# 99015. U.S. Sends More Planes to Persian Gulf

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By Linda D. Kozaryn
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON -- The United States is sending more planes to the 
Persian Gulf in light of Saddam Hussein's persistent violations 
of the no-fly zones over Iraq.

Marine Corps Gen. Anthony C. Zinni, Central Command chief, said 
he's asked for eight more F-16CJ fighters and four more aerial 
refueling tankers for Operation Southern Watch. 

Since Dec. 23, when Hussein declared the no-fly zones invalid, 
there have been more than 40 violations, Zinni said Jan. 8 at 
the Pentagon. The majority occurred in the south, according to 
defense officials. Each violation involved one or more Iraqi 
aircraft entering the zones north of the 36th parallel or south 
of the 33rd parallel. 

In some instances, Zinni explained, Iraqi planes race down, tuck 
their noses into the zone and retreat. In others, a number of 
Iraqi aircraft, working in cooperation with ground-based, 
surface-to-air missile systems, conduct tactical maneuvers 
against coalition aircraft. 

"Clearly, [Hussein's] trying to lure us into a possible shoot-
down situation, and we're taking every measure to prevent that," 
Zinni said. As a result of the recent intrusions, Central 
Command officials have adjusted their tactics, procedures and 
how they package forces going into the zone, he said.

The United Nations imposed no-fly and no-drive zones after the 
Gulf War to prevent Iraq from attacking his people, particularly 
minority groups such as the Kurds in the north and Shiite 
Muslims and Marsh Arabs in the south. The zones also are 
designed to prevent Saddam from attacking his neighbors. U.S. 
and coalition aircraft have been enforcing the northern zone 
since 1991 and the southern zone since 1992.

In the past seven to eight years, U.S. and coalition air forces 
have flown more than 140,000 sorties in the no-fly zones, which 
cover 60 percent of Iraqi air space, Zinni noted. "Any time we 
fly into Iraqi air space ... we treat it as flying into a 
potentially hazardous situation," he said. "Never do our pilots 
go in unprepared for any eventuality." 

The Southern Watch commander expressed confidence in America's 
technical superiority and pilot skills. "Our pilots are smart 
enough not to fall for traps or to get themselves in some sort 
of maneuver position where they're vulnerable or follow a plane 
into a missile engagement zone," he said. 

U.S. forces have fired on Iraqi aircraft and missile sites 
during five confrontations in the past few weeks. In an incident 
Jan. 11, two U.S. F-15Es dropped precision-guided bombs and an 
F-16CJ fired a ground-attack missile at an Iraqi missile site 
that had turned on its tracking radar against them in the 
northern zone. 

Considering the robust defensive action U.S. forces take, Zinni 
said, Iraqi pilots do not appear enthusiastic about engaging 
coalition aircraft. "These planes do not want to come close 
where they can be engaged by [our] superior technology and pilot 
proficiency. They want to cheat and retreat."

The pilot of an Iraqi fighter jet that reportedly crashed when 
it ran out of fuel, for example, was probably "pressing that 
MiG-23 pedal to the metal so hard that he didn't look to his gas 
gauge," the general remarked.

Asked whether the United States is considering strikes on Iraqi 
airfields to stop the incursions, Zinni replied, the U.S. forces 
are "taking action based on what Saddam's doing."

"We have rules of engagement that allow us to react not only to 
a hostile act, but even to hostile intent," he said. "If we get 
'illuminated' [detected by enemy radar], if we see a plane 
coming at us and it's clearly identified by our battle 
management birds as a fighter moving in, we take the shot. We've 
done that. We've been very proactive."

Taking additional steps beyond that, however, calls for a policy 
decision by the president. "If that [decision] were made, we 
could execute that, but right now, given the situation that we 
have, we feel confident that we've made the adjustments to 
handle it." 

Saddam is capable of irrational military acts, Zinni told 
Pentagon reporters. He said contingency plans on the shelf could 
be executed if there are further Iraqi provocations, and, "We 
have plans for everything."

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