Posted on 12/31/2008 3:50:53 AM PST by naturalman1975
FORMER defence minister Brendan Nelson came close to being killed by an enemy rocket while on a secret visit to Baghdad.
As Dr Nelson toured the "green" zone with Australian troops on April 21, 2007, a Katyusha rocket exploded nearby.
The "indirect fire" incident has been kept secret by the military.
In answer to The Daily Telegraph's questions about the incident, the Defence Department has admitted rockets landed within 500m of "Australian personnel".
"There were no injuries or damage to equipment reported in this attack," a spokesman said.
"Rocket attacks within the International Zone were routine occurrences during that period."
(Excerpt) Read more at news.com.au ...
Oh yeah...things were pretty insane in the IZ back then. Dang Sadrists were launching all kinds of stuff several times a day from Sadr Cesspool City.
Then, they started it again in the spring of '08.
They've been handed their butts since then and I hope they keep it quiet now.
A third of a mile away. Dang thing probably knocked his hat off as it went by.
LOL - Those Katyushas will shake the bejabbers out of everything nearby and give you a good jolt.
But this sensationalist headline touting that the guy was "almost killed" is a bit over the top.
By his measuring system, I've been "almost killed" a few times myself.
I just never saw it that way. ;-)
If a Katyusha landed outside of 500m from him then he was not even close to being at risk from a broken finger nail - much less being killed. I had one land about 150m from me about 15 years ago courtesy of my freinds in Hezbollah. They are glorified fireworks. A direct hit would be bad news, but anything outside of about 25 meters is simply amusing if that is the best your enemy can do and you have serious precision weapons to answer back with. Hyped story.
Bear in mind ‘within 500 metres’ is what the Defence Department is admitting to, after trying to keep it secret. ‘Within’ means it could have been much closer.
Ping to my comment at 6.
I just don’t see the need for all the cloak-and-dagger stuff at this point.
Hypothetically - it could point to areas of less than perfect security that could be exploited again.
Sometimes there isn’t a need for secrecy. Sometimes there is and because there is, those of us outside the loop can’t see the reasons behind it.
Giving that information this far after the fact isn't going to compromise anyone's security. Things have changed drastically since then, including locations of checkpoints, who occupies what buildings, etc.
And it's not like those Iran-funded morons in Sadr City have any precision methods. They just launch in the general direction of the IZ and hope the dang thing hits something.
Most of the time, they don't.
I had a 240mm rocket come in pretty close to where I was this past April. The news had the location and casualty info out before I could ever have said anything.
Yes, but if you’re a Defence Department wonk in Canberra being approached for information by the Daily Telegraph, you may not be in a position to know what is and isn’t important to keep secret at this point. So hopefully you’ll err on the side of security.
There’s also the factor that if you always give out information when there’s no reason to keep it secret anymore, anytime you refuse it acts as a pointer to the fact that it is still current.
Most likely, there isn’t any real reason this information is being closely held. But there could be. And that’s enough.
I'm pretty sure I'd know. And I'd be the last one to compromise anyone's security.
I'm still here.
In the IZ.
Of course, if any media approached me about anything at all, even something as mundane as what was for dinner in the chow hall, I wouldn't tell 'em, because I detest them.
I’m sure you’d never compromise security and if you say you’re in a position where you think you’d know, fair enough.
I’m just making the point though that the person who was asked for this information might not be in a position to make that assessment and that may be one reason why this is being handled the way it is.
I found myself handling journalists inquiries when I was in the service myself, a few times - and quite often I had very little information about what they were asking me about.
500m is almost killed? wow.
Yeah, going by that, I've been "almost killed" quite a few times.
I always saw it as "HA! You missed! Again!" ;-)
yeah 500m is almost soiling myself.
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