Saddam Hussein Vows Retaliation

Feb. 17, 2001 -- Saddam Hussein gathered his top advisers today to discuss plans for retaliating to Friday's airstrikes by American and British forces against military targets near Baghdad.

As Saddam plotted his revenge, the United States and Britain faced a torrent of criticism from around the world on Friday's action, which Iraqi officials say killed two people and injured as many 20 more.

Still, British and American leaders warned they could not rule out the possibility of future attacks on Iraq.

Russia, China and many Arab nations denounced the strikes. And two NATO allies, France and Turkey, expressed disappointment that they weren't told of the attack beforehand. France, which once patrolled Iraq's southern no-fly-zone along with American and British troops, said the action made a peaceful resolution to "the Iraq problem" more difficult.

Turkey, which allows American and British planes to use its bases to patrol the northern no-fly-zone in Iraq, also expressed concern about the raid. Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevi said no bases in his country were used in Friday's attack and urged U.S. and British leaders to meet in Turkey for an immediate review of their policy toward Iraq.

"It is sad that a need was felt to resort to such an action against Iraq and that civilians as well as military targets were harmed," Ecevi said.

Possibility of More Strikes

The United States and Britain say they launched the attack in self-defense because the Iraq boosted the frequency and sophistication of its military operations.

President George W. Bush, speaking in Mexico on Friday, downplayed the attack as part of routine operations in the area to enforce the northern and southern no-fly-zones.

Yet Friday's attack was the most aggressive action by coalition forces outside the southern no-fly-zone since Operation Desert Fox in December 1998, when U.S. and British forces launched hundreds of cruise missiles at suspected storage and production sites for weapons of mass destruction.

Since then, Hussein has kept United Nations weapons inspectors out of Iraq, despite promising to let them in at the end of the Gulf War. Iraq also has violated the no-fly-zones close to 700 times with only one sizeable response from coalition aircraft, in 1999.

Bush has indicated further air strikes could not be ruled out if Hussein continues to break the promises he made ten years earlier.

"Saddam Hussein has got to understand that we expect him to conform to the agreement that he signed" after the Gulf War, he said.

Prime Minister Tony Blair said Friday's attack was necessary to reduce the chances of American and British planes patrolling the no-fly zones over Iraq from being shot down.

"Operations such as the one last night would not be needed if Saddam stopped attacking us," Blair said in a statement today. "But as long as he does, I will continue to take the steps necessary to protect our forces and to prevent Saddam from once again wreaking havoc, suffering and death."

Apart from sending a strong message, Friday's attack does not clarify what the new Bush administration's overall policy in the region will be. That is one question Secretary of State Colin Powell is likely to face when he goes to the Gulf later this week.

Acting in Self Defense

Friday, at approximately 12:15 p.m. ET (8:15 p.m. local time), when residents were observing the Muslim sabbath, 24 aircraft bombed communication targets outside Baghdad. The force was comprised of Air Force F-15s, Navy F-18s, four British Tornadoes U.S. and British warplanes.

American and British planes have been patrolling the skies over the northern and southern portions of Iraq since the end of the Gulf War to prevent Iraqi aircraft from attacking their own citizens.

Pentagon officials say the strike was intended to destroy more than 20 radar and fiber-optic links they believe have dramatically improved Iraq's ability to track and target planes. A defense department official told ABCNEWS that all targeted military command and control sites were hit.

Another cause for alarm, officials say, was an increase in Iraqi radar locking onto U.S. and British aircraft in the southern no-fly-zone. A radar lock tells U.S. and British pilots they have been identified and could be fired upon.

In addition, Iraqi anti-aircraft missile attempts on American planes in the no-fly zones have risen dramatically. Since the beginning of the year there have been more than a dozen surface-to-air missile firings. Previously, there were only one or two a month.

Some of the radar sites hit were said to be able to detect aircraft within 200 miles of Baghdad, an area that reaches across the southern no-fly-zone into the Persian Gulf.

Protests in Baghdad

Iraqi citizens woke Saturday morning to newspaper headlines vowing retaliation against the air strikes.

The Qadissiya newspaper referred to President Bush as the "son of thesnake," a reference to his father George Bush who was president during the Gulf War, which was fought over Iraq's invasion of Kuwait.

Led by U.S. forces, a coalition of nations launched an air attack on Iraq on Jan. 17, 1991. The ground war started Feb. 24, and the Iraqi army was quickly routed. The elder Bush ordered a cease-fire on Feb. 27.

"The Americans' and Britons' new, savage crime will not pass unpunished and without decisive retaliation," said a front-page editorial in Qadissiya. "We will teach the new American administration and the Zionist entity [Israel] lessons on Jihad [holy war] and steadfastness."

While most people in Iraq returned to their daily lives today, hundreds of Palestinians and Iraqis gathered in the streets of Baghdad to condemn the strike, which is seen be many as a strike against all Arabs.

Criticism From World Leaders

Russia and China were quick to denounce the action.

"What the American militarists are doing at the start of the new administration's activity is a challenge to international security and the entire world community," Col. Gen. Leonid Ivashov, chief of the Russian Defense Ministry's international cooperation department, told Russian news agency Interfax.

China called on the United States and Britain to end military action in Iraq and instead foster a more friendly atmosphere for planned talks between Iraq and the U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan set for later this month.

"We condemn the air attacks launched by the United States and Britainagainst Iraq, and express deep regret over the deaths and injuriesof innocent civilians resulting from the action," said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao.

Among Arab nations, Egypt led the opposition. In a statement, Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa said the raid was "a serious negative step that we cannot accept, nor understand its reasons, which run counter to Iraq's safety and sovereignty."

Saudi Arabia's government, which has been criticized by its own citizens for letting NATO use its territory as a staging ground for attacks on Iraq, had no official comment Saturday. But many Saudi citizens expressed outrage at the attack.

"Bush has uncovered his ugly face and all the hate and spite he has for the Arabs," businessman Abdul-Aziz Mohammed al-Rafidi told the Associated Press.

Israel Downplays Possibility of Flare-Up

Israel said Saturday it did not think the strike would lead to additional flare-ups in the region.

"We don't need to be concerned about the events overnight," Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh told Israel radio. "This doesn't mean that we should disregard Iraq, which is a growing threat."

Still, in Palestinian areas protesters gathered in support of Iraq. In the West Bank town of Ramallah, about 200 Palestinians took to the streets late Friday, waving Iraqi flags and posters of Saddam Hussein, the Associated Press reported.

There, protesters chanted "Death to America" and "Long live Iraq," while in Nablus, about 1,500 protesters burned American and Israeli flags and images of President Bush.

In Jordan, which has close ties to Iraq, more than 200 activists demonstrated outside the Iraqi Embassy in Amman during heavy rain, shouting "Long Live Saddam" and burning the American flag.

ABCNEWS’ Martha Radditz, John McWethy and Barbara Starr at the Pentagon and Terry Moran and Josh Gerstein, traveling with President Bush in Mexico, and ABCNEWS Radio's John Cooley contributed to this report.