Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: willcousa who wrote (127531)	2/16/2001 4:07:07 PM
From: calgal	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769667

U.S., U.K. Hit Military Targets South of Baghdad Friday, February 16, 2001 An allied air strike, ordered by President Bush, hit air defense targets south of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad on Friday in what the Pentagon called a "self-defense measure." FOXNews.com President Bush, who was visiting Mexico Friday, said the air strikes were a "routine mission" aimed at enforcing the no-fly zones patrolled by U-S and British aircraft. Bush authorized the strike Thursday morning. British and U.S. planes took part in the attack. Click here for interactive — Iraq: The Gulf War and Its Aftermath The Pentagon said it took about 2 1/2 hours for the operation, the first ordered by Bush since taking office — and 10 years after a U.S.-led coalition assembled by his father drove Iraqi troops from Kuwait. Marine Lt. Gen. Gregory Newbold, joint staff director of operations for the Pentagon, said the strike involved 24 aircraft that hit five Iraqi command sites controlling a number of radars. FOX FAST FACTS Strike was authorized by President Bush Thursday morning. 24 American and British aircraft hit five Iraqi command sites controlling a number of radars. All U.S. and British planes involved in the attack returned safely. The Pentagon does not expect to launch more air strikes on Iraq in the near future. Newbold described the strike as a "carefully planned and orchestrated strike" that had been recommended by Army Gen. Tommy Franks, the commander of U.S. Central Command. Because four of the five targets were outside the "no fly" zone over southern Iraq, the plan had to be approved at higher levels, including the president, Newbold said. All U.S. and British planes involved in the attack returned safely, Newbold said. The radars and associated command-and-control facilities that were attacked Friday had been used in recent weeks to give Iraq a better capability of targeting allied planes with surface-to-air missiles, Newbold said. "It reached the point that it was obvious to our forces that they had to conduct the operation to safeguards those pilots and the aircraft. In fact (it was) essentially a self-defense measure," he said. FOXNews.com No Further Strikes Seen The United States does not expect to launch more air strikes on Iraq in the near future, Newbold said. "We think we've accomplished what we were looking for ... to degrade, disrupt the ability of the Iraqi air defenses to coordinate attacks against our aircraft," he said. "But as you know, this is a (cyclical) affair." Some of the Iraqi radars hit Friday were located north of the 33rd Parallel, which marks the outer limit of the "no-fly" zone that U.S. and British planes have been enforcing over southern Iraq since the end of the 1991 Gulf War. The official said the allied aircraft did not fly outside the no-fly zone. They used "standoff" weapons to reach their targets, he said. These are capable of zeroing in on targets from a distance after being launched from an aircraft, making it safer for the pilot. The strike, coming less than a month after President Bush took office, did not appear to mark a departure from U.S. policy toward Iraq. The Clinton administration said any military target in Iraq that threatened allied planes enforcing "no-fly" zones over northern and southern Iraq were fair game. Iraq has said that some 300 people have been killed and more than 800 injured since it began challenging the no-fly patrols in December 1998. Tension in Baghdad In Baghdad, air raid sirens wailed, and anti-aircraft weapons fired into the skies at unseen targets during the nighttime bombing. Witnesses in Baghdad did not see anything in the skies, but the city was tense as the sirens started. The explosions from anti-aircraft weaponry from the southern and western outskirts of the city began soon after the sirens sounded. Just over a half-hour after the sirens first sounded, more sirens announced the end of the airstrikes. State-run TV aired its regular newscast. Another station, al-Shabab TV, began playing patriotic songs and showing footage of commandos training and marching. The last time the city's sirens wailed was Feb. 24, 1999, when U.S. aircraft attacked targets on the outskirts of the capital, killing and wounding several people. — The Associated Press contributed to this story foxnews.com