Half of Saddam's combat fighter force unearthed

London Telegraph ^ | 4/19/03 | Neil Tweedie in Qatar and Toby Harnden in Washington

[WOSG]

"1. Lenin never had a chance to become dictator, he "died" leaving Uncle Josef in charge."

BS!!!!!!

Lenin was a dictator from 1917-1924, who killed hundreds of thousands of political prisoners, eliminated all other political parties and turned Russia into communist soviet union. And he murdered the Romanov family too.

Putting a decent man like 'the shah of Iran' with pychopaths like ia Amin and saddam shows further ignorance imho.

[lepton]

and will probably be ranked in the second tier with the Ayatollah Komenini, the Shah of Iran, Pol Pot and Idi Amin.

Pol Pot only lacks first Tier because of lack of territorial control. Proportionately he blows away any of the First Tier candidates.

The Shah of Iran? He wasn't overturned for Human Rights abuses. He was overturned in the fear that his actions would lead to a semi-secular state like Turkey. Most of the complaints of the time are that his Secret Police limited Freedoms...where none of the governments around his allowed any at all. His SAVAK was feared, but not for killing large numbers of people, but because it was efficient enough to make his opposition afraid - and once n a while DID kill people. Not that this was great or anything, but putting him in the category with the others you cited is over-the-top hyperbole.

[CyberAnt]

Why don't they just line the stuff up and have target practice ...??

[Archangelsk]

Cause now we can have some really good OPFOR airplanes for Mirimar.

[CyberAnt]

I guess that's military lingo for "foreign operations".

Are we planning to load them aboard aircraft carriers to get them back to Miramar ...??

[Rain-maker]

Who supported Saddam's rise to power? Santa Claus?

Saddam had support from the Iraqis or they would of hung him from the rafters when he made his move.

[lepton]

"OPFOR" means "Opposing Forces". Its the forces trained to act like an anticipated enemy for the bulk of the military to then train against. Football teams have the same things where they figure out what players they have that best duplicate the team they are to play against, and put them in the expected roles...then the team trains for the next game against them.

[CyberAnt]

Hmmm? Thanks for that great info!

[CyberAnt]

But ... what about getting the airplanes out of Iraq ...??

[Illbay]

Again, you don't have to have a majority vote to be dictator.

Just more guns than the other side.

Ask BATISTA.

[drjoe]

"Amazing Weapons Development the IRAQIS have. Who would have ever dreamed about a below ground Air Force"

Myabe he was planting them as seed aircraft

[lepton]

But ... what about getting the airplanes out of Iraq ...??

Partially dismantle them, take them to a port, and put them on ships as cargo. Some pieces could be put in C-5s and other heavy-lift cargo planes. They aren't going on carriers, as there's no support for them...not to mention their not being carrier-capable.

[Nick Danger]

Would someone explain to me what use a fleet of fighter aircraft serves while buried underground?

Remember in the first Gulf War how Saddam sent his aircraft to Iran to keep them safe? Well, what if that wasn't Saddam? What if it was a pre-arranged mass mutiny by air force officers who bugged out on him and flew to Iran for asylum, offering their fighter jets in exchange?

This time he would bury the damned jets before he'd allow the air force to take off in them.

[Illbay]

I guess my point is why even have an Air Force if you can't possibly use it?

[CyberAnt]

Thanks for good info - I wondered about the carrier gear - and I just never think about taking the plane apart ... oh well, I guess you can tell I don't fly much.

[Tunehead54]

No one needs 1000's of Muhammad wannabie terrorists scouring Iraq in search of WMD's, because we announced a discovery.

---

Certainly a good possibility - good strategery!

[Rain-maker]

Who said anyone voted in a military regime?

[Libloather]

This time he would bury the damned jets before he'd allow the air force to take off in them.

I go to the beach for a day and end up finding sand in just about everything for a week after that. How the heck does a MIG fly after being buried?

[Amelia]

They sure are finding a lot of chemical suits and atropine for there to be no chemical weapons, I think.

[NovemberCharlie]

I go to the beach for a day and end up finding sand in just about everything for a week after that. How the heck does a MIG fly after being buried?

Call it a hunch, but I'll bet "buried" in this case means, "in an undeground facility."