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....

[Tom Bombadil]

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

Using some sort of secret sensor to detect the light in the fiber optics. Give me a break. I hope Sadam believes this stuff.

[Judith Anne]

I agree with you. BTW, didn't Saddam already declare war on the US some time ago?

[alrea]

The center contained advanced fiber optic networks recently installed by Chinese companies.

Now Whampoa Global Crossing can get in there and fix this stuff.

[Dec31,1999]

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

I never noticed it until seconds before I posted it. Sure is strange, isn't it? But since we all saw the plane hit the building with our own eyes on live TV, I doubt it was a missle. It could be debris shooting out from the South Tower.

I'll have to check earlier versions of the pic, if I have any, to see if that's there.

[OldFriend]

I believe Rumsfeld addressed that report during his last press conference. He said it was not true.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

DebKa has a reputation just above CNN so I don't buy much of their 'news', but I would be very surprised if we don't already have special operators in both the north and southern zones ginning up the locals and identifying targets.

[section9]

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.

Which is why I believe that this is true. Of course JDAM devices can't home in on fibre optic lines. But you can find out their location through the use of HUMINT, which the Mossad has in Iraq in spades. Find a node point, and crater the whole area. You're bound to disrupt the line.

BTW, the part about the Turks is true, I suspect. Reuters had this short blip about the Turks, which was immediately spiked, I guess. Freeper a_Turk followed up with his report from Turkey that a Turkish commando brigade had captured that airport.

Saddam hasn't struck back because he simply doesn't want to attack the Turk. That would be a very stupid thing for him to do.

Be Seeing You,

Chris

[ASA Vet]

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.

Where the end of a optical fiber cable terminates
(they don't run forever,) there will be a repeater/booster.
The optical signal is converted into an electronic signal,
amplified, and then converted back into an optical signal
which is transmitted into the next cable run.

Those repeater/boosters are electronic devices which will have an electronic signature.

[Jackie222]

I hope Sadam believes this stuff.

bump

[ErnBatavia]

how about a nice big "Central" no fly zone...?

[ASA Vet]

how about a nice big "Central" no fly zone...?

Would this be big enough for you?

[eno_]

This is the more-likely explanation: that we have recon people searching for precise coordinates of fiber trenches, and then we bomb those locations with precision bombs. Sensing even fiber repeaters remotely is much less likely to succeed, and sensing the fibers directly is pure sci-fi.

[Amelia]

A simple search through the Yahoo! news site shows that we bombed some of these fiber-optic facilities the Chinese were helping to build back in February, and in the past two weeks we've bombed both a communications bunker and an air command & control center.

There might be some truth to this report...and I'd suspect there's LOTS more going on than they are telling us.

[The_Media_never_lie]

or a mass terrorist attack in the United States.

Mass terrorist attack? Then what is Saddam waiting for? Gulf War III, IV, or V?

If he had that capability he would have used it in 1991.

[ChadGore]

DEBKAfile Source

[ASA Vet]

I agree with your take.

[Jackie222]

water, water everywhere......

[MangyDingo]

It's probably one of the engines from the jet.

We saw the pictures of a jet engine on the sidewalk in the immediate aftermath of the attack. From that we can surmise that it must have had the mass, velocity, and structural integrity to pass through the building without disintegrating. There would also be fuel still in the engine, allowing it to leave a flaming, smoking streak like we see in the picture.

Besides, a missile would have survived the impact no better than a 767 anyway.

MangyDingo

[reillyoburbank]

What you see in that photo is a part of the aircraft's wing that sheared off on impact and landed, on I believe it was, building no. 7. I saw an insert (larger photo) of that particular piece in a newspaper (don't remember which one) shortly after the attack on 9/11. But it was clear that that piece was indeed part of the aircraft and nothing else.

[Eala]

Let's get real, with fiber optics, there is no heat,...

You beat me to it; my BS detector went off big-time with the "fiber-optic detection" business.