DATE=2/22/01

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=U-S / IRAQ ATTACKS (L ONLY)

NUMBER=2-272903

BYLINE=ALEX BELIDA

DATELINE=PENTAGON

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: U-S and British aircraft have again come under fire while patrolling the no-fly zones in both northern and southern Iraq. V-O-A Pentagon Correspondent Alex Belida reports the incidents come amid controversy over the effectiveness of last week's allied strikes near Baghdad.

TEXT: In the northern no-fly zone, U-S defense officials say allied air patrols fired back at Iraqi air defense installations. In the south, allied warplanes did not fire back. None of the aircraft were hit and all returned to their bases safely.

Iraqi forces have now fired at allied planes with surface-to-air missiles and anti-aircraft artillery on several occasions since last Friday's major U-S and British strikes against radar and other air defense installations, some of them close to Baghdad.

The Pentagon maintains that raid was an overall success --- despite reported claims by anonymous defense officials that many of the so-called precision munitions missed their intended targets.

Rear Admiral Craig Quigley is the Pentagon spokesman:

/// QUIGLEY ACTUALITY 1 ///

Did each weapon perform perfectly during the strike? No, it did not. But we feel that on balance, the strike had good effectiveness.

/// END ACTUALITY ///

Admiral Quigley is reluctant to discuss the specific types of weapons used in the raid and to say whether some types were more accurate than others. But he says it may not matter.

/// QUIGLEY ACTUALITY 2 ///

Of the various radars that were struck on Friday as part of that overall strike, we have seen only two of them be turned back on subsequent to the strike on Friday. Now is that because we damaged them as part of the strike or because they're reluctant to bring them up to know that we would engage them again. We don't know that for sure, but I'm not so sure that it matters at the end of the day. If my goal is to protect the coalition aircrews as they patrol the no fly zone, then whether or not we have destroyed the system or they simply don't use it, my objective has been accomplished.

/// END ACTUALITY ///

Admiral Quigley says if any weapons did not perform adequately, authorities will investigate to see if the problem was mechanical or related to computer guidance failures or possibly the weather.

(Signed)

NEB/BEL/JWH