Two bombed Iraqi radar sites back in operation

New strike Thursday at Iraqi radar

In this story: Sources: Limited Damage U.S. fires single missle in northern Iraq Iraq raises death toll to three RELATED STORIES, SITES

From Jamie McIntyre
CNN Military Affairs Correspondent

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Pentagon sources said Thursday that two of more than 20 Iraqi radar installations targeted last Friday by U.S. and British warplanes are operating again.

The information was released as the U.S. Navy continued to investigate why many of its premiere stand-off weapons missed their targets by as much as 100 feet in the February 16 attack.

RESOURCE Graphic: Strike on Iraq (02/16)     MESSAGE BOARD Iraq airstrike

At a White House press conference Thursday, President George W. Bush said the airstrikes accomplished both of his goals: to send a message to Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein not to develop weapons of mass destruction or to bother his neighbors, and to protect coalition pilots patrolling the no-fly zone.

He expressed concern about word that China is helping Iraq build better anti-aircraft capabilities. "My administration is sending the appropriate response to the Chinese," he said.

The president said his administration is considering changes in the sanctions imposed on Iraq.

Noting that the current sanctions are not being fully observed by some countries, Bush said, "A good sanction policy would be one that would build a coalition around the sanctions."

Sources: Limited Damage

Pentagon sources said more than half of the radar installations targeted escaped significant damage because the long-range, satellite-guided bombs, called Joint Stand Off Weapons or J-SOWs, failed to score direct hits.

Pentagon sources said two other stand-off weapons, the Air Force's video-guided AGM-130 and the Navy's SLAM-ER (Standoff Land Attack Missile, Extended Range) performed according to their specifications and took out six command and communication nodes.

Because the Navy J-SOWs all seemed to miss by the same distance, the Navy is investigating whether a software glitch or a programming error could have been responsible for the unusual number of misses.

The bombs, which can also be considered missiles, were dropped from as far as 50 miles away by Navy F-18s flying off the carrier Harry S. Truman in the Persian Gulf.

The weapons carried cluster bombs that could have inflicted damage even if they did not score direct hits.

U.S. fires single missle in northern Iraq

Meanwhile, in the first strikes since last Friday's attacks near Baghdad, a U.S. warplane on Thursday fired a single missile in northern Iraq.

The United States said the action was retaliation for Iraqi gunners firing on no-fly zone patrols and for Iraqi radar targeting U.S. planes.

The U.S. European Command said in a statement that Iraqi forces fired anti-aircraft artillery from sites north of Mosul at planes conducting routine no-fly zone enforcement, and radar had targeted U.S. planes.

Mosul is located in northern Iraq's no-fly zone, created by the United Nations following the 1991 Gulf War to protect Kurds and other citizens in northern Iraq.

In response, the United States struck what it called "elements of the Iraqi integrated air defense system."

Pentagon sources said that a U.S. Air Force F-16CJ fired a single missile at the Iraqi radar that targeted the planes. All U.S. planes returned safely to their base in Incirlik, Turkey.

Iraq raises death toll to three

The Thursday strike came nearly a week after U.S. and British warplanes attacked Iraqi anti-aircraft radar control sites around Baghdad and other radar installations in Iraq. The 24-aircraft mission on February 16 was the first against targets outside the southern no-fly zone in two years.

Iraq said Thursday it had defused an unexploded U.S. missile that hit farmland near Baghdad in last Friday's air strike.

Maj. Gen. Qassim al-Shimmari, Iraq's civil defense director, told the Baghdad newspaper al-Zawra his teams were defusing other unexploded bombs. He said three civilians had been killed and 25 wounded in the February 16 attack.

Iraqi officials had previously said two people died of their injuries and at least 20 were wounded in the bombing on the outskirts of Baghdad.

Pentagon sources say China helping Iraq
February 20, 2001
Iraq air patrols resume after raid
February 18, 2001
Allies hit Iraq with 'self-defense' strike
February 16, 2001

United Nations
Office of the Iraq Programme
The Iraqi Presidency
Iraqi National Congress
Iraq energy profile, U.S. Dept. of Energy

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