-Caveat Lector- WJPBR Email News List [EMAIL PROTECTED] Peace at any cost is a Prelude to War! SATURDAY FEBRUARY 17 2001 Attack on Iraq Bush and Blair bomb Baghdad BY MICHAEL EVANS, DEFENCE EDITOR THE United States and Britain last night launched the biggest air raid on targets around Baghdad since Operation Desert Fox in December 1998, damaging President Saddam Hussein’s new command-and-control facilities. The bombing mission, which involved at least 80 aircraft, including 24 American strike planes such as F16s, and nine RAF aircraft, including six Tornado GR1s, was the first military attack to be authorised by President Bush since taking office last month. The American aircraft carrier, USS Harry S. Truman, launched raids with F14s and F18s from the Gulf. The decision to mount the raid was personally approved by Tony Blair who was involved in discussions from the beginning, according to military sources. “The decision was taken at the very highest level in London and Washington,” sources said. Some of the command-and-control targets hit by the American and British bombers were as close as ten miles from the centre of Baghdad, but mostly to the north and north-west of the capital. The RAF bombers were assigned targets to the south. Initial battle damage assessment by aircraft with high-resolution cameras indicated that no civilian areas had been hit. However, the military sources said that with such a huge amount of Iraqi anti-aircraft artillery in the air, there was a strong likelihood that the rounds would have damaged civilian properties. Iraqi state television said eight people were wounded. Iraqi youth television, run by Saddam’s son Uday, said at least three children were among civilian casualties. Footage from a hospital included three children as well as three women and two men, bleeding with leg and stomach wounds. The severity of the injuries was not detailed. “Baghdad was bombed today by enemy American planes,” the television announced. “This aggression is not new. American enemy planes bomb Iraqi cities daily,” it said. Iraqi television did not specify which sites the bombs hit. Military sources said the plans had been drawn up over the past few weeks after a dramatic increase in the number of missile and anti-aircraft artillery attacks against American and British aircraft in the combat air patrols over southern and northern Iraq. Intelligence reports had also provided evidence that in the past six months the Iraqis had installed fibre-optic cables into the main command-and-control facilities around Baghdad which dramatically improved the effectiveness of their air defences. Saddam also sent “technicians” to Belgrade to receive training by the Serbians in the use of Russian-made surface-to-air missiles, principally Sam 2s and Sam 6s. The Serbs succeeded in shooting down an American F117 Stealth fighter during the Nato bombing campaign in 1999. In recent weeks, British and American pilots have experienced an increasing number of “trips”, the name for incidents where air crews can “feel” the missile or anti-aircraft shell close to the jet. With the improved integrated air defence network, the Iraqis were beginning to get much closer to their targets, the military sources said. A US military spokesman said that the Iraqi air defence system had become much more sophisticated and it was imperative to neutralise it. Last night’s raid began at 5.20pm, London time, when American bombers took off from Saudi Arabia and the RAF Tornados from Kuwait. As they approached Baghdad, they came under a huge barrage of anti-aircraft artillery fire. All the aircraft, however, returned safely to their bases. The raid finished at 6.07pm. The military sources said that the coalition aircraft, all normally engaged in patrolling southern Iraq in the operation codenamed Southern Watch, had not flown beyond the 33rd parallel which marks the limits of the no-fly zone fixed after the 1991 Gulf War. However, the missiles that were dropped, including RAF Paveway 2 guided bombs, are stand-off weapons that can cruise to their targets, adding up to 20 miles to the range. The sources said this was why some of the targets hit were beyond the 33rd parallel. Last night a Pentagon spokesman said that the raids had degraded Iraq’s air defences and he did not anticipate further raids at present. *COPYRIGHT NOTICE** In accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. 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