U.S. Hopes Fall Along With Bombs

WASHINGTON: Now that Operation Desert Fox has the sky falling on Baghdad, it won't feel like victory to ordinary Iraqis. But although President Clinton says this trip was necessary in order for UN inspectors to be able to do their jobs, this may mean the end of ground-based reconaissance. In the end, the decision to launch missile strikes on Iraq is another big win for Saddam Hussein. "The strikes are tantamount to an acknowledgment of defeat from the U.S.," says TIME Pentagon correspondent Mark Thompson. UNSCOM's on-the-ground effort at arms control through inspection is now over. A more violent -- and less effective -- era of containing Saddam is now under way.

"One inspector on the ground is worth half a dozen B-52's in the air," Thompson says. "Now we're going to see a long period of repeated, persistent bombings that will be based on much less information." How long Americans and the international community will stand behind such a messy and protracted campaign, Thompson says, "is anybody's guess. But it's going to continue until either Iraq changes its ways -- or the U.S. gives up."