A rchive Date
[ 12-03-2003 ]
Category
[ International Relations ]
sub-Categoy
[ U.S ]
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[http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/nation/1813677
U-2 flights recalled after Iraq launches jets
Associated Press
March 11, 2003, 2:18PM
WASHINGTON - Iraqi fighter jets threatened two American U-2 surveillance planes, forcing them to abort their mission and return to base, senior U.S. officials said today.
A Pentagon official said the decision to end the mission was taken "in the interest of safety."
The U-2 planes were flying missions at 1 a.m. CST for the U.N. weapons inspectors when Iraq launched fighter jets. According to two of the officials, the threat was directed against one of the two planes, said the officials, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Multiple flights are permitted under a U.N. Security Council resolution approved last November, and the Bush administration sought clarification from U.N. inspectors after the U-2 flights were suspended.
A spokesman for the inspection agency said in New York that Iraqi authorities "expressed surprise" when notified of the flights and the agency requested the planes turn back. Further U-2 and Mirage reconnaissance fights are planned, the spokesman, Ewen Buchanan, said.
The statement made no reference to Iraq launching fighter jets, nor was it critical of Baghdad in any way.
In Baghdad, Iraq said that U.N. weapons inspectors had apologized for the second surveillance flight over the country, calling it a "technical mistake."
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said "at this point there is nothing to be said on the diplomatic side."
The surveillance operations are considered a major tool in checking on Iraq's weaponry, but there are other means, as well. The U.N. inspection agency, known, as UNMOVIC, had given advance notice to Iraq of the flights, said the U.S. official.
The Iraqi threat is fresh evidence of Baghdad's unwillingness to cooperate with U.N. inspectors, another U.S. official said.
Two American U-2 planes were already in the air, the senior official said. He said they were the seventh and eighth sent on a surveillance assignment since the council approved the resolution unanimously, and that the flights had been coordinated with the U.N. inspection agency.
But Iraq "raised a fuss," this official said, and the two flights were recalled. American diplomats are checking with the U.N. agency before resuming U-2 flights, the official said.
The dispute punctuated a behind-the-scenes effort by the United States and Britain to win support for a new resolution designed to back the use of force as a last resort to disarm Iraq.
U-2 flights are conducted as part of an elaborate inspection arrangement designed to determine whether President Saddam Hussein has secretly stored chemical and biological weapons in defiance of U.N. resolutions.
Typically, Iraq is notified in advance of overflights of Iraqi territory.
 World Fact Book (CIA)]
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