| Submit your comments on this article |
| Axis of Evil |
| Jets strike Iraqi site second day in a row |
| 2002-11-07 |
| U.S. and British jets bombed two Iraqi air defense and command facilities near Al Kut Thursday, the fifth time that area has been fired on since September by aircraft enforcing the southern no-fly zone. Al Kut is about 95 miles southeast of Baghdad. The jets fired precision-guided weapons at an air defense operations facility and integrated operations center at around 1:20 p.m. after Iraq engaged in unspecified "hostile acts" toward the aircraft. That probably included turning on their radars. Pilots consider that a hostile sort of thing to do, since it's often followed by firing missiles. Coalition aircraft struck two surface-to-air missile sites in Al Kut Wednesday, marking the first time F/A-18E Super Hornets have seen combat. The strike-fighters flew from the USS Abraham Lincoln. Welcome to the theater, guys! Good luck to you! Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld directed his commanders this year to target not just the tactical weapons sites threatening aircraft in Iraq but the higher-value command facilities that provide targeting coordinates. Since Sept 16, when Iraq President Saddam Hussein said he would allow U.N. arms inspectors access to his country to search for chemical, biological and nuclear weapons, Iraq has fired on U.S. and British aircraft enforcing the no-fly zones more than 125 times, predominantly in the southern no-fly zone. To date, he hasn't hit anything. Any one of those 125 could have consitituted a legitimate excuse to shut down Sammy's whole operation — if Bush had wanted to. |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |
| #2 Good luck and good hunting! |
| Posted by: Steve 2002-11-08 07:45:13 |
| #1 Yes! God watch over you and protect you! |
| Posted by: Ptah 2002-11-07 18:05:34 |