Opening day in Iraq (March 2003) for the Allied Warmongers reads like the menu from an all-you-can-eat smorgasboard. Or some Space Channel sci-fi Schwarzenegger movie. Just as in the past I've noted that no one has seen Hussein for about ten years, I am also noticing that no one hears or sees anything about Iraq's Army. I don't think we saw much of them in Gulf War One either. I recall that on the road to liberate Kuwait all the Bradley tanks met were Iraqi soldiers standing in the dunes with their arms held up - surrendering en masse. But, in any event, wherever the Iraq soldiers are, the following news article will give them a rough idea of what they're up against.

Hard to believe that with all this ordinance falling there won't be many civilian casualties but that's what the Generals are saying. Nor will there be much physical damage either, they say. But I guess that all depends on what your meanning of the word "is" is. Or, more accurately, what your meaning of the word "death and destruction" is. ~ Jackie Jura

3000 bombs in 48 hours
Australian, Mar 17, 2003
From The Sunday Times

AMERICAN commanders have promised war as it has never been seen before. The aim, they say, is to shock the Iraqis into defeat.

If war is declared this week, planes and armoured units will tear across Iraq in a 48-hour blitzkrieg. Cruise missiles will be launched from ships and submarines, British Tornado fighters will fire bunker-buster missiles, and electronic bombs will disrupt communications. Harlan Ullman, a former US Navy pilot who co-wrote the book Shock and Awe, says it will be nothing like the last Gulf War, when reporters in Baghdad watched cruise missiles skim above the streets. "I don't think anyone will be venturing outside during this attack," Ullman said. "During the last Gulf War the allies launched 325 cruise and precision-guided bombs on the first day of a 40-day air campaign; now they are talking about 3000 in 48 hours."

The aim of the onslaught is to achieve "rapid dominance" psychologically and militarily. Ullman added: "The idea is to replicate the shock and awe created by a nuclear bomb, but using conventional weapons." In 1991 only 10 per cent of the bombs were precision-guided. This time, more than 90 per cent will be guided by lasers homing in to beacons positioned by special forces. General Richard Myers, chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff, said recently: "If asked to go into conflict in Iraq, what you'd like to do is have it be a short conflict. The best way to do that would be to have such a shock on the system that the Iraqi regime would have to assume early on the end was inevitable." At the disposal of the supreme allied commander, General Tommy Franks, are the most sophisticated planes and most lethal payloads in existence.

The B2 stealth bomber carries JDAM (joint direct attack munition) precision-guided bombs. The F-117A Nighthawk stealth fighter can drop GBU-28 bunker-busters; B-52s carry air-launched cruise missiles and JDAMs.

F-15Es launching new joint air-to-surface stand-off missiles (JASSM) and RAF Tornados unleashing Storm Shadow missiles will swarm into Iraqi airspace within minutes of General Franks giving the order to invade. Targets have been chosen to lessen destruction of infrastructure but maximise destruction of Saddam Hussein's machine.

B-52s and B2 stealth bombers will attack the bases of the elite Republican Guard and government offices. The US says their bombs are accurate to within centimetres and can be launched through cloud and storms. Just ahead of the US and British strike bombers will be up to 250 cruise missiles fired from US and British ships in the Gulf and Mediterranean.

Dozens of fighter-bombers will swoop on air defence sites to ensure total domination of the skies. Others will hunt for Iraq's remaining 300 aircraft.

US Delta Force teams are likely to be dropped into Baghdad if intelligence identifies Hussein's hideout. If he cannot be found they will work to capture key military and political figures.

Blackout bombs will pitch large areas into darkness without destroying power stations, and E-bombs dropped on military centres will fuse every computer within a 300m area.

Targets not likely to be bombed are suspected sites of weapons of mass destruction because President George W. Bush wants evidence intact. Also spared will be civil radio stations, bridges, railway stations, roads and most regular army units.

The SAS and US rangers will hunt 30 or so mobile Scud missile launchers aided by hundreds of unmanned aircraft equipped with spy cameras and missiles. Airborne units will be flown by helicopter deep inside Iraq to cut fibre-optic cables and destroy communications between Hussein's commanders. Others will seize air bases in the Western Desert to provide refuelling stations for Apache attack helicopters. By dawn, Iraq's military and political infrastructure is likely to have been shattered, say analysts. Leaders will have disappeared, entire military units will have been obliterated, power supplies will have shut down, but the visible damage will be surprisingly small. At dawn hundreds of helicopters will appear as entire brigades are dropped deep into Iraq, the first mass ground operations, to take the oilfields.

With Turkey still refusing to admit US troops, General Franks is believed to be planning a two-pronged armoured thrust into Iraq from the south. The first will loop from the west around the southern port of Basra, cutting off Iraq's second city. The second will start its left hook on Baghdad at the same time, speeding across the Western Desert to the outskirts of Baghdad within three days.

If Hussein has not capitulated, the political imperative to minimise civilian casualties will have to be put aside for street to street fighting.

Bobby Fischer sings "Eve of Destruction" (on radio interview from prison). Mainichi News, Jan 29, 2005. Go to BOBBY FISCHER IN R00M 202

listen EVE OF DESTRUCTION, YouTube

Cluster bombs killed 1,000 Iraqi civilians (dropped by USA & UK in populated areas). Independent, Dec 12, 2003. Go to 13.Weapons & 12.Ministry of Peace & LEARN ABOUT CLUSTER BOMBS

Iraqi children suffering under USA (gastroenteritis-black fever-leukemia-malnutrition; no electricity or clean water). Globe & Mail, Jun 28, 2003. Go to 12.Ministry of Peace (War)

Iraqis coming down with radiation sickness (bloody diarrhoea, nosebleeds, rashes). Guardian, Jun 28, 2003

Iraq destroyed, people destitute (no electrictiy, fuel, food). BBC, Jun 8, 2003. Go to 12.Ministry of Peace (War)

Iraq's water system destroyed (& Iraqis not allowed to fix). Guradian, May 31, 2003. Go to KYOTO'S WATER WIZARDS

Cluster bombs litter Iraq (millions of Iraqis at risk from unexploded sub-munitions). Observer, May 31, 2003. Go to 12.Weapons & WAR AS WEAPON PRACTICE

EVE OF DESTRUCTION, by Barry McGuire

WHERE'S THE ENEMY'S ARMY?

THIS ISN'T WAR, IT'S MURDER, by Laurie Payne

RANDOM THOUGHTS, by Jackie Jura

The Road To War (review of how we got there). USA Today, Mar 29, 2003

War would be 'catastrophic' for Iraqi children (says fact-finding team report). IPS News, Jan 31, 2003

A WAR MONGER EXPLAINS WAR TO A PEACNIK

WHERE IS SADDAM HUSSEIN (and where's Osama bin too?)