DoD Spokesman Says Engaging Iraq Still Ongoing Operation
By Sgt. 1st Class Kathleen T. Rhem, USA
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Feb. 21, 2001 - The American public should not
consider the bombings in Iraq Feb. 16 as the end of U.S.
involvement in the area.
"Because this is an ongoing operation, we expect to keep it
going until the national leadership changes the policy of
this country," Navy Rear Adm. Craig Quigley said in a Feb.
20 Pentagon briefing.
American and British aircraft attacked Iraqi radars and
command, control and communication nodes outside Bagdad
Feb. 16 to "degrade and disrupt the Iraqi air defense
system," Quigley said.
U.S. officials haven't released any battle-damage
assessments, and Quigley said such assessments rely on
"imperfect" information. "Battle damage assessment is never
a perfect process. You try the best you can to gather
information from a variety of sources," he said. "But from
what we know so far, we feel we had an impact in the
overall goal of disrupting and degrading the Iraqi air
defense system in the south."
Quigley noted U.S. and coalition forces have been engaging
Iraqi air defense sites since the end of the 1991 Persian
Gulf War, and the Iraqis have always been able to
regenerate their capabilities after such strikes.
"They have a very good internal capability to repair a
variety of military systems, and that would include
radars," he said.
"We didn't expect our strikes on Friday to be the end of
Iraqi air defense engaging coalition aircraft," Quigley
said.
Proving Quigley's point, Iraq fired missiles and air
defense artillery at U.S planes in the Southern No-Fly Zone
over the weekend. No U.S. planes were hit, and the United
States didn't immediately retaliate.
But, Quigley said, people shouldn't read too much into
that. "We reserve the right to respond at a place and time
and manner of our choosing," he said. "As we have done on
many occasions over the years in the southern and northern
no-fly zones, if we see systems that are in place that will
improve or somehow increase the ability of the Iraqi air
defense system to threaten our air crews and aircraft, we
reserve the right to take action to strike those targets to
lessen the ability to do just that."
Related Site of Interest:, Feb. 20, 2001