Hi PMG, we did not have to wait long, for all practical purposes, the attack has started
quote.bloomberg.com
09/06 05:08
U.S., U.K. Use 100 Planes in Iraqi Air Defense Attack (Update1)
By Paul Tighe
London, Sept. 6 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. and U.K. used about 100 aircraft during an attack yesterday on the main air defense installation in western Iraq, the British Broadcasting Corp. and the U.K.'s Daily Telegraph newspaper said.
Only 12 of the planes dropped bombs on the target, the Telegraph reported without citing anyone. Other aircraft, including fighter jets, refueling and radar planes, supported the attack, the BBC said citing unidentified U.K. military officials.
The raid was the biggest single operation over Iraq in four years and may have been designed to destroy Iraqi air defenses to allow special forces to fly in by helicopter, the Telegraph said.
The U.S. and U.K. have enforced no-fly zones in northern and southern Iraq since the 1991 Gulf War. They were set up to protect the Kurdish minority in the north and the Shiite Muslim population in the south, both areas of opposition to President Saddam Hussein. The Iraqi government doesn't recognize the zones.
The raid was carried out in response to ``recent hostile acts,'' U.S. Central Command in Tampa, Florida, said in a statement yesterday. The warplanes fired ``precision-guided weapons at positions at a military airport about 240 miles (386 kilometers) west and slightly south of Baghdad,'' it said.
U.S. President George W. Bush will outline his case for action against Iraq at the United Nations General Assembly next week after consulting with world leaders.
He is scheduled to talk today with the leaders of Russia, China and France, the permanent members of the UN Security Council along with the U.S. and the U.K.
The U.S. has enough evidence to justify its policy of wanting to force Saddam Hussein from power, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said yesterday. Bush ``believes that the evidence that we've already seen to date is sufficient to require regime change,'' Fleischer said. ``Congress agrees with that.''
U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair, who is due to meet Bush at Camp David tomorrow, said Britain would ``be there when the shooting starts'' to maintain its special relationship with the U.S. ``I would never back America if I thought they were doing something wrong,'' Blair told the British Broadcasting Corp |
