The United States on Friday warned Iraq's Saddam Hussein of "serious consequences" if his forces attack American-protected Kurds in northern Iraq.
Hussein has been massing forces near the dissident Kurds, whom his forces brutally attacked after Baghdad's humiliating defeat by American-led coalition forces that ousted them from Kuwait in 1991.Edward Djerejian, the State Department's top official for the region, said Iraqi security personnel at roadblock checkpoints have clearly been involved in attaching explosives to trucks ferrying relief supplies to the Kurdish minority and has long had significant ground forces in the area.
American warplanes are flying combat cover over the region, and it was obvious Djerejian was reminding Hussein of their lethal capability.
"The Iraqis also understand the serious consequences that would result if they were to move against the Kurds," he said at the State Department.
He said Iraq has commitments to the United Nations to allow humanitarian relief to the Kurds in northern Iraq. But he said that agreement is being flouted.
"Iraqi interference has taken on a particularly disturbing dimension," Djerejian said. "There has been over the last month a pattern of sabotage against relief convoy vehicles. This week, at least 15 trucks were damaged by bombs, putting the Turkish drivers at mortal risk.
"Eyewitness accounts of these attacks leave no doubt - no doubt - that the bombs were attached by Iraqi security personnel at checkpoints the trucks must pass."