Posted on 09/29/2001 5:55:57 PM PDT by newsperson999
Devastating attacks on bases controlled by Osama bin Laden are set to be launched in the next 48 hours as part of a tightly focused military operation approved by US President George Bush and backed by Britain.
The strategy, which is a victory for pragmatists in both Britain and America, is designed to kill bin Laden and his forces, and will be launched in tandem with strikes against air and ground forces of the Taliban regime supporting him.
The operation, which British and US sources say could be launched as early as today, would begin with air and missile strikes to destroy the Taliban's 20-aircraft air force, remove anti-aircraft missile batteries, and destroy Taliban tanks and other armour.
In a clear sign that strikes were imminent, Bush declared last night, after a meeting with military advisers at Camp David: 'America will act deliberately and decisively, and the cause of freedom will prevail.' MORE HERE
Calm down - There is a published source; it has been reported elsewhere.
Huh? Does anyone understand economics anymore? Flooding the market with heroin will simply drive its price down -- the demand is extremely inelastic. There aren't people waiting to jump into heroine addiction -- they aren't price shoppers.
This is completely and utterly ridiculous. Doesn't anyone care about economic accuracy anymore???
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
I think their plan -- idiotic and laughable though it may be -- is to flood us with heroin so we all get high and decide they should be left alone.
MM
By the dawn's early light
The many bombs we send you
With Hellfire now streaming
.
Our Justice is served
What a glorious sight
Our hearts are made bright
By the sounds of your screaming
.
As the blast with its heat
Warms the ground at your feet
You now recognize 'tis your hour of defeat
.
Oh, say do you now know
As you go to your grave
We're the land of the Free
And the home of the Brave....
In the early 1990s Afghanistan's Air Force included 12 combat squadrons with a total of 126 aircraft [Russian-built Mig-21, Su-7, Su-20, Su-22, and Il-39]. Some An-12 transports were equipped with Soviet-designed bomb racks that could carry up to 38 250-kilogram bombs. The five aviation transport squadrons had about 60 planes [An-12, An-26, An-32, and Yak-40], and nine helicopter squadrons with about 100 Mi-8 and Mi-17 transport helicopters, and 14 Mi-24 combat helicopters.
By the mid-1990s the Air Force had collapsed as a professional military establishment, and remnaining aviation assets changed hands over the course of the civil war. Most of the surviving aircraft, amounting to about 40 combat aircraft and various transport planes and helicopters, are under Taliban control. About half the combat planes are Su-20 and Su-22 export versions of the Su-17 fighter-bomber, with the other half including Mig-21 interceptors and ground attack fighters. The Taliban also converted a few Il-39 trainer aircraft to bombers. Most of the planes are elderly, and many are unsafe to fly. Improvisation and cannibalization provide a few combat aircraft (six or eight) for limited operations.
Source: Afghanistan - Air Force
I read here on FR last night that this mountain division was not prepared for war. Insight, anyone?
US and Britain allegelly to strike alleged terror camps allegedly within days.
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