Posted on 11/28/2001 1:45:41 PM PST by ex-Texan
Security officials warn of unconventional Iraqi attack
By Ellis Shuman
Senior Israeli security officials believe that if the United States would attack Iraq, threatening the stability of Saddam Hussein's regime, he would respond by launching a chemical or biological attack on Israel.
"If attacked, Iraq is liable to launch missiles and planes against Israel," said Deputy Chief of Staff Maj.-Gen. Moshe Yaalon in a lecture on Monday. Security officials believe that due to its shortage of long-range missiles and launchers, estimated at no more than five launchers and some 50 missiles, Iraq could send pilots on suicide missions towards Israel in planes armed with unconventional weapons.
During the 1991 Gulf War, Saddam fired 39 Scud missiles at Israel, all armed with conventional explosives. Military analysts believe that Iraq now has very limited surface-to-surface missile capabilities. According to American intelligence reports, Iraq has recently resumed missile deployment exercises, hinting at its possible response if attacked.
The IDF General Staff this week discussed the various scenarios that could follow an American strike on Iraq. Security officials assume that the attack on Iraq could occur in two or three months, when military actions in Afghanistan are completed.
The brainstorming came following President George W. Bush's warning on Monday that Hussein must allow arms inspectors back into the country "to prove to the world he's not developing weapons of mass destruction.'' Iraq isn't afraid of American threats and is ready to defend itself against any attack, Iraq's Ambassador to the UN said the following day.
Israel did not respond to the Iraqi attacks during the Gulf War, bending to American pressure not to break up the American coalition lined up against Saddam. The situation is different now, said MK Moshe Arens (Likud), who served as defense minister during the 1991 war. Arens referred to Israel's Arrow anti-missile system, developed together with the United States.
"I think Israel can be pleased that the U.S. is turning its attention to a danger which faces not only Israel, but also the entire world," Arens told Israel Radio, referring to Saddam's attempts to acquire non-conventional weapons.
Syria has chemical missile capabilities "The Syrian army has type 'B' and 'C' Scud missiles, some of them equipped with chemical warheads," Yaalon said on Monday. "These missiles have a range of 500 kilometers, covering most of the area of the State of Israel," he added.
"The goal of Syria remains the return of the Golan Heights," Yaalon said. "The Syrians are hesitant of confronting the IDF directly," he said, attributing this to fears its army is inferior to the IDF. "They prefer to develop a deterrent force with the Scud missiles, Hizbullah-launched terror actions and encouragement of Palestinian terror."
Yaalon warned that an all-out war with Syria could result from the "explosive confrontation with the Hizbullah on Israel's northern border."
You can do better than that.
There are hundreds of reports on the crash and the investigations that followed. Israel finally admitted that they were using the Sarin ingredients to produce Sarin gas in order to "test gasmasks".
It may well come to that clearly we need to take out Iraq's government at minimum. If it save one American life I say turn everything from Basra North to the Kurd's area into a sheet of glass. Then conficate the oil fields to help pay for the war.
Stay well - Stay safe - Stay armed - Yorktown
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, center, and U.S. mediator Anthony Zinni, rear, second left, flanked by security personnel arrive exit a helicopter in Jerusalem after they flew over Israel and the Palestinian territories on a tour Tuesday, Nov. 27, 2001. Zinni, a retired Marine Corps general arrived Monday along with Assistant Secretary of State William Burns to try to quell more than a year of Israeli-Palestinian violence and restart truce talks. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis) |
Like Afghanistan, Iraq will never get the chance to launch their own attack against us or Israel.
These are the same guys who came out with their hands up before the Gulf War even got started.
We have a predictable pattern. Maybe the word bonkers threw you off. By that I mean very primal distress directly linked to survival.
It's the many unpredictable things that give us reason to discuss this now. Once this process begins, I think it will follow a somewhat predictable military route. Stability may not be a keyword on any analytical level....or the usual "great nothing" may happen.
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