Hussein issued a statement Sunday calling the U.N. memorandum 'nothing but procrastination'

January 31, 1999
Web posted at: 9:48 p.m. EST (0248 GMT)

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A U.N. initiative to end the deadlock with Iraq had barely lifted off before Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein defiantly shot it down Sunday. Meanwhile, U.S. and British planes pounded Iraqi installations in one of the most intense bombings since last month.

Hussein met with senior government and ruling Baath Party officials Sunday to discuss the U.N. Security Council proposal and decided "this measure is not of our concern," the official Iraqi News Agency said.

The plan is "nothing but procrastination" and a means to prolong international sanctions, said an Iraqi statement after the meeting.

The statement also called for the immediate lifting of sanctions, the condemnation of U.S. and British airstrikes on Iraq, and an end to interference in Iraq's internal affairs -- an indirect reference to Washington's ongoing attempts to encourage the overthrow of Hussein.

On Saturday, the U.N. Security Council approved the first concrete proposal on Iraq since the American-British four-day bombing campaign in mid-December.

Under the U.N. memorandum, first proposed by Canada, the council decided to set up three panels that will submit recommendations by April 15 on re-establishing a disarmament program in Iraq, improving the humanitarian situation in the country, and accounting for looted property and missing persons in Kuwait following Iraq's 1990 invasion.

The invasion of Kuwait prompted the United Nations to impose trade sanctions, which have been blamed for the country's impoverishment.

In northern Iraq, a U.S. Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon let loose a HARM missile

What appeared to be the most serious confrontations in over a month took place in the no-fly zones Sunday. After the December airstrikes, Iraq said it no longer accepted the restricted air spaces, established in the north and south of the country after the 1991 Gulf War, and would treat U.S. and British planes patrolling them as invaders.

Bombings escalate

Six U.S. and two British planes in the southern no-fly zone fired Sunday at a communications station and a radio relay facility in response to "Iraqi provocations," the U.S. military said.

In northern Iraq, a U.S. Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon fired a missile at an Iraqi radar system. A day earlier, U.S. aircraft attacked six air defense targets in the north.

In Baghdad, INA quoted a military spokesman as saying that Iraqi forces fired seven missiles at the planes in the south. No plane was reported harmed.

"Once again, the evil killers returned to violate our national skies at the northern and southern sectors," the spokesman said.

He said the allied aircraft carried out 62 sorties from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. The extent of the damage was not immediately known.

CNN's Ben Wedeman and The Associated Press contributed to this report.