[UKCajun]

Go get 'em boys! Our prayers are with you!!

[Bad~Rodeo]

SKYNEWS LIVE LINK

http://static.sky.com/images/pictures/1066359.jpg

[Mr. Mojo]

Time for a little carpet bombing.

[dennisw]

SADDAM AND THUGS:
Here it comes. Here it comes. Here it comes your 19th nervous breakdown.

[Chi-townChief]

Sounds like the mierda may be about to hit the fan for Saddam.

[dennisw]

TIME HAS COME TODAY!

Sure hope this means mucho fireworks. This will mean daytime vulnerability and shame for Saddam and company. Leading to more surrender and ignoring Saddam's commands from his fuhrerbunker where he's tending to his wounds. Out of site and out of mind.

[Andy Ross]

I saw this on the news a few minutes ago. I don't think that information like this should be broadcast in real-time. I'm disgusted that the BBC would do this.

Whoever is on the receiving end of their ordinance is in *big* trouble. What fantastic aircraft.

Andrew

[Andy Ross]

I saw this on the news a few minutes ago. I don't think that information like this should be broadcast in real-time. I'm disgusted that the BBC would do this.

Whoever is on the receiving end of their ordinance is in *big* trouble. What fantastic aircraft.

Andrew

[maquiladora]

Yep, I've just watched lots of them take off, some with ALCM's on pylons, some without.

[patriotUSA]

Here cum da big buffs!

[ch.man]

Seem to need a lot of runway. Some additional weight on board?

[dennisw]

U.S. B-52 bombers arrive at base in Britain
2003-03-03 16:35:39 GMT (Reuters)
By Peter MacDiarmid

FAIRFORD, England, March 3 (Reuters) - A group of U.S. B-52 bombers landed at Britain's Fairford Royal Air Force base on Monday as Washington moved the aircraft that would play an early role in any war on Iraq closer to their targets.

To the fury of peace protesters and the delight of plane spotters, the huge grey jets roared low over the perimeter fence before opening parachutes on the runway -- the longest in Europe -- to help them rumble to a halt.

British Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon told parliament he had agreed to a U.S. request for 14 B-52 bombers to fly to RAF Fairford in the western county of Gloucestershire from the United States, with their extra support personnel.

"The aircraft began to arrive at the base today. This is part of continuing contingency preparations," he said. "No decision to commence military action has been made."

A Reuters correspondent saw eight B-52s land at the base. A Defence Ministry spokeswoman said the full complement would have arrived within 48 hours.

Fairford can also house U.S. "batwing" B-2 stealth bombers, which Washington announced last week it would deploy soon. But the Defence Ministry said Britain had received no request to base the B-2s at Fairford, a sign they would probably go to the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia instead.

Even without the mysterious stealth bombers, the arrival of the B-52s caused a stir. Plane spotters and journalists gathered to watch them landing, joining a small number of protesters who have maintained a "peace camp" nearby.

Amateur pilot Malcolm Faiers said he had always wanted to see a B-52. "It was very good and very interesting. I'm quite impressed by the size of the aircraft," he said. "I'm very pro-getting-on-with-this-war, so that's another reason I came."

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH ---->

At the peace camp, protesters were outraged.

"We're devastated that war may now actually start within a few days," protest organiser Dave Cockroft told Reuters. "The fear is that America has lost patience with the whole process of trying to legitimise what they are doing, and are going do it anyway."

Protester Brenda Burrell said: "I'm talking to you, and on my left two enormous dark grey American bombers, in our beautiful Gloucestershire countryside, are being fuelled up -- I'm absolutely outraged that this is happening in the country I was born in.

"This is mass murder we are going to be committing. This is unspeakable," she added.

[shezza]

Flying times estimated during the first night of the war UK to Baghdad was said to be 6-7 hours. I'd expect to see live coverage of explosions beginning 11-ish EST.

Then again, with the imploding of Iraq at the moment, "shock & awe" may not even be needed.

1 Marine officer KIA, 4 U.S. Marines and 8 Brits killed in helicopter crash. God bless our troops.

[Semper Paratus]

That ought to move surrender negotiatons forward.

[Jumper]

ARC Light strike. Gawd, just the vaccum from air alone being pulled from the target area kills people; US forces in Nam found many a VC/NVA just sitting in the positions they were in dead from the heat/sucking.... with no damange to their bodies.

They will not even know they died.

[Thane_Banquo]

You know how many times they've claimed B52s are leaving Fairford, and then a few hours later they say they were wrong and the B52s are still there?

I'm guessing we have some disinfo strategery going on.

[Pharmboy]

Air Combat Command's B-52 is a long-range, heavy bomber that can perform a variety of missions.

The bomber is capable of flying at high subsonic speeds at altitudes up to 50,000 feet (15,166.6 meters). It can carry nuclear or conventional ordnance with worldwide precision navigation capability. In a conventional conflict, the B-52 can perform air interdiction, offensive counter-air and maritime operations.

During Desert Storm, B-52s delivered 40 percent of all the weapons dropped by coalition forces. It is highly effective when used for ocean surveillance, and can assist the U.S. Navy in anti-ship and mine-laying operations.

Two B-52s, in two hours, can monitor 140,000 square miles (364,000 square kilometers) of ocean surface. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Steve Thurow)