Posted on 04/19/2003 6:47:53 AM PDT by truthandlife
More than 50 fighter aircraft, anti-aircraft missiles and guns and huge amounts of ammunition have been found buried and hidden at a base in western Iraq.
The aircraft, many in good condition, included three Russian-made Mig 25s, one of the fastest fighters in the world. Some were buried, while others were concealed in buildings and under camouflage netting.
The find by Australian forces represents as much as half of Iraqi air combat power, and came as a fourth Iraqi from America's "most-wanted" list was handed over to US special forces by Kurdish fighters.
Australian Special Forces soldiers stand guard by a Mig fighter discovered in Western Iraq The capture of Samir Abul Aziz al-Najim, a Ba'ath Party regional chairman for east Baghdad, was hailed by US commanders as another indication that coalition forces were making steady progress in rounding up fleeing members of Saddam Hussein's regime.
The find of 51 aircraft and ammunition was made after a force of 200 troops from the Australian SAS and 4th Battalion The Royal Australian Regiment seized the base after encountering only light resistance.
The airfield contained a tunnel system in which chemical warfare protective suits and antidotes were found. Search operations at the base, the location of which is being kept secret, were continuing yesterday.
The Iraqi air force, once one of the most formidable in the Arab world, failed to undertake a single operation during the war.
Brig Maurie McNarn, commander of Australian forces in the Middle East, said secret contacts with Iraqi air force commanders had played an important role in persuading them not to deploy their aircraft and weapons. "We established means of contacting some senior Iraqis and we also sent them some personal messages saying: 'You really don't want to do this.' "
Estimates before the war put the number of Iraqi combat aircraft at 100 to 300, but restrictions on importing spare parts or new aircraft in the 1990s are believed to have seriously harmed operational readiness.
The capture of Najim means that four out of 55 of Saddam's acolytes on the Americans' most-wanted list have been held. Najim was number 24 and the four of clubs in the deck of cards representing the fugitives issued to troops in Iraq.
Brig Gen Vincent Brooks of US Central Command said he had been located near Mosul: "We know that he certainly has an insight on how the Ba'ath Party central committee worked." He added that it appeared Najim had been sent to the north of the country to command military operations there.
On Thursday American forces captured Barzan Ibrahim Hasan al-Tikriti, a half-brother of Saddam and former head of Iraqi intelligence service. The second of Saddam's three half-brothers, Watban Ibrahim Hasan, has also been captured. The fourth senior figure in custody is Amir Hamudi Hasan al-Sadi.
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.
Just more guns than the other side.
Ask BATISTA.
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.
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. |
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."
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