[lindor]

>>>B-52's at Royal Air Force getting ready to take off...

Why do they report that?

[merrin]

Why do they report that?

Probably because the military doesn't think the Iraqi military will benefit from the knowledge.

[maquiladora]

All part of the information war. They even kindly floodlit the planes so the reporters could see them load the ALCM's.

It's kinda hard to hide 14 B-52's taking off in the middle of England.

Look for strikes around...oh...about 7am GMT.

[BurbankKarl]

they even showed the cruise missles on their wings....

[goodnesswins]

Maybe to see if they can get some movement from the "military leaders" before they hit??? Also, to warn the civilians to stay away from specifically, previously named targets...i.e. gov't buildings....this is a workday for them.

[Diddle E. Squat]

Doesn't really matter now. The B-52's seem to be taking off every 6-10 hours now, so basically they are bombing round the clock. I believe this is the third wave in the last 15 hours.

[stilts]

Why do they report that?

I believe it is because the shock and awe strategy demands that you create as much fear, anxiety and dominance as possible. This is as much a show for the rest of the Axis of Evil (as well as a host of others)of what's to come as it is a strategy to quickly free the Iraqi people. If the whole world gets a front row seat the hope is we will then not need to use force elsewhere. It is no accident the world has as much real time access as we do.

As for the picture you refer to it tells very little in terms of actionable information. About the most they get is that in about 6 hours cruise missles will land somewhere in their country. Being at war, they pretty much know there's more to follow anyway.

[stlnative]

Do you really think that the Iraqis don't know the planes are on the way, even without the news reports? How to you think they know how to set off the sirens when the planes start coming in...?
The Iraqis know because they still have radar, even if it wasn't all over the US/WORLD TV.

Hell... on a Iraqi blog the other day, the Iraqi knew before we did that they had taken off. He had a knew he had 4 hour wait when he made his post. His last Post was that they were 2 hours away... He has not posted since... probably because his power is out or the internet has been shut down.

Sorry I not trying to be too rough on you... just trying to fill you in.

[cgk]

I had the exact same question when FNC said it on TV... what ever happened to loose lips? Nice head's up guys! "Yeah, they'll be here in EIGHT hours, get the scud's ready."

[Eastbound]

Anticipation can be debilitating. Also allows six more hours to cogitate on whether or not you should break out the white flags, dig a deeper hole, run wild in the desert or BOHICA.