NBC: Saddam was having a meeting with his Generals; Bunker Buster bomb was dropped... [Drudge]

MSNBC via Drudge ^ | 03/19/03 | Alex Johnson and Kari Huus

[xm177e2]

A senior U.S. official said the raids in and around Baghdad had been intended as “extensive prepping of the battlefield” in the no-fly zone in the south of the country. But the attack was ramped up after U.S. intelligence spotted what was termed a “target of opportunity,” described as a “senior or very senior member of the Iraqi regime.”

U.S. officials told Miklaszewski that the target was Saddam himself. They would not say whether the attack, in which F-117s dropped mammoth GBU-27 “bunker buster” bombs, was successful.

[CyberAnt]

Oh brother - I thought I was the only one who was so riled up - I have errands to run in the morning, but I simply can't get settled down.

[George W. Bush]

Saddam's speech on TV didn't mention any current events. And it was clearly a tape. You can see the tape jump a quarter-second at one point. Fox has demonstrated it several times already. So, despite its billing, it was just a tape, not a live broadcast.

So if Saddam is still alive, he's taping remotely and sending it to the broadcast facility. That wouldn't be surprising because we'd hit a TV station if we knew he was in it

Saddam is still probably alive but hiding in bunkers, moving every few hours, shuffling his doubles, and taping stuff for TV.

[fire_eye]

Even if Saddam survived this, he has to wonder who the traitor is that sold him out.

My wife thinks that CIA will have been hard at work trying to plant a tracking device on His Vileness. That's certainly what *I'd* do, and we've had plenty of time to plant plenty of them, since Bush decided to whack him over a year ago.

Apparently somebody - and believe it or not, French Intelligence (now, *there's an oxymoron) is suspected - managed to get a homing device into the storage areas for the Osirak reactor, prior to the Israeli attack - and we've got a lot better technology (and Saddam has a lot more enemies) than was the case back then...

[ambrose]

My wife thinks that CIA will have been hard at work trying to plant a tracking device on His Vileness

Dan Rather!

[Diddle E. Squat]

Wouldn't it be amazing if the whole French opposition had actually been a ruse, cover for intel/subversive access. Good cop/bad cop to the Nth power.

[Experiment 6-2-6]

My wife thinks that CIA will have been hard at work trying to plant a tracking device on His Vileness
Dan Rather!

Oh, that's rich!

[Eastbound]

Geez. That looks like an hypodermic needle. Time to incinerate innoculate the bunker tunnels, huh?

[Ciexyz]

I'm not in bed yet and it's nearly 3 AM!

[green team 1999]

The Guided Bomb Unit-27 (GBU-27) is a GBU-24 modified for delivery by the F-117 stealth fighter. The operator illuminates a target with a laser designator and then the munition guides to a spot of laser energy reflected from the target. It uses a 2,000-pound penetrating warhead against hard targets. The GBU-27 was used in Operation Desert Storm. According to the Air Force, the GBU-27 hit 70 percent of its targets.

The GBU-27 was designed specifically for use by the F-117's advanced target acquisition/designator system. The GBU-27 uses a BLU-109 improved performance 2,000 pound bomb developed in 1985 under the project name HAVE VOID. The BLU-109 was designed for use against hardened structures and features a high-strength forged steel case and a new delayed-action tail fuze. It carries 550 pounds of high explosives and can penetrate more than six feet of reinforced concrete.

[exDemMom]

Is anyone else amused by the "real" beginning being constantly referred to as the "shock and awe" portion of the campaign?

I thought it was "Operation Shock and Awe"? To be followed by "Operation Liberty" (or whatever they're calling it)?

[mykdsmom]

I pulled an all-nighter Tues night already. I had to do a radio interview Wed am to advertise the rally and I was so nervous about it I couldn't sleep.

It's the rally fatigue setting in.

MKM

[hobbes1]

I believe JDAMs were dropped by the F117s

[Spiff]

Video taped before action started is a possiblity. CNN should know that. I think?

If I was using a body double to attempt to fool the world that my evil dictator was still alive, I certainly wouldn't broadcast that body double guy live, but would tape him instead to make sure he didn't mess up or something. Then, once I had a good tape, I'd broadcast it.

Something like this:

Roll Tape! Go body double: "Blah blah blah...flub" Cut! Blam!Blam!Blam! Thud! Please send in the next body double and get this disgrace to Allah out of here! Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

[activationproducts]

Only radio. Not TV.