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Politics : Stop the War! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Karen Lawrence who wrote (5204)	3/30/2003 9:44:21 AM
From: H-Man	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 21614

IRAQI MISSILES 'MIS-FIRED' New intelligence suggests a series of Iraqi missiles have mis-fired and hit residential areas of Baghdad, Downing Street says. The Prime Minister's spokesman said information had been received which indicated Iraq's air defence commander has been sacked due to the poor performance of missile systems in Baghdad. He said: "A large number of surface-to-air missiles have been malfunctioning and many have failed to hit their targets and have fallen back onto Baghdad before exploding. "Civil defence workers have been instructed to remove Iraqi missile fragments which fell on residential areas before journalists arrive on the scene." The spokesman stopped short of saying Iraq was responsible for the explosions that killed around 65 civilians in two Baghdad markets this week But he said the intelligence gave fresh reason for "scepticism" over Saddam's claims that the Coalition was to blame for the blasts. "There is still no evidence that Coalition missiles were responsible for what happened on Wednesday (the first marketplace bombing) and we're still investigating what happened last night (the second marketplace bombing)," the spokesman said. He added that the utmost care was taken by Coalition forces to target only military installations and Saddam's command and control facilities, in order to keep civilian casualties to a minimum. There was no question of either market being a target, he said. Earlier this week senior US commander Brigadier General Vince Brooks said he was "certain" that missiles fired from American warplanes at the time of the first market blast had hit their intended targets. Tony Blair was given an intelligence briefing on Saturday morning on the sacking of Saddam's cousin Musahim Saab al-Tikriti as commander of Iraq's air defence force. He was replaced by General Shahin Yasin Muhammad al-Tikriti, said Mr Blair's spokesman, who refused to divulge how the information had emerged. sky.com