DATE=2-22-2001

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

NUMBER=2-272910

TITLE=BUSH / IRAQ (L)

BYLINE=DAVID GOLLUST

DATELINE=WHITE HOUSE

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: President Bush says he thinks last Friday's allied air strikes in Iraq sent Saddam Hussein a clear message about U-S resolve to enforce sanctions against that country this despite indications that damage to Iraq radar installations was less extensive than intended. At his first news conference, the President also expressed concern about China's reported role in upgrading Iraqi air defenses. VOA's David Gollust reports from the White House.

TEXT: Officials at the Pentagon say fewer than half of the Iraqi radars targeted in the wide-ranging U-S and British attacks were damaged, possibly due to a defect in a new satellite-guided U-S Navy missile.

However, Mr. Bush at his Thursday news conference said the first military operation he ordered as President was none-the-less successful in both conveying U-S resolve, and damaging Iraqi weapons that threaten allied enforcement of the no-fly restrictions:

///BUSH ACTUALITY///

The mission was two-fold. One was to send him a clear message that this administration will remain engaged in that part of the world. I think we accomplished that mission. We got his attention. And secondly, the mission was to degrade his capacity to harm our pilots who might be flying in the no fly-zone. And we accomplished that mission as well.

///END ACT///

U-S officials have been quoted as saying the air strikes were staged last Friday in part because that was a day off for Chinese technicians, who are reportedly at work in Iraq connecting Iraqi air defense sites with fiber-optic cabling to make them both more effective and less vulnerable to attack.

Administration officials are said to believe the activity violates post-Gulf War U-N sanctions against Iraq. Mr. Bush said the United States is taking the matter up with the Beijing government:

///BUSH ACT TWO///

We're concerned about the Chinese presence in Iraq. And my administration is sending the appropriate response to the Chinese. Yes, it's troubling that they'd be involved in helping Iraq develop a system that will endanger our pilots.

/// END ACT ///

Mr. Bush spoke on the eve of Secretary of State Colin Powell's first visit to the Middle East, which will include talks with U-S allies in the Gulf on ways to reinvigorate a fraying sanctions regime against Iraq that the President likened to "Swiss cheese."

The President said the sanctions will be reviewed with the aim of making them more effective in preventing Saddam Hussein from menacing his neighbors and developing weapons of mass destruction. If the Iraqi leader is found to be engaged in work on such weapons, Mr. Bush said there will, as he put it, "be a consequence."

Mr. Bush, who discusses Iraq with British Prime Minister Tony Blair at his Camp David retreat Friday, would not rule out further attacks like those staged last week if deemed necessary to protect allied pilots. (Signed)

NEB/DAG/KBK