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.
Can't use against us. If we were to leave, he could certainly use it against his neighbors.
His whole theme was just to hold out long enough for political pressure to make us leave - and if we'd quit the battle, we'd probably come all the way home not too long thereafter.
1. They were going to attack or provoke a neighbor or kill more of their own en masse.
2. They anticipated that the UN would eventually have a force come in and if any of the WMD sites were hit, they would be prepared.
3. They intended to use them but the field commanders became impotent (internal revolt by the RG) early on with the death of Saddam and other major players.
He never suspected that he'd have to fight us. I'm sure that Hussein miscalculated the courage of President Bush. I support the war, but in my opinion, it was a risky move for the president.
President Taxula would have never ever considered launching this type of attack. He was (and still is) in a direct search for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Oh, I thought this was going to be one of Registered's threads. :-(
This isn't what the Iraqis did, but since you asked... Switzerland...
Snip
OA has gathered extensive experience in the design of military structures for the Swiss army/air force and/or the civil defense agency (nuclear shelters for the public). OA's personnel have designed and followed up with the construction of five underground air force facilities located in caverns, including hangars, ammunition stocks, jet fuels tanks, barracks and headquarters, as well as transmission centers.
Some were buried, while others were concealed in buildings and under camouflage netting.
Although with inspectors about, if you had used some of them in biochemical weapons tests, as Iraq did with modified Mirage jets years ago, it might be worthwhile to bury the evidence.
Iraqi jets wouldn't serve any use against the US aloft anyway. Iraq couldn't even scavenge them for spare parts if they were flying or on the surface in a conflict with the US like the first Gulf War.
Or some Iraqi bureaucrat ordered the planes to be hidden - "bury those planes so the US can never find them!", and some Iraqis, ever fearful of showing initiative, took the order literally and without question.
Or the people on site there thought it the best way to keep the area from getting bombed.
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