A Show of Strength

Restless, reckless and tired of being rebuffed, Saddam Hussein once again looked poised to carry out an epic feat of self-destruction. By sending 20,000 fresh troops to breathe heavily across Kuwait's border and then withdrawing them after America clenched its fist, he managed to remind the world that he was a loose cannon, derail the momentum toward lifting the U.N. sanctions that are bleeding his people dry and burnish the prestige of an American President sorely in need of a foreign-policy success. "It was a godsend," said a U.N. diplomat at the Security Council. Exulted a State Department official: "Saddam blinked, he turned tail, and if he tries it again, we're going to whack 'em."

The President stood tall, in Iraq as in Haiti, and the tyrants backed down -- it all should have made for a happy ending. Someone even faxed the White House the headline from the New York Daily News: CLINTON 2, BULLIES 0! Clinton liked it so much he asked chief of staff Leon Panetta to get him a copy. So how was it that even as the forces of Operation Vigilant Warrior steamed into the Persian Gulf, Clinton's sweet victory became so sticky? The President won near universal praise for a fast and firm response to Saddam's latest challenge to Kuwait's security. But the minute the enemy seemed to be tamed, he had to contend with rambunctious allies: France and Russia, having condemned Saddam's latest gambit, tried to block any effort to punish him for it. Iraqi troops did pull back, but not all the way. That left Clinton searching for some way to secure victory without firing a shot, while ensuring that this time Saddam stays put for good. It has not been easy. On Saturday, the U.S. had to negotiate carefully to avoid a Russian veto before winning a unanimous U.N. Security Council resolution demanding that Iraq withdraw its troops from the Kuwaiti border.

The Administration took Saddam's threats seriously from the start. A congressional investigation last year found that Iraq had rebuilt most of its conventional Gulf War arsenal, including 200 munitions factories, and that much of its war machine -- some 2,500 tanks, 1,800 artillery pieces and 300 combat planes -- had survived Desert Storm. Two weeks ago, when Saddam dispatched 20,000 of his elite Republican Guard south to join 50,000 regular army troops on the Kuwaiti border, Pentagon officials did not share the view of many diplomats that it was all part of a bluff to pressure the U.N. to ease economic sanctions. They were surprised at how efficiently the troops could be deployed. "This just wasn't some innocent exercise," argued General John Shalikashvili, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. The Iraqis' heavy ammunitions loads and the presence of extensive supplies convinced officials that Saddam was thinking of invading Kuwait.

Clinton's bold response actually carried little risk, at least politically. By dispatching thousands of troops and hundreds of planes, the President made clear the U.S. intention to defend Kuwait's sovereignty by whatever means necessary. To charges that he overreacted, he had a sturdy alibi; the mixed messages sent by the Bush Administration in 1990 were widely blamed for encouraging Saddam to overrun Kuwait without fear of reprisal. For once Congress was united in support; Clinton phoned Bush on Monday and got his blessing as well. Even Saddam's onetime allies, like Jordan and the P.L.O., supported the President's stance.