Posted on 03/25/2003 5:55:57 PM PST by ex-Texan
Recent Suicide Attacks May Signal Secret Iraqi Strategy: Beware of Sneak Attacks With Bioweapons
We have all heard about the recent strategies employed by Saddam's elite Republican Guard. These new strategies have been carefully thought-out. They involve deception and the most vile of intentions. But more evil forms of ambush treachery may be unfolding in just a few days.
First we heard reports of Iraqi troops pretending to surrender and then attacking at the last moment. Then we heard reports that Saddam's elite forces were throwing off their uniforms and dressing as civilians. Reportedly, they are hiding in civilian homes waiting to attack U.S. and British troops entering major Iraqi cities. Most recently we have learned about two suicide missions that were undertaken: One was by an Iraqi dressed as a civilian, and the other was by an American in the 101st Airborne who carried out a grenade attack on his unit.
Make no mistake. The lone American who attacked sleeping comrades in arms was on a obvious suicide mission; he most certainly did not expect to survive.
He killed one soldier instantly with a grenade and severely injured 15 others with his rifle. First he tossed grenades into three tents and then ambushed bleary eyed soldiers as they fled his attack. There is an excellent article by Daniel Pipes describing the attack and the apparent motivations of the traitor involved. (March 24, 2003)
The other attack was by an Iraqi "civilian" who penetrated behind coalition lines and reportedly destroyed a tank with a suicide bomb. That report is posted on Albawaba.com in this morning's news. (March 25, 2003)
I suspect these most recent attacks are just the "tip of the iceberg." Soon we may be hearing about Iraqi troops dressing as innocent civilians -- or elite Iraqi troops surrendering -- to deliver Weapons of Mass Destruction.
The ideal weapon of choice is a biological weapon. It may be very hard to prove Iraq's intentional use of a banned biological weapon, particularly if the bioweapon is delivered by infecting troops or innocent civilians.
But the Iraqis may be growing increasingly desperate very soon. They may lack the patience to use biological weapons, and decide to use chemical agents or a small suicase nuke. These types of treacherous attacks may be part of Saddam's secret Doomsday Scenario for America. (See my reports below).
(Excerpt) Read more at newspundit.net ...
This is why this war had to be fought. Forget freeing the Iraqi people and that other stuff; this was a problem that needed to be fixed before it got worse.
And the trick surrenders, changing from uniforms to civvies, etc. - those are major war crimes. So the Iraqis are plenty treacherous. I'm sure now we aren't expecting them to play by the rules. What they understand is an iron fist (what they're used to).
. . .
Baghdad has begun renewed production of chemical warfare agents, probably including mustard, sarin, cyclosarin, and VX. Its capability was reduced during the UNSCOM inspections and is probably more limited now than it was at the time of the Gulf war, although VX production and agent storage life probably have been improved.
* Saddam probably has stocked a few hundred metric tons of CW agents.
* The Iraqis have experience in manufacturing CW bombs, artillery rockets, and projectiles, and probably possess CW bulk fills for SRBM warheads, including for a limited number of covertly stored, extended-range Scuds.
All key aspects—R&D, production, and weaponization—of Iraq's offensive BW program are active and most elements are larger and more advanced than they were before the Gulf war.
* Iraq has some lethal and incapacitating BW agents and is capable of quickly producing and weaponizing a variety of such agents, including anthrax, for delivery by bombs, missiles, aerial sprayers, and covert operatives, including potentially against the US Homeland.
* Baghdad has established a large-scale, redundant, and concealed BW agent production capability, which includes mobile facilities; these facilities can evade detection, are highly survivable, and can exceed the production rates Iraq had prior to the Gulf war.
Iraq maintains a small missile force and several development programs, including for a UAV that most analysts believe probably is intended to deliver biological warfare agents.
* Gaps in Iraqi accounting to UNSCOM suggest that Saddam retains a covert force of up to a few dozen Scud-variant SRBMs with ranges of 650 to 900 km.
* Iraq is deploying its new al-Samoud and Ababil-100 SRBMs, which are capable of flying beyond the UN-authorized 150-km range limit.
* Baghdad's UAVs—especially if used for delivery of chemical and biological warfare (CBW) agents—could threaten Iraq's neighbors, US forces in the Persian Gulf, and the United States if brought close to, or into, the US Homeland.
Iraq is developing medium-range ballistic missile capabilities, largely through foreign assistance in building specialized facilities.
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