By T.R. Reid
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, December 21, 1998; Page A25

LONDON, Dec. 20 – British Prime Minister Tony Blair said today that Operation Desert Fox has "severely damaged" the military ambitions of Saddam Hussein, but he added that new approaches will be required to keep the Iraqi ruler "securely and firmly in the cage."

Blair said the Western allies need "a future strategy that is based on containment," coupled with better enforcement of existing sanctions against Iraq. He also proposed further work on British plans to use Iraqi opposition groups as a fifth column of sorts to give Iraqis an alternative to Saddam Hussein's leadership.

Blair's government vigorously supported the latest use of military force against Iraq, and most political and media voices here continued to applaud the British participation in the air raids. Still, the prime minister's comments, at a news conference this morning, reflect an increasing frustration in diplomatic circles here, and a sense that something new is needed when it comes to dealing with Iraq.

The British Foreign Office has even set up a Web site to list its ideas and seek fresh proposals (http://special.fco.gov.uk/).

Blair said today that the now-familiar cycle of foiled inspections, followed by Western threats, followed by bombs, has outlived its usefulness.

"What we could not, of course, accept is UNSCOM [the U.N. special commission for weapons inspections] returning in circumstances where the previous cat-and-mouse game simply resumed and we found ourselves with the same recurring crises," he said.

Some Middle East experts here have suggested a new approach involving a quarantine, or "containment" of Iraq. Under this system, the Western allies would leave Saddam Hussein alone within his borders, but strike hard if he tried to move outside his country.

But Blair evidently had something else in mind today when he cited "containment" as a touchstone for future policy. He said that U.N. weapons inspections of Iraq should continue, and that U.S. and British planes should remain watchful in the Middle East to force Saddam Hussein to cooperate with the inspectors.

"We need a future strategy that is based on containment and stability for the region," he said. "First and foremost, we must maintain the threat of force which Saddam now knows to be credible.

"Secondly, we will be acting to ensure that implementation of sanctions is as rigorous as we can make it, for example through reinforced operations in the [Persian] Gulf to intercept suspect traffic. We need, radically in my view, to improve sanctions enforcement."

Delivering a crisp declaration of "mission accomplished" to U.S. and British forces that attacked Iraq last week, Blair said the four nights of air raids took a heavy toll.

"We have severely damaged Saddam's ability to produce and repair ballistic missiles," Blair said. "We have severely set back his chemical, biological and unmanned drone programs, his air defense radars. Control centers and communication facilities in southern Iraq have been severely damaged and will take years to replace.

"We have disrupted his senior central command-and-control network, vital to a highly centralized repressive regime like that of Iraq, and shown the people of Iraq that we can strike hard against his privileged Republican Guard, key props for the regime and its military capability."

As he did repeatedly last week, Blair rejected any notion that the timing of the raid was influenced by the impeachment debate in Washington. To suggest that idea, Blair said, is "grotesque and offensive."

"I would never commit British servicemen and women unless I felt it was right to do so," he said.