DATE: Friday, October 10, 1997              TAG: 9710100612

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 

DATELINE: WASHINGTON                        LENGTH:   55 lines

U.S. FORCES PACK GULF, WATCH FOR AIRSPACE VIOLATIONS IN IRAQ

The United States is tightening enforcement of a no-fly zone over southern Iraq, and Defense Secretary William Cohen said Thursday that Iraq will ``bear the consequences'' if its warplanes continue to violate the ban.

Asked to explain what consequences Cohen had in mind, his spokesman Kenneth Bacon declined, but he noted the presence in the Persian Gulf of U.S. strategic bombers and Navy ships capable of firing Tomahawk cruise missiles.

The Bremerton, Wash.-based Nimitz carrier battle group also is steaming toward the gulf, and Bacon said its fighter aircraft should be in the area by this weekend.

Bacon said the United States is tightening its enforcement of the no-fly zone by patrolling closer to the 33rd parallel, which marks the northern edge of the zone. He said larger numbers of U.S. planes are participating in each patrol, too.

The no-fly zone was created after the 1991 Gulf War to prevent Iraqi government forces from attacking rebel Shiite Muslims in the southern marsh areas.

Cohen said Iraqi aircraft have periodically crossed into the no-fly zone recently. He accused Iraqi President Saddam Hussein of playing a dangerous game.

``He is posing a risk to himself, his pilots as such, whenever they start to challenge the no-fly zone,'' Cohen told reporters during a photo session in his office. ``If they make a mistake, they will have to bear the consequences.''

Several times in recent days, U.S. officials publicly have cautioned Iraq against flying in the restricted zone, but Cohen and Bacon seemed to suggest that the Clinton administration was considering possible retaliatory measures that might go beyond simply shooting down Iraqi violators.

Bacon's mention of cruise missiles appeared to be a reminder that Tomahawk missiles from Navy ships and submarines in the gulf were fired at Iraqi air defense positions in the no-fly zone below the 33rd parallel in September 1996. The U.S. attack was in retaliation for Saddam's siege of the Kurdish-controlled city of Irbil.

Bacon also noted that the U.S. Air Force has two B-1 strategic bombers in the gulf state of Bahrain. This is in addition to the fleet of U.S., French and British fighters based in Saudi Arabia that are patrolling the no-fly zone over Iraq.

Asked directly whether the administration was thinking of taking retaliatory measures other than shooting down Iraqi violators of the no-fly zone, Bacon would say only that the United States in the past has used ``a variety of military assets'' to protect its interests in Iraq. ``I'll leave it at that,'' he said.

Cohen has accelerated the Nimitz battle group's deployment to the gulf by about one week. It skipped a port call in Singapore to get there early. Two Navy ships that had been scheduled to end their deployment in the gulf this week were ordered to stay until the Nimitz arrived, Bacon said.

Send Suggestions or Comments to webmaster@scholar.lib.vt.edu