| Submit your comments on this article |
| Iraq |
| Iraqi Drones May Target U.S. Cities |
| 2003-02-25 |
| Iraq could be planning a chemical or biological attack on American cities through the use of remote-controlled "drone" planes equipped with GPS tracking maps, according to U.S. intelligence. The information about Iraq's unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) program has caused a "real concern" among defense personnel, senior U.S. officials tell Fox News. They're worried that these vehicles have already been, or could be, transported inside the United States to be used in an attack, although there is no proof that this has happened. That's why it's a concern. Secretary of State Colin Powell showed a picture of a small drone plane during his presentation to the U.N. Security Council earlier this month. "UAVs outfitted with spray tanks constitute an ideal method for launching a terrorist attack using biological weapons," Powell said during his speech. "Iraq could use these small UAVs, which have a wingspan of only a few meters, to deliver biological agents to its neighbors or, if transported, to other countries, including the United States." Wouldn't work well for blistering agents or even nerve agents. Anthrax? Could cause quite a scare but relatively few casualties. But for smallpox it would be dandy. Powell said there is "ample evidence" that Iraq has dedicated much time and effort to developing and testing spray devices that could be adapted for UAVs. "And of the little that Saddam Hussein told us about UAVs, he has not told the truth," Powell said. Does he ever? In the arms declaration Iraq submitted to the U.N. Security Council in December, the country said its UAVs have a range of only 50 miles. But Powell said U.S. intelligence sources found that one of Iraq's newest UAVs went 310 miles nonstop on autopilot in a test run. That distance is over the 155 miles that the United Nations permits, and the test was left out of Iraq's arms declaration. No! Such perfidy! Officials tell Right. If you have a splodydope handy, you don't need a UAV. Hence the Iraqi link to terror groups including al-Qaeda, for occasions when Saddam needs a splodydope. Even though it has been mentioned a few times by administration officials, the issue of UAVs and their capabilities has been largely overlooked. But some experts say that even if the UAVs do get assembled for use in the United States, the chances that they could cause widespread damage are low. "These technologies are not terribly well proven," F. Whitten Peters, a former Air Force Secretary, told Fox News, referring to vehicles that can be used to disperse harmful agents. Peters said in order to go undetected in the air, the UAVs would have to be small — and therefore would not be able to carry too much of a harmful substance, and they would have to fly over densely populated areas if they want to achieve maximum casualties. Which is why smallpox would be the big worry, since it would only take a little. But because many large metropolitan areas such as Washington have air traffic watchers keeping an eye out for any nearby planes that have not filed a flight plan, the UAVs likely would not succeed in a large-city attack. It's the smaller cities and towns that would be more vulnerable. "It's not clear air traffic would actually see this aircraft," Peters said, adding that if the vehicles flew low enough to evade radar detection, "they would be basically invisible." "Hey Ma!" "Yes, Pa?" "What's the buzzing sound I hear out back?" "Is it Junior with his toy pickup truck?" "Nope, sounds diff'rent than that." "Maybe it's Peggy-Sue mowing the lawn." "She's downstairs with her friends lissening to them Dixie Chicks." "Well maybe it's an Iraqi UAV sprayin' us with summing." "Pshaw, woman, be serious!" As to what the government could do to protect Americans from any threat UAVs may pose, Peters said: "I don't think there's much to be done besides the steps we're already taking to deal with chemical and biological threats." But some experts say the threat is very real and should be taken seriously. "This isn't brain surgery," Air National Guard Chief Paul Weaver told Fox News in reference to how easy it would be to assemble a UAV. "The key is getting it into the country." What an outstanding observation. Not too long after Sept. 11, there was a report made public about Usama bin Laden's Al Qaeda network being trained to conduct air raids through air vehicles outfitted with spray tanks. Some terror network members had looked into the possibility of training on the aerial UAVs. This was the catalyst for investigations into U.S. flight schools. "If they could organize something like Sept. 11," Weaver said, "this would be very doable." My father used to fly "combat" with his RC planes. I think I might ask him for a few lessons. |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #6 OK TGA, Lets try it this way,is there any doubt in your mind that,given Sadam's dreams of empire and glory,that he would hesitate to use small pox if any country thwarted his expainsionist dream? For example:Say he invaded Jordan,and was stopped by outside forces,isn't well within the realm of possibility that he would lash out in a rage. Don't try the"He didn't use them last time" argument.The guy is insane,and untreated insainity just gets worse.There is no telling what this guy will do. |
| Posted by: raptor 2003-02-26 11:00:08 |
| #5 It is not a peachy place. It never was, never will be. But of course smallpox would strictly stick to U.S. territory when released there, right? Talking about your neck my neck... |
| Posted by: True German Ally 2003-02-26 00:17:30 |
| #4 The alternative is you could stick your head in the sand and pretend the world is a peachy place. Easy to do when it's not your neck you are worrying about. |
| Posted by: RW 2003-02-25 23:22:17 |
| #3 Is it really? Well why don't we go into Minority Report Mode and attack countries that might think about getting something and might think about threatening us with it in the future and might... Where can I sign up to get a mindreader job? |
| Posted by: True German Ally 2003-02-25 22:37:01 |
| #2 You don't need drones to deliver smallpox. One infected suicide traveller flying into NY would do the trick. You don't even need a container. If you find guys crazy enough flying planes into buildings such a wacko shouldn't be too hard to find. You could even tell him that he got an antidote and won't die himself. But the smallpox issue smells like creating terror hysteria to me. The only guys who ever talked about smallpox were government people. There is not the shadow of a proof that Saddam has that stuff. Not that he would object to, of course. But if he did we should rethink our strategy because chances that he'd unleash the stuff are far higher when we force him to a last stand in his Baghdad bunker. Because if he really has it its more than likely that the stuff is in the U.S. already. |
| Posted by: True German Ally 2003-02-25 21:51:27 |
| #1 I think Japan might have been the last country to try anything like this. If I remember correctly, we won that war with nuclear weapons. It's the "low-tech weapons for nukes" exchange program we offer our stated enemies. For North Korea, we offer the "1 for 1000" ICBM exchange program. |
| Posted by: BossMan 2003-02-25 09:13:57 |