One of these!!!!
Posted on 11/18/2003 12:36:52 PM PST by ds03
BAGHDAD, Nov 18 (AFP) - The US-led coalition called in air support against targets in central Baghdad late Tuesday, deafening the capital with repeated salvoes of aerial cannon fire as it pressed its new get-tough message against the Iraqi resistance.
In one of a spate of barrages that punctured the evening festivities that normally characterise the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, nearly 40 separate rounds were audible across the city.
A US military spokesman said the firing was connected with Operation Iron Hammer, a massive military offensive launched in and around Baghdad on November 12, and targeted "downtown Baghdad".
"The explosions you have heard are part of Iron Hammer," said Captain David Gercken, spokesman for the 1st Armoured Division which is carrying out the offensive.
"They are fired from aerial platforms. The weaponry used is 105 mm cannons, " he said, without specifying whether they were launched by fixed-wing aircraft or helicopters.
Another US spokesman said the bombardment targeted three locations near the coalition's sprawling, heavily fortified city-centre compound, which also houses the headquarters of the US-installed Iraqi interim leadership and has been a regular target for insurgent rocket fire in recent weeks.
"We are firing at three designated targets near the Green Zone," said Captain Aaron Hacok, using the military's codeword for the compound.
"We have received no enemy heavy artillery or mortar fire and I have no report of small arms fire."
In recent days, US commanders have taken off the gloves in their battle with the resistance, resorting to air strikes and heavy artillery against the safe houses and arms caches of insurgents.
Air support has been called in several times north and west of the capital, but Tuesday's was only the second reported incidence in Baghdad itself.
On November 13, an AC-130 aircraft was used against a hiding place used by anti-US insurgents here.
Before dawn Tuesday, US troops let loose a barrage of helicopter-launched Hellfire missiles, mortar rounds and tank shells in Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit that commanders described as the biggest display of firepower yet launched from their headquarters in the flashpoint northern town.
It was the second straight night that US troops had mounted a massive display of strength in the town, still seen as a bastion of support for the fugitive dictator.
The deafening salvoes, that lasted more than one hour, were the latest instalment in the army's Operation Ivy Cyclone II, launched Sunday and aimed at "harassing" persistent resistance in the area into submission.
"Thirty-six simultaneous attacks" were mounted on Sunday night alone, leading to the elimination of six suspected Saddam loyalists, US Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt told a Baghdad press conference Monday.
Another senior US commander defended the new get-tough tactics Tuesday.
"Now it's no holds barred. We use whatever weapons that are necessary to take the fight to the enemy," said Major General Charles Swannack, whose 82nd Airborne Division patrols Al-Anbar province west of the capital, another hotbed of anti-US insurgency.
In recent days, US leaders have been at pains to stress that there will be no let-up in their war against the insurgents despite the agreement of an accelerated handover of power over the weekend.
Under a new blueprint agreed with Iraq's interim leadership Friday that marked a sharp U-turn on previous policy, the coalition dropped its insistence on maintaining sovereignty until a government is elected under a new constitution and agreed to hand over power to a transitional body selected under an interim "fundamental law" by June next year.
"We're staying," President George W. Bush promised Monday. "Precisely what the terrorists want ... is to try to drive us out of Iraq."
bur-kir/sjw
Iraq-US
"Now it's no holds barred. We use whatever weapons that are necessary to take the fight to the enemy," said Major General Charles Swannack.
A definite change in tactics. This is good news. If the whole neighborhood is infested with these murderous psychotics, then MOAB all the real estate. (Note: a kinder gentler MOAB may be used at the discretion of pilot)
And what were we doing before?
Duh!!!!!
The AC-130 gives me goose bumps just thinking of it as it rips the sh&^ out of the A-holes on the ground who deserve it.
I like to collect anything regarding the AC-130, so if you know of any other videos or stuff, please keep them coming.
lormand
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