A flotilla of small Iraqi ships sailed into the Gulf on Tuesday in what a U.S. admiral said might be a bid to sneak out explosives to attack U.S. or British warships. Rear Admiral John Kelly, in charge of a battle group led by the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, said a U.S. ultimatum giving Iraqi President Saddam Hussein 48 hours to leave or face war had raised U.S. fears that Baghdad might strike first. Kelly said that Iraq forced about 50 dhows, or traditional wooden-hulled cargo boats, to leave southern Iraq overnight, far more than the usual number. Dhows are checked to try to prevent smuggling under U.N. sanctions on Iraq. "If he (Saddam) flushes enough out he may successfully be able to get one by that either has mines or explosives on it," Kelly said. "Iraq would love to be able to damage one of our ships and blame it on a terrorist attack so it doesn't have any fingerprint," he said. He said the dhow captains had been forced to leave the Khor Abadallah waterway at gunpoint. Kelly did not believe the dhows were leaving merely to escape any imminent invasion by 280,000 U.S. and British military personnel. On Monday, President Bush gave Saddam 48 hours to leave Iraq or face war. "Our concern is now with the ultimatum he (Saddam) may be more inclined to act," Kelly said. The Lincoln is one of three U.S. aircraft carriers in the Gulf. All are accompanied by a fleet of frigates, cruisers and destroyers.
Nobody is getting a small boat anywhere near a carrier. They might be able to blow up one of the small patrol boats sent to check these Iraqi dhows. Be careful, guys.
Alan Massey, the captain of Britain's Ark Royal aircraft carrier in the Gulf, also said there had been a "mass exodus of small Iraqi boats." Massey said that the dhows were being "searched bottom to top and sent on their way as soon as it is determined that there is no threat." He did not mention any suspicious finds. U.S. and British naval commanders fear that Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network could make suicide strikes against ships in the Gulf like those against the U.S. warship Cole in October 2000 and the French merchant vessel Limburg last year. In both cases, militants are thought to have approached warships near land on tiny boats and detonated explosives. Seventeen U.S. soldiers were killed on the Cole.
Any of these boats that get too close are going to have warning shots fired real close. The second shot goes through the hull. |