Unidentified guerrillas fired two missiles at a U.S. transport plane taking off from Baghdad just hours before Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld flew out of Iraq, military officials said on Sunday. The missiles missed their target and caused no damage. Rumsfeld was thought to have passed through the airport on his way out to Kuwait, but the U.S. military refused on Sunday to comment on his exact travel route in and out of Baghdad. The military said, however, he had not been at risk from the two missiles, which caused no injuries or damage. "I could never comment on where he was, how he came or left. But I will say that at no point was he ever in any danger from these missiles," a second military spokesman said.
| "Other missiles, maybe, but not these missiles..." |
The incident was the third of its kind since May 1, when Washington declared an end to major combat in Iraq after invading the country and toppling Saddam Hussein.
| That's Rooters-brand of snide. There haven't been any major combat operations in Iraq since May 1st, only piddling firefights... |
U.S. troops, who form the overwhelming majority of soldiers occupying the country, have come under daily attacks that have killed at least 67 of them since the beginning of May.
| Piddling firefights are important to the people involved in them, but only in the aggregate to the overall picture... |
The two prior attacks on planes also missed their target. Baghdad airport has been closed to civilian traffic since the war because of concern about security. But the United Nations and other humanitarian organizations have been using it for charter flights in and out of Iraq. |