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| Iraq |
| U.S. Moved Early for Air Supremacy |
| 2003-07-20 |
| Long but good article at WaPo about the early planning and bombing phase of the Iraq War, starting in 2001. Too long to be reproduced here but read it all, as they say. As early as the autumn of 2001, U.S. military authorities took steps to increase surveillance of southern Iraq and then to systematically bomb Iraq’s command posts, air defense weapons and communication links in anticipation of possible war, according to the American general who commanded the air campaign. The intensified airstrikes, which got underway in earnest in the summer of 2002, were justified publicly at the time as a response to increased Iraqi targeting of U.S. pilots patrolling a no-fly zone. But providing new details about how the operation — dubbed "Southern Focus" — was conceived and executed, Lt. Gen. T. Michael "Buzz" Moseley said the fact that the United States had put more planes in the air over Iraq may have prompted the Iraqis to shoot more. "So there is a chicken and an egg thing here," he said in an interview. continues ... |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #1 USAF - Just a bunch of Boy Scouts living the dream... |
| Posted by: PD 2003-7-20 11:05:58 AM |