Posted on 03/01/2003 8:11:11 AM PST by nypokerface
ANKARA, Turkey - The U.S. military for the first time dumped some 240,000 leaflets over northern Iraq on Saturday, warning anti-aircraft gunners not to fire on coalition aircraft.
The airdrop brings to the north a propaganda campaign that the U.S. military has been waging for months in southern Iraq ahead of a possible war. Since late last year, U.S. aircraft have dropped millions of leaflets over southern Iraq with various messages to soldiers and civilians.
The leaflets were dropped Saturday near Iraqi anti-aircraft artillery batteries about 10 miles north of the city of Mosul, the U.S. European Command said in a statement.
"Do not track or fire on coalition aircraft," read the message on the front of the leaflets.
The back of the leaflets added: "Any hostile action by Iraqi air defense toward coalition aircraft will be answered by immediate retaliation. Iraqi air defense positions which fire on coalition aircraft or activate air defense radar will be attacked and destroyed."
The leaflets were dropped on two air defense locations with a history of firing on coalition jets, the Germany-based U.S. Command said.
The United States is hoping to open a second front from Turkey in any invasion of Iraq.
U.S. and British planes, based in the southern Turkish air base of Incirlik, have been enforcing a no-fly zone north of the 36th parallel since the aftermath the of the 1991 Gulf War. A similar zone exists in southern Iraq.
In the latest confrontation on Tuesday, American jets bombed three surface-to-surface missile systems just south of Mosul. The statement said the Iraqi missiles were in range to threaten coalition forces. Mosul is about 70 miles from Iraq's border with Turkey.
Iraqi President Saddam Hussein does not recognize the no-fly zones and had been challenging U.S. and British aircraft there since Dec. 1998.
"But, we've got human shields down here!"
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