Iraqi War Began Four Days Ago

DebkaFiles ^ | 10 Aug 2002 | DebkaFiles

[greggy]

US Iraq Campaign Has Its First Engagement
DEBKAfileSpecial Military Analysis

10 August: America’s offensive against Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq has begun as an exercise in gradualism rather than a D-Day drama. DEBKAfile ’s military sources report that tens of thousands of US, British, French, Netherlands, Australian troops may take part in the campaign, openly or covertly, but not in massive waves that fling themselves telegenically on Baghdad...

Tuesday August 6, at 0800 hours Middle East time, US and British air bombers went into action and destroyed the Iraqi air command and control center at al-Nukhaib in the desert between Iraq and Saudi Arabia. The center contained advanced fiber optic networks recently installed by Chinese companies. DEBKA-Net-Weekly’s military sources say the raid made military history. For the first time, the US air force used new precision-guided bombs capable of locating and destroying fiber optic systems. The existence of such weaponry was hitherto unknown. Following the destruction of the facility, about 260 miles (415 kilometers), southwest of Baghdad, waves of US warplanes swept in from the Prince Sultan air base in Saudi Arabia and from US aircraft carriers in the Gulf and flew over the Iraqi capital. The Iraqi air force and anti-aircraft system held their fire on orders from above. This deep air penetration told the Americans that the early warning radar system protecting Baghdad and its environs from intrusion by enemy aircraft and missiles was inactive...

Iraq’s military passivity in the face of US-led advances and strikes is beginning to worry the American, Turkish and Israeli high commands. They suspect that Saddam is playing the same fog-of-war game as Washington, so as to put them to sleep and then catch them unawares. Such sudden action could take the form of an Iraqi missile or bomber attack on Israel using warheads loaded with radioactive, chemical or biological materials, a combined missile-terrorist strike to sabotage Saudi oil fields, or a mass terrorist attack in the United States. The sharpest alert to a threat to Iraq’s southern neighbors came not from military intelligence but from international oil dealers, who warned that Saddam Hussein if attacked may well decide to set fire to Saudi and Kuwaiti oil fields, sending oil prices skyrocketing above US$ 40 per barrel....

[DB]

Why didn't you know that fiber optic systems are resistant to conventional explosives???

Neither did I… ;-)

I do believe even smoke signal communications fail in the haze of conventional explosives…

[July 4th]

Seems that US/foreign press would have at least reported the explosions. Every SAM site the US has taken out over the last 10 years has been quietly but dutifully reported, and I've seen nothing for a while.

That said, once in a while - a long while - Debka hits it right on. But I need a little more help before I believe this one.

[Aric2000]

For the first time, the US air force used new precision-guided bombs capable of locating and destroying fiber optic systems.

Yeah, right, uh huh!! Sure thing, and batboy is stalking Saddam right now with a saddam seeking missile.

Let's get real, with fiber optics, there is no heat, there is no electromagnetic field, there is light going through a tube for god's sake. There is NO way to find it unless you know where they were buried. There isn't even metal, unless it's armored, which I seriously doubt.

Debka is so full of it, about as reliable as the tabloids.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

The Turkish military came back and denied that report!

They said!

[rightofrush]

Nice picture. What is it that I see to the right of the post in foregrond?
That couldn't be a missle, could it?

We all know how adicted to the truth our government is, and that they must have had a good reason for not allowing forensic teams to exam the site before removal of the debris.

[PoisedWoman]

Let's get real, with fiber optics, there is no heat, there is no electromagnetic field, there is light going through a tube for god's sake. There is NO way to find it unless you know where they were buried

You just shot down the only interesting thing in this report, the part I'd hoped was true. Exceedingly cool to be able to search and destroy fiber optics. Mabe ve haff vays to work with light waves?

[JennysCool]

But it seems that diplomacy is generally conducted at an imperceptable level...

Absolutely, Mad Tom! ... Now how do we convince some of our fellow FReepers with no patience that this is how it's done?

[JennysCool]

Not known to many is that Clinton bombed Iraq all through the late 90's.

Sigh. Only when convenient.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

There is now this report:

KURDISH WAR: The Northern Axis Against Iraq

[operation clinton cleanup]

Debka isn't always right on what they report but,when they report,something hapened some where.

LOL! and it may or may not be important!

[kayak]

Last time the mission was to get the Iraqis out of Kuwait ..... that's what the coalition signed on for and was all that we could do. Had we gone on to Baghdad, the coalition would have splintered and heaven only knows what would have happened ..... the whole Middle-East may have gone up in flames, including Israel.

This time a stated goal is a change in power in the Iraqi government. It's been said publicly and the whole world knows it. Anyone signing on with us will know that's what we're going to accomplish.

The two situations are vastly different.

[Ben Bolt]

Indeed ..

[Jeff Chandler]

Sometimes I have to check to see if I'm reading Debka or The Onion

attack on Israel using warheads loaded with radioactive, chemical or biological materials

Not likely. If that ever happens Bagdad will become a green glass mine.

[SpottedBeaver]

Oh **** It's Debka... But I thought you should see this anyway.

[JennysCool]

Absolutely! Nicely concise.

[Stavka2]

Then again, nobody noticed the million man Russian army that swept into Afghanistan...again except DEBKA...

[Stultis]

A_turk posted an article that said Turkey had seized control of a major airbase in the N. Iraq no-fly zone. Interesting.

I think Debka is exaggerating actions that would have been carried out in any case wrt defending the no-fly zones, however there might be something to this in a more general sense. I've been wondering for awhile if the one "stratagery" not leaked to the newspapers might be the real thing: A gradual envelopement of Iraq, starting in the no-fly zones, carrying on with further peicemeal incursions. Gathering intelligence along the way, maybe even turning a military unit here and there, making contact with dissident elements, and the like would be geared toward preparing a culminating decapitating strike towards Bahgdad.

[A Vast RightWing Conspirator]

What this article fails to mention is that I personally bombed Iraq's air defenses, then I parachuted myself into Saddam's palace, grabbed him by the mustache and pulled him into the basement where I beat him severely and sprayed pro-Israel grafitti all over the palace walls, especially in the bathrooms.

Incredibly, both Saddam and his entourage remained completely passive while I was at it.

Then I took a cab to the Saudi border and got myself extracted back home.

I wish DEBCKA was more thorough in their coverage and that whomever posts this garbage does it under 'humor'.

[kinghorse]

When you hear Dick Cheney is opening up dialog with opposition groups in Iraq, including the southern Shiite Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, you have to be encouraged. WTF?? Just shows the "complexity" (read cretinous backwardness) of this place. But fragmented and weak is better than Saddam. I heard Bush say, "everyone knows the dynamic of blackmail", indicating Saddam is active on the acquisition and placement of WMD's near American interests (such as major cities).

[Linda Liberty]

Yeah, right. Dream on. When the move against Iraq happens, it will be like sh*t through a goose.

I expect like you that conquering Iraq won't be a big problem in terms of US troop loss or whatever, but I think Debka has a point too. Saddam has known we were coming for 11 months now. He has bio weapon capabilities. We have porous borders. You've got to believe he's thought about planting a terrorist attack ready to go in this country. How serious it would be depends on various factors-- e.g. his technical ability to aerosolize and spread some agent-- but if one American comes down with ebola or smallpox, it will be major panic. (Right now, emergency rooms are seeing serious traffic from people fearing, mistakenly, that they have nile fever.) Also, if he has the capability of torching Saudi oil fields (which I'm far from sure about, but maybe) that would be a major deal too.

IMHO we should have moved in there by October 11 to forestall these possibilities.