Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told reporters at the Pentagon September 16 that he had ordered a change of tactics by military aircraft patrolling the northern and southern No-Fly Zones over Iraq so that fixed rather than mobile Iraqi air defenses are being targeted.

He said he ordered the change because he did not like the idea that coalition pilots were being fired upon by the Iraqis "with impunity."

The secretary said he could not remember with any precision when he directed the change, but suggested his decision was communicated within the timeframe of "less than six months and more than a month."

Marine General Peter Pace, Vice Chairman of the Joints Chiefs of Staff, indicated that American and British commanders are now allowing their pilots to respond to Iraqi anti-aircraft fire by going after fixed structures like communications buildings "that are not easily moved." Recent coalition air strikes, he said, have degraded Iraqi air defense capabilities.

The remarks by Pace and Rumsfeld were made in response to questions from reporters asking whether escalated efforts were being taken to wear down Iraqi military capabilities in advance of any future decision which might be made by the United States to eliminate Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.

Rumsfeld said he would present to the Senate and House Armed Services Committees this week an elaboration of the case made by President Bush to the United Nations about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction (WMD). "But what will be taking place in the next few weeks in the Congress will be attempting to connect the dots before a tragedy happens, not after," he said.

"The goal will be to try to take the pieces and help people understand that it isn't simple -- that there isn't a single smoking gun that everyone nods and says 'Ah-hah. That's it.' If we wait for a smoking gun in this instance," he said, "you'd find it after �c lethal weapons were used against the United States, our friends and allies. And that's a little late when you're dealing with capabilities of the lethality that represent these capabilities."

Rumsfeld also noted that the military mission of Operation Desert Storm more than a decade ago was not to bring about a change of regime in Iraq. As President Bush proceeds with his deliberations, the secretary said the subject of an Iraqi regime change remains "an open question." The regime in Iraq is quite small, he said, consisting of Saddam Hussein's family and a few supportive generals. Other people on the periphery, Rumsfeld suggested, ought to be careful about their association with Iraqi weapons of mass destruction or in supporting terrorist networks because in doing so "they would be nominating themselves as part of the regime."

Asked about force preparedness should Iraq strike out against U.S. forces with WMD, Pace said commanders have had a decade to consider a potential combat environment in the Persian Gulf and to think through the most appropriate tactics, procedures, techniques and equipment. He also said U.S. forces are better prepared than in 1991.