British and U.S. planes strike Iraqi targets

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain confirmed Thursday that U.S. and British fighter aircraft had struck targets in southern Iraq earlier this week but said it was not aware of any casualties.

"Coalition aircraft were in operation in the southern no-fly zones over Iraq late Tuesday. Self-defense action was taken against a mobile tracking radar unit which had locked onto our aircraft," a spokesman for the Ministry of Defense said.

Iraqi Air Force Command said earlier Thursday the planes had bombed civilian and service targets shortly before midnight Wednesday in the provinces of Missan and al-Wassit, wounding four civilians. It also said its air defenses had fired at the attacking aircraft.

But the British spokesman said he knew of no casualties: "We are not aware of any casualties and we take absolute care in all our operations to limit any casualties."

The raid was the first in 10 days and the 26th strike of the year by U.S. and British attack jets in northern and southern "no-fly zones" of Iraq, established after the 1991 Gulf War to protect the Kurds of the north and the Shi'ite Muslims in the south from attack by Baghdad forces.

The tit-for-tat exchanges have increased in recent months amid mounting threats from President Bush to oust Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. Washington accuses Baghdad of developing chemical, biological and nuclear weapons.

Iraq denies the charge and Saddam has said any U.S. invasion on his country is doomed to fail.

When did the war in Iraq stop? All these people, journalists protest wannabes- they're all going on about when the war is going to start in Iraq. When did it stop? We've been doing this on a regular basis for a pretty good while. This is just war below the radar screen of the public. They graze in the pasture and make contenting bleeting noises while this has been going on for years. Now the media (read: shephards) say to the sheep- "War!" and all the little sheep go "War! Baa! Baa! Sovereign nations! Our children in danger! Baa! Baa!"---- but it's been going on the whole time, we're just turning up the volume now.

You want to ask who we are to bomb sovereign nation? Who are we to tell a nation they can't sell their product on the open market? Who is the United Nations to tell us how we treat, parcel and manage our land- our taxes? Those are the union of nations- this is what common thought is to sovereignty these days. Who out there in the "community of nations" will you find that truly believes in the sovereignty you'e speaking of? You're about a hundred years late with your comlaint.

You see, we can split hairs all day long. But the real question is- what should the criteria be for a preemptive strike against a sovereign nation and is it not a violation of sovereignty for a nation to develop weapons of mass destruction for the sole purpose of using them against its neighbors and causing unrest and instability in the world.

If you are plotting the assassination of the President (or anyone else for that matter) you lose the sovereignty of your house- not true?

Another question is- does Iraq view this notion of sovereignty the same as we do? Or is is purely a western concept? Are we certain that we are not trying to apply our language of western civilization to a people that speak a different language? If they recognize no sovereignty other than Islam, if an Imam in Saudi can command a peasant in Indonesia or the Maldives to go to war- that seriously draws into question our notions of sovereignty when applied to the nations of Islam. They see only one nation and the rest of us aren't part of that sovereign house. They believe they have a god given right to kill us or convert us because we choose to live as apes- in their words. The concepts you wish to apply can only be applied- like a language- to those that understand them. Our concepts were born from a different stuff than those of the Muslim. Personal liberty, rights the sovereignty of the individual- these are of little use to the man or woman of Islam. They celebrate their backwardness and oppressiveness.

In what manner would you treat with savages? In what manner would you treat with barbarians who would only cut your throat in the end?

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