A group of nine warships led by the aircraft carrier Carl Vinson is expected to arrive by the end of the week, joining the carrier Enterprise and 14 other combat warships in the gulf, eight of them able to fire Tomahawk cruise missiles. Butler's report catalogues a series of Iraqi refusals to extend full access to inspectors or to provide requested documentation since inspections resumed in Iraq on Nov. 17. While many monitoring operations were allowed to resume, Butler said, routine inspections were being blocked by early December and special surprise visits to new sites also met hurdles. No inspections of presidential sites took place. In a separate report, however, the International Atomic Energy Agency, which monitors the Iraqi nuclear program, said the level of cooperation from Iraq since Nov. 17 was satisfactory.
All options remain on the table.
Coming in the midst of Washington's roiling debate over impeachment, the latest confrontation will inevitably raise accusations that Clinton may use Saddam Hussein as a diversion. And then again in August, he starts rattling his saber again and backs off. That's what's happening. Aides to Clinton angrily dismiss the notion, pointing out that the periodic confrontations with Iraq have been driven by Hussein's defiance.