Iraq has warned that it is determined to shoot down US and British warplanes patrolling "no-fly zones" over northern and southern Iraq, despite US threats of a new military offensive, said reports.
"The Americans are aggressors and they carry responsibility for their acts, and Iraq reserves the right to retaliate and not Washington," Iraq's state minister for foreign affairs, Nabji Sabri, said in response to US media reports Monday that the Pentagon was drawing up plans for a major strike against Iraq's air defense system.
The US threats are "a bid to invent a pretext for expanding the aggression against Iraq," Sabri said, cited by AFP.
For his part, Tareq Aziz, interim foreign minister and deputy prime minister, called in a message to United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan for intervention against the US and British air patrols over Iraq.
"These violations are, in effect, an undeclared war against Iraq," Aziz said, quoted by the official INA news agency.
US national security advisor Condoleezza Rice said Sunday, in an interview with CNN television, that Washington reserved the right to respond to threats from Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
Iraq has tried to shoot down US planes twice in recent weeks, according to US military sources, which at one point described their assessment of an alleged ground-to-air missile attack as their "best guess."
The US and British no-fly zones were not included in the UN Security Council resolutions that authorized the war and sanctions against Iraq for its seven-month occupation of Kuwait in 1990 and 1991.
According to Pentagon officials, Iraq has dispersed missiles, radars and aircraft over the past week in apparent anticipation of US airstrikes against its air defenses.
The moves include shifting some radar equipment near Baghdad above the 33rd parallel, outside the no-fly zone where US planes bomb with some frequency, they told CNN on Tuesday.
"We reserve the right to strike targets at a time and a place in a manner of our choosing," said Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. Craig Quigley.
Pentagon officials would not confirm any details of the planning, including the scale or timing of the possible attack, according to CNN.
"There is still work to be done," said one official, speaking on condition of anonymity, indicating an attack was not imminent.
The Pentagon on Tuesday repeated its charge that Iraq has been "considerably more aggressive" in its efforts to shoot down a US or British plane this year, compared to the same time last year.
Quigley blamed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, saying, "he is trying his best to bring down a coalition aircraft."
"The volume of fire is up throughout both northern and southern watch as compared to, say, a year ago at this time. It is very clear that he is very focused and determined to try to bring down a coalition aircraft," Quigley said.
The no-fly zones are allegedly in place to protect Iraq's Kurdish and Shiite minorities.
At the same time that US warplanes fly out of Turkish airbases to attack Iraqi targets, Turkish forces are carrying out large-scale offensives against Kurdish rebels fighting for autonomy – Albawaba.com
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