81.  Senior Clinton administration officials, keeping options open as they weigh ordering Iraqi forces to permanently withdraw from southern Iraq, refused to rule out preemptive military action.

82.  Seven years ago, the Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, begrudgingly blessed the American-led campaign to evict Iraqi forces from Kuwait.

83.  Striking southern Iraq will not directly impede Iraqi forces in the north, but bombing them would have risked numerous civilian casualties.

84.  Talabani cocked a friendly eye at the Iranians, whereupon Barzani invited Iraqi forces into the Kurdish enclave to help him destroy his rival.

85.  That Iraqi forces were invited by the opposing Kurdish group does not make the attacks against civilians, and reported arrests and executions, any less offensive.

86.  The aircraft carrier George Washington has moved from the Red Sea into the Persian Gulf, which puts it much closer to Iraqi forces in southern Iraq.

87.  The hope here was that Iraqi forces would quickly withdraw, obviating the need for a dramatic American response.

88.  The Gulf War, which involved thousands of ground troops after Iraqi forces were pounded from above, supports that notion.

89.  The movement on Irbil by Iraqi forces and some Kurdish elements caused a flurry of US diplomatic and military activity.

90.  The penalty of total prohibition of all flights and military movements by Iraqi forces would prevent his use of gunships and tanks against the opposition.