Iraq says it's shooting at U.S., British planes

WEB EXCLUSIVES Jane Arraf: Iraqi threats difficult to assess Christiane Amanpour: The British connection

Egyptian trade mission lands in Baghdad as sanctions weaken

In this story: Gulf War coalition frays over sanctions U.S., British defend policy RELATED STORIES, SITES

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Iraq reported firing on U.S. and British warplanes, an unnamed Iraqi military spokesman told CNN Sunday. He did not say whether the planes struck back at Iraqi targets. U.S. Central Command spokesman Maj. Jeff Blau said he had no knowledge that Iraq had fired at the planes.

However, Blau said he would not know about activity unless Iraqi targets were hit. "I woundn't know unless we struck," Blau said. "I don't know if it took place, but Iraq threatens coalition aircraft routinely."

The action comes two days after air raids aimed at punishing Iraq for threatening planes enforcing "no-fly" zones over its territory.

For nearly a decade, U.S. and British fliers have enforced a ban on Iraqi aircraft in the no-fly zones over northern and southern Iraq, established to protect Kurdish and Shiite Muslim minority populations after the 1991 Persian Gulf War. Iraq refused to recognize the restrictions after 1998, resulting in a low-level air conflict for the past two years.

"Iraq will continuously defend its space and territory with all means that's possible," Iraqi Trade Minister Mahdi Saleh said Sunday as Egyptian trade officials landed in Baghdad.

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Sunday's visit to Baghdad by Egypt's economy minister and public enterprise minister underscored the fading power of Gulf War-era sanctions against Iraq. U.S. officials are trying to shore up the sanctions, which were imposed to keep Iraq from rebuilding its military power after the Gulf War.

Egypt is a key American ally in the Mideast and a broker in peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians. The government in Cairo called Friday's strikes at targets near Baghdad a "major setback."

Egyptian Economy Minister Youssef Boutros-Ghali was more cautious Sunday, but the 160-strong trade delegation he led to Baghdad spoke volumes.

"We are here for supporting the people of Iraq and relations between the two peoples, economic and financial, so as to help Iraq provide for its basic needs," he said.

Gulf War coalition frays over sanctions

The Egyptian delegation arrived as thousands of Iraqis protested the Friday raids, which occurred a week before new U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell is scheduled to tour the Persian Gulf region. Arab diplomats say he'll have a lot of explaining to do about the timing of this attack.

Iraq has appealed to the United Nations to condemn the raids. It has also tried to turn attention toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein threatening to raise up to 100,000 volunteers to fight alongside the Palestinians against Israel.

Gulf War allies Saudi Arabia and Kuwait supported Friday's raids and have backed the sanctions, but U.S. allies France and Turkey joined Egypt, China and Russia in criticizing the airstrikes.

Powell is expected to outline what President George W. Bush's policy toward Iraq will be. Friday's raids were seen not as a great departure from the longtime U.S. policy of containing Iraq, but a signal that the new administration will keep up the pressure -- in part to re-energize the U.N. sanctions.

The sanctions were imposed after a U.S., European and Arab coalition pushed Iraqi troops out of Kuwait in 1991. They include an embargo on Iraqi oil and limits on its nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs.

Support for the measures has diminished among many of Iraq's neighbors and former trading partners, some of whom are beginning to defy the restrictions. Egypt and Syria have recently concluded free trade agreements with Baghdad, and Iraq's national airline now flies to Egypt, Jordan and Syria.

"It's very complicated to maintain the coalition against Saddam at this point," said Brookings Institution analyst Michael Hanlon. "Only Britain is firmly with us on these sorts of operations and the robust enforcement of sanctions. It's going to be a big challenge to figure out what to do with the Iraq policy."

U.S., British defend policy

Those supporting the continued isolation of Iraq argue that Hussein still poses a threat to Iraq's neighbors and must be contained.

"Do remember he has never given up his claim to Kuwait, and only a few weeks ago reasserted that claim," British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook said in a Sunday interview with the British Broadcasting Corp. "This is a man who could plunge the region into war again."

Richard Holbrooke, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said Friday's attacks were warranted.

"The United States and our allies and the Arab neighbors of Saddam ... must recognize that as long as Saddam Hussein remains in power he is a destabilizing factor for the entire region. He's a very dangerous man," Holbrooke said.

While the Bush administration called the strikes against Baghdad "routine" and U.S. lawmakers generally supported them, some U.S. observers said the attacks were unnecessary and counterproductive.

Scott Ritter, the former U.N. Special Commission weapons inspector in Iraq, said Iraq's military capabilities have been diminished, and airstrikes only serve to drive a wedge between the United States and the rest of the world.

"In fact, the very policies that we are executing today only alienate us abroad, strengthen Saddam Hussein and give him cause to reconstitute these capabilities once he has the means," Ritter said.

U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, told Fox News Sunday he believed the strikes were an appropriate way for the administration to "send a signal to Saddam Hussein" -- but that airstrikes alone won't solve the problem.

"I hope everyone that's involved in this kind of thing knows that it's a very long-term kind of exercise," he said.

CNN Correspondents Jane Arraf, Christiane Amanpour and Kelly Wallace contributed to this report.

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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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