Posted on 09/07/2003 7:04:24 AM PDT by Momaw Nadon
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Unidentified guerrillas fired two missiles at a U.S. transport plane taking off from Baghdad just hours before Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld flew out of Iraq, military officials said on Sunday.
The missiles missed their target and caused no damage.
"Multiple missiles were fired which missed the aircraft," a U.S. military spokeswoman said of the incident, which happened on Saturday morning.
Rumsfeld was thought to have passed through the airport on his way out to Kuwait, but the U.S. military refused on Sunday to comment on his exact travel route in and out of Baghdad.
The military said, however, he had not been at risk from the two missiles, which caused no injuries or damage.
"I could never comment on where he was, how he came or left. But I will say that at no point was he ever in any danger from these missiles," a second military spokesman said.
The incident was the third of its kind since May 1, when Washington declared an end to major combat in Iraq after invading the country and toppling Saddam Hussein.
U.S. troops, who form the overwhelming majority of soldiers occupying the country, have come under daily attacks that have killed at least 67 of them since the beginning of May.
The two prior attacks on planes also missed their target.
Baghdad airport has been closed to civilian traffic since the war because of concern about security. But the United Nations and other humanitarian organizations have been using it for charter flights in and out of Iraq.
The second military spokesman later acknowledged that there was no real way to prevent such attacks, but tried to play down the danger of a plane being brought down by a missile.
"You can fire a shoulder-fired missile from anywhere, 20 to 30 kms (12 to 19 miles) from the airport, so to say that you can prevent that from occurring, I'm not sure that's accurate now," the spokesman told a news conference.
"I would add though, that in many respects these are unaimed shots which are not putting aircraft in danger."
I'm just curious of the reporter or spokeswoman know the difference between an RPG and a Stinger-type surface-to-air missile.
Someone on the Iraqi security team knew too much and needs to be dragged out the door and shot.
Seems to be an appropriate place to add---"Thank You, Lord".
Amen to that.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.