JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN MILITARY AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: On September 3, 1996, the United States launched 27 air and sea launch cruise missiles from ships in the Persian Gulf and U.S. B-52 Bombers in the air, and that was designed to disable some of the Iraqi air defenses so that the United States could move the southern no-fly zone up from the 32nd Parallel to the 33rd Parallel and pin Saddam Hussein in, effectively cutting back the amount of air space he could use to train his air force.</s>KATHLEEN KENNEDY, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Kathleen Kennedy at the CNN Center in Atlanta. President Clinton promised retaliation against Iraqi troop movement in the Kurd-controlled region of northern Iraq, and he has delivered on that promise.</s>MCINTYRE: The United States decided that the cruise missile, an unmanned weapon was the weapon of choice in order to protect U.S. and Allied pilots. They were able to strike Iraq with impunity, hitting 14 targets and disabling much of Iraq's air defenses. This was all brought about because Iraq was moving against two feuding factions of Kurdish rebels in the north that had been backed by the CIA. Seeing a chance to put down their insurrection, Iraq moved tanks into the area, so the United States decided that it needed to punish Saddam Hussein, to further confine him, and that's why they decided to move up the no-fly zone as a punishment.
CNN 20: U.S. Attack on Iraq, September 3, 1996