U.S. planes strike in Iraq

Yahoo UK ^

[British_Steel]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. and British warplanes have bombed southern Iraq in the latest of a string of bombings in the no-fly zones they patrol, Iraqi and U.S. military officials have said.

The warplanes struck Iraqi military air defence cable sites between Al Kut, Al Basrah and An Nasiriyah, all between about 100 miles and 245 miles southeast of Baghdad, a U.S. Central Command statement said.

An Iraqi military statement confirmed Wednesday's raids but said the planes hit civilian targets. It did not report any casualties but said Iraqi forces fired at the planes, driving them back to bases in Kuwait.

"The Coalition executed today's strike after Iraqi air defence forces fired anti-aircraft artillery at Coalition aircraft patrolling the southern no-fly zone and in response to Iraqi military aircraft violating the southern no-fly zone," the U.S. military statement said.

The last strike in southern Iraq was on Monday. The Iraqi army said two civilians were killed and 13 injured in that bombing.

"Coalition aircraft never target civilian populations or infrastructure and go to painstaking lengths to avoid injury to civilians and damage to civilian facilities," U.S. Central Command said.

An escalation of skirmishes in the no-fly zones coincides with a U.S. military build-up in the Gulf region to prepare for a possible war with Iraq.

The United States and Britain declared no-fly zones in northern and southern Iraq after the 1991 Gulf War to protect Kurds in the north and Shi'ite Muslims in the south from Baghdad's forces. Iraq does not recognise the zones

[dirtboy]

Welcome to FR. Your profanity, however, is not welcome here...

[Fred Mertz]

Call me a prude, but profanity is frowned upon here.

[wimpycat]

Another ZOTTING opportunity.

[r9etb]

Your profanity, however, is not welcome here...

Any bets on how long he chimes in with "I'm a gay British sailor and always have been?"

Sorry, BS -- there's been a rash of such trolls the past couple of days.

[wimpycat]

Don't you know sarcasm when you hear it?

This wanker is a disruptor who thinks he is mocking you.

[Lunatic Fringe]

Evil Americans, always bombing milk factories and orphanages... LOL!

[Physicist]

Boddington's is crap. It promises, but it doesn't deliver. Make mine a Guinness.

[Centurion2000]

The profanity is the mark of an ill-educated man (relax, I do it sometimes as well). Your thoughts and impressions however, are spot on.

[British_Steel]

Sorry mate, any way I can erase it? I'll keep me tongue in check. Thought you'd appreciate it, it's a song originally writtem by a UK punk band for the Falklands war and then adapted for the Gulf war in '90.

[Centurion2000]

I knew there was a reason those words reminded me of "the Young Ones" :)

[RoughDobermann]

Yes, his name is Rick. But he spells it with a silent "P"

[wimpycat]

You don't fool me for a second.

[British_Steel]

The Macc Lads actually, out of Macclesfield England. Again, sorry lads, while I don't profess to be educated in any way, I should've thought first, a million apologies if I offended anyone of ya.

[areafiftyone]

Welcome to Free Republic :-)

[areafiftyone]

Gotta admit it woke me up! ;-)

[Physicist]

For those of you following along at home, the text of reply #1 can be found here.

[PoisedWoman]

Iraq does not recognise the zones

They don't? They're going to recognize them soon as piles of rubble.

[glock rocks]

Iraq does not recognise the zones

not long from now, they won't recognize baghdad, either.

[headsonpikes]

'British Steel'.

A gay blade, evidently.

Bomb Iraq.