Strategic Assessment

Operation Desert Fox, conducted on December 16 – 20, 1998, brought to a climax a process that had begun in October 1997, when Saddam Hussein undertook an intensified effort to free himself from the supervision conducted by the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) and the international sanctions imposed by the UN Security Council (UNSC). During the same period, UNSCOM reported to the UNSC that Iraq was interfering with the execution of inspections and refusing to supply requested information about its chemical and biological weapons programs. Iraq responded with a demand that UNSCOM remove the American members of its team from Iraq. This demand was rejected.