Kurds arcs through
a mountainous zone from southeast Turkey through northern Iraq and
into northwest Iran.
History: Kurds trace their history to ancient Mesopotamia. They
were a significant power in the early Middle Ages - the legendary
Kurdish warrior Saladin recaptured Jerusalem from the Crusaders in
the 12th century.
In later centuries, the Kurds were repeatedly conquered. But with
the Ottoman Empire's collapse after World War I, they were promised
an independent homeland. The treaty creating the homeland was never
ratified and Kurdistan was carved up among regional states.
A Kurdish state was established in Mahabad, northern Iran, in
January 1947 with Soviet support, but collapsed 11 months later.
Recent decades have seen Kurdish rebellions in Iran, Iraq and
Turkey. After a March 1991 uprising in Iraq, the victorious Persian
Gulf War allies established a Kurdish safe haven in northern Iraq.
There had been eyewitness reports that Saddam had used poison gas
against the Kurds in a genocidal campaign.
Kurdish rivalries: The Kurdistan Democratic Party and the
Patriotic Union of Kurdistan have been rivals in northern Iraq for
more than 20 years. The leftist PUK, led by Jalal Talabani, draws
much of its support from urban areas. The KDP, led by Massoud
Barzani, is more rural and tribal-based. Each side claims to have
about 20,000 fighters.
Map
JOHN EARLE/The Virginian-Pilot
KEYWORDS: IRAQ INVASION U.S. NAVY by CNB