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Caution over Scud claims
Severely edited.
Four Iraqi missiles were fired into Kuwait yesterday near points where US and British troops were massing for invasion. Two were widely reported to be Scuds. But the British government was cautious last night, saying it was awaiting confirmation.
They'll pick through the wreckage at some point today.
There were no casualties and no suggestion that chemical or biological warheads were loaded on to the missiles. British Harrier jets were scrambled to bomb the mobile missile launchers based around Basra in southern Iraq. A Kuwaiti defence ministry spokesman said that two Scuds had been fired. If only one turned out to be a Scud, it would be proof that Saddam Hussein had been lying not only over the last few months but the last 12 years.
Gosh, yeah, I guess that would!
Iraq confabulated claimed that had it destroyed all its Scud missiles after the last Gulf war but the US and Britain have maintained that 15 to 20 had been hidden. A British government official said: "If it really was a Scud, it is prohibited by 687 [the 1991 United Nations ceasefire resolution], and Iraq has lied repeatedly denied possession of them, and we were right all along." The Iraqi designated chief liar information minister, Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, denied Iraq had fired any Scuds or had any.
One of the alleged Scuds was reported to have been brought down by a US Patriot missile. Scud missiles are much bigger than others in Iraq's arsenal and should have been easily identifiable. But if it has been hit by a Patriot, it may prove difficult to find any recognisable parts. Two of the missiles were Chinese-built Seersucker anti-ship missiles, which are much smaller than Scuds and fly low to the ground. It is thought the Seersuckers were positioned south of Basra and originally intended to attack US and British warships.
Seersucker? That's a name for a missile?
| It's a derivative of the Sapsucker, which in turn was developed from the Scumsucker... |
Iraq is allowed missiles with a range of up to 150km (93 miles) but Scuds have a range well beyond that, which is why they were banned. Iraqi forces had been close to the border on Wednesday night, hours before the US deadline for war ran out. But a British defence source in Qatar said the artillery appeared to have run away retreated to the city of Basra yesterday. The missile attacks were not regarded as an overly serious threat to the safety of the British and US troops, although chemical gas warnings were sounded and soldiers were ordered to wear their gas masks and chemical and biological weapon protection suits.
| SCUDs usually can be counted on to hit the right county. FROGs will hit the right county three out of five times. I don't know what the accuracy is of the Sacksucker, though I'd guess that an anti-ship missile would be expected to be able to hit a target the size of, say, a ship, at something like 2/3 of its max range... |
By early evening, about a dozen missile attacks were reported, including eight missiles that buzzed above a CNN reporter crapping in his pants accompanying US-led troops in Kuwait.
They showed the guy from the waist up on TV, unfortunately.
One missile landed near the US army's A Company, 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, whose soldiers were eating lunch. "That is not supposed to be happening," said Captain Chris Carter, the company commander.
"Them jokers trying to ruin my day? I'll show them!"
Posted by: Steve White 2003-03-21 |
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