President Clinton ordered and aborted US air strikes against Iraq in a hair-raising episode of brinksmanship that ended yesterday with Washington's wary acceptance of Baghdad's last-minute promise of good behaviour.
Mr Clinton warned that the US forces "remain ready to act," but the Pentagon was considering halting the flow of US combat aircraft and troops to the Gulf, a Defence official said.
"It was close, and I would say very close," said the US Defence Secretary, Mr William Cohen, confirming reports that a massive US air attack was called off at the last minute.
"The President did issue an order, and we know that order was rescinded based upon the fact that the Iraqis indicated they were about to capitulate," Mr Cohen said at a White House news conference.
Pentagon officials confirmed reports that US warships in the Gulf were just 30 minutes from launching Cruise missiles and fighter bombers at Iraq when the President's order calling off the attack was issued.
The Washington Post said Mr Clinton, before retiring to the White House residence on Friday night, gave the order for the strikes to start on Saturday morning at about 9 a.m. (2 p.m. Irish time).
But with just an hour to go, the National Security Adviser, Mr Sandy Berger, informed the President that an Iraqi letter was on its way to the UN backing down from its decision to halt all UN arms inspections, the Post said.
At 8.30 a.m. on Saturday, with only half an hour to go, the President stopped the attack.
"They ran it out to the end," said Mr Cohen of the Iraqis. "They saw two things: they saw, number one, that we were serious that this was not an empty threat. And number two, we were substantial in numbers and capability."
With a US attack imminent and with little support for Iraq among Gulf and Arab states or in the UN Security Council, the Iraqis "finally came to the conclusion that it was a wise and prudent thing for them to do to capitulate to the demands of the United States," Mr Cohen said.
Announcing US acceptance of an unconditional Iraqi promise to co-operate with UN inspectors, Mr Clinton said he believed the "unprecedented (international) consensus" and "the very credible threat of overwhelming force" would make the Iraqi pledge stick this time. "We remain ready to act, so we don't have to rely on our feelings here or whether we believe anything." Mr Cohen said the flow of forces continued, but a Defence official said a Pentagon review was under way on whether to reverse the military build-up.
The sense in the Pentagon was that the forces already there - an aircraft carrier battlegroup armed with Tomahawk cruise missiles, a dozen B-52 bombers and 173 other combat aircraft - were enough if military action was required, the official said. The flow of forces already has been slowed by what the official described as a technical "kink" late on Saturday in the air bridge moving troops and combat aircraft to the Gulf.
A dozen F-15s, 28 F-16s and six B-1 bombers that were deployed on Friday and Saturday were held up in Europe, he said. About half of the 139 aircraft ordered to deploy have left US bases, including 10 F-117 stealth fighters, but it was unclear whether any besides the B-52s have arrived in the Gulf. Delays also were expected in the deployment of some 4,000 troops while the Pentagon reviewed its options.
A second aircraft carrier, the USS Enterprise, continued to head to the Gulf but if tensions ease it is likely to replace the USS Eisenhower rather than to supplement it.
Although more forces were on their way, there was only a 14-ship aircraft carrier battlegroup led by the Eisenhower when Mr Clinton ordered air strikes on Saturday.