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TIME: Almanac 1995
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1994-03-25
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<text id=93TT0949>
<title>
Jan. 25, 1993: Saddam Doesn't Get the Message
</title>
<history>
TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1993
Jan. 25, 1993 Stand and Deliver: Bill Clinton
</history>
<article>
<source>Time Magazine</source>
<hdr>
THE WEEK
NATION, Page 16
Saddam Doesn't Get the Message
</hdr>
<body>
<p>Instead of retreating after an allied air strike Iraq keeps
provoking the U.S
</p>
<p> Enough was finally enough for George Bush. He had simmered
through weeks of Saddam Hussein's devilishly creative cheating
on U.N. Security Council resolutions. The Iraqis kept piling on
the defiance with daily forays into Kuwaiti territory to haul
away weapons and equipment, while Saddam continued to play a
shell game with antiaircraft missiles in the southern no-fly
zone of Iraq. Faced with such brazenness at the beginning of
his last week in the White House, Bush raged against the dying
of his presidency.
</p>
<p> The attack was first ordered on Monday. But bad weather
delayed its execution until Wednesday night, when 80 U.S. Navy
and Air Force planes took off from the carrier Kitty Hawk and
four air bases in Saudi Arabia. With 30 French and British
warplanes joining in, they struck four SAM missile and four
radar emplacements in the no-fly zone. Iraq responded with only
light antiaircraft fire, and all the allied planes returned
safely.
</p>
<p> Sizing up the effects of what it called "a very small
mission," the Pentagon reported that the bombs had destroyed
only one missile battery and damaged the radar installations.
Destruction wasn't the point, Washington insisted, because the
intended message was political. Said Bush: "I would think that
Saddam Hussein would understand that we mean what we say, and
that we back it up." Bill Clinton told a news conference in
Little Rock that his policy toward Iraq is the same as Bush's.
</p>
<p> Saddam, with his usual bluster, warned Iraqis that
"another great battle" had begun. After another ultimatum from
Bush on Friday, the Iraqis promised to allow weapons inspectors
to fly to Baghdad, but would not guarantee their safety. The
crisis escalated through the weekend when Iraqi radar threatened
U.S. jets over the northern no-fly zone and an American F-16
shot down an Iraqi MiG-29. Baghdad seemed intent on contesting
control of its skies. Washington said that Saddam would receive
no further warning before the U.S. retaliated in force.
</p>
</body>
</article>
</text>