Posted on 12/26/2002 5:57:07 PM PST by MadIvan
Regards, Ivan
What!!??? No puppies??
Well, that, and burning down our presidential palace.
Oh, and those intollerable acts ...
DIE, BRIT!
LOL
``We are no longer afraid. We are right. It's better to die once and for all after living in humiliation daily from America. We can't take this any more. We die, and our puppies die, every day,'' he said.
If it's any consolation, we can claim the Iraqi downing of the drone killed three midget aviators and injured the eardrums of another 20 monitoring its flight. However, I doubt they would print such a claim.
Yeah right. Like they've ever had three months of anything.
America's Fifth Column ... watch Steve Emerson/PBS documentary JIHAD! In America
New Link: Download 8 Mb zip file here (60 minute video)
Kut Al Hayy Airbase is located in southern Iraq approximately 230 kilometers Southeast of Baghdad and 32 kilometers Southeast of the city of Kut. The airfield is served by one main runway measuring 9,800 feet. Kut Al Hayy has hardened aircraft shelters at each end of the runway. http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/iraq/kut-al-hayy-east.htm
Yet the bombing response did not mention the airbase. British and American jets pounded Iraqi command and communication targets in southern Iraq yesterday in retaliation for the shooting down of an American Air Force Predator drone.
The infiltration of Iraq continues.
Gotta love those smart bombs.
WASHINGTON TIMES.com (AP): "IRAQ TAKES DELIVERY OF POWDER USED IN CHEMICAL ARMS" (ARTICLES SNIPPETS: "Iraqi scientists know how to make chemical weapons that can penetrate military protective clothing, and Iraq imported up to 25 metric tons last month of a powder that is a crucial ingredient to such "dusty" weapons. Iraq told the United Nations the powder was destined for a pharmaceutical company."..."The powder, sold under the brand name Aerosil...") (111802)
TIMES ONLINE.co.uk: "SADDAM PAYS GADDAFI $3 BILLION TO GIVE HIS FAMILY SAFE HAVEN IN LIBYA" (ARTICLE SNIPPET: "Word of Saddam's deal with the Libyan leader has emerged from diplomatic sources in Tripoli following a visit to the Libyan capital on September 8 by General Ali Hasan al-Majid, a cousin and trusted member of Saddam's clan. General al-Majid is known by the Kurds of northern Iraq as "Chemical Ali" because he was in charge of the Iraqi forces which launched a chemical weapons attack on the Kurdish town of Halabja in 1988. He was also initially the "Governor" of Kuwait after Iraq's invasion of the Gulf state in August 1990, and is now one of the Baath Party regional command leaders. He is believed to have travelled to Tripoli to deliver a personal missive from Saddam to the Libyan leader, confirming the arrangements for his family.") (111602)
FOX NEWS.com: "IRAQ STOCKPILING GAS ANTIDOTE" (ARTICLE SNIPPET: "The fate of 31,600 chemical munitions, 550 mustard gas bombs and 4,000 tons of chemical precursors remain unknown, according to Congressional Research Services. In fact, the primary remaining chemical weapons questions center on the VX nerve agent, which atropine can be used to counter. By 1995, UNSCOM uncovered enough evidence to force Iraq to admit to producing about 4 tons of VX, but UNSCOM thought the country had imported enough material to actually produce 200 tons of VX, according to CRS.") (111202)
How do you know it came from this airbase?
Yet the bombing response did not mention the airbase. "British and American jets pounded Iraqi command and communication targets in southern Iraq yesterday in retaliation for the shooting down of an American Air Force Predator drone."
The infiltration of Iraq continues.
Please elaborate on this.
I believe that your question was answered by the following statement:
"Mohammed Mehdi Saleh, the Iraqi trade minister, said his country had increased food rations so that its citizens could stock up before the conflict began so that they would have enough supplies to last three months."
The dawn strikes came after an Iraqi MiG-25 fighter shot down the drone, conducting reconnaissance near Al Kut in eastern Iraq, on Monday.
The airbase described is on the outskirts of Al Kut. Of course, the airplane could have come from elsewhere, but it is not unreasonable to suppose that it originated from the nearest airfield to the point of interception to minimize exposure to US fighter aircraft. Moreover, the airfield in question is long enough to support Mig-29 fighters, and has hardened aircraft shelters at each end of the runway, presumably so that the Iraqi Migs can duck under cover without having to taxi a long way.
You will also observe that the retaliation did not specifically mention going after any airbase or airplanes themselves. During the Clinton administration, US aircraft were allowed to destroy the proximate cause of danger -- air defense radars and launchers which locked onto them. Recently, the Administration has allowed the airmen to strike at the deeper mechanisms of resistance: command and control centers; communications nodes, etc. Hence, "British and American jets pounded Iraqi command and communication targets in southern Iraq".
One can speak of the infiltration of Iraq as the process of gradually inserting forces into the Kurdish North, or among the Marsh Arabs of the south, as well as severely degrading the nerve centers of Iraqi resistance. For example, the fiber-optic cables to Basra were recently cut by bombing. Leaflet drops into Iraq have started. Typically leaflet drops are in support of activated guerilla groups.
I hope this helps.
I wonder what the pilot of the Iraqi Mig 25 painted on the side of his aircraft to signify his "kill" in air-to-air combat against the cunning predator drone?
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