“”We had not expected the enemy to launch its land offensive from the very first or second day” of the onslaught. “We expected the air raids to last at least a month,” the former officer said.”
Hmm. You think you can get your money back from the French? They didn’t advise you guys very well.
We had not expected the enemy to launch its land offensive from the very first or second day” of the onslaught. “We expected the air raids to last at least a month,” the former officer said.
The expectation of a month long bombing campaign before a land invasion offers a logical explanation for failure to use the existing chemical and biological weapons against invading forces as well as the failure to find them following initial fighting. Those weapons would have likely been dispersed to remote, safe, and secrete areas to prevent destruction by bombing with the intention of retrieving them for use when the land invasion started. The Iraq high command was thrown off balance and lost control making retrieval and use of the weapons impossible during the short period of fighting. After fighting ended the few officials with knowledge were either not available or had no incentive to reveal the existence or whereabouts of the material. So many people on both sides are now heavily invested in the idea that the weapons never existed therefore there is no reason to believe that they would be acknowledged if someone stumbled across them tomorrow.