Iraq faces night of 'shock and awe'

Post-9/11 Era Forum

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Allied forces have launched a night of "shock and awe" bombing against Saddam Hussein's regime.

A wave of bombers, jets and missiles are heading for the Iraqi capital as Allied forces reach the outskirts of the key southern city of Basra.

Anti-aircraft fire criss-crossed the night sky over Baghdad as the city braced itself for another aerial blitz.

Pentagon sources say tonight will be the start of the "shock and awe" phase of the war.

The ITV News channel reports eight cruise missiles have been fired from the USS Bunker Hill in the Gulf.

Earlier, a wave of B-52 bombers left RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire heading for Iraq.

Source: Ananova

A blitz on Baghdad has started with at least 30 fierce explosions bombarding the centre of the city after the Pentagon said the "shock and awe" phase of war has begun.


Baghdad is alight with fires and flames as explosions rocked the city across the arc of the River Tigris.

B-52 bombers had earlier headed for Iraq and are said to be flying over the city of Kirkuk where attacks have started.

The city of Mosel has also been attacked from the air.

In Baghdad, a curtain of anti-aircraft fire is heading into the sky above the city, which is shrouded by smoke.

Sky News correspondent in Washington Keith Graves said American A-10 bombers, F-16 jets and RAF Harriers have been taking off from aircraft carriers in the Gulf.

Speaking of the "shock and awe" strikes, he said: "This will be a terrible attack that is designed to shock and terrify the Iraqi leadership and the military in the hope they will be in such state of shock and will be prepared to surrender."

US officials said there are thousands of targets on the list for "shock and awe" strikes.

Speaking from Baghdad, Sky News reporter David Chater said air raid sirens were sounding and anti-aircraft fire is now concentrated in the east of the capital.

He said: "There was hardly any warning. Anti-aircraft fire was racing up into the sky - even before the air raid sirens went off."

Chater said he could hear loud rumbling and a "whole array of munitions" heading into the sky.

He said he could see flashes above the cloud level and despite the firing, traffic was still on the roads.

Officials and residents of Baghdad are said to be digging trenches to take cover.

Loud speakers are sounding speeches by Saddam Hussein and the Iraqi regieme.

Eleven of the giant B-52 warplanes took off from RAF Fairford, Gloucestershire, this morning.

The plane has been in service with the United States Air Force since 1955.

It established its fearful reputation with carpet bombing raids during the Vietnam War.

More recently, it has seen service in Afghanistan, Kosovo and Yugoslavia.

Source: Sky News

The United States has begun a major air war against Iraq as American and British ground forces thrust north from Kuwait toward Baghdad, a U.S. official said on Friday.
The official, who asked not to be identified, spoke as bombs and missiles began to strike Baghdad for the third successive night in a war to remove President Saddam Hussein from Power. Earlier in the day U.S. B-52 bombers took off from a base in Britain, apparently headed for Iraq.

Several big explosions were also heard around the city of Kirkuk in the north and anti-aircraft guns peppered the skies over Mosul.

U.S. defense officials have said upward of 3,000 satellite-guided bombs dropped by aircraft and cruise missiles launched from sea and air would be part of a massive aerial assault dubbed by the Pentagon as "shock and awe."

Defense officials said much of the attack might be invisible to international television cameras concentrated in Baghdad.

They said the point of such intense bombardment of military and government targets around the country -- including Saddam's home area around Tikrit -- would be to convince the Iraqi military that it would be futile to continue to resist a ground invasion.

Source: Reuters

Great! How many $$$Billions will now come out of our pockets and go into the pockets of Dick Cheney's buddies, to rebuild the buildings, we paid $$$Billions out of our pockets to burn down? That's what GWB's tax cut is for. You and me won't see a difference in our taxes, but the $$$Billions that Dick Cheney's buddies make will be taxed at a lower rate.

I saw somewhere in the news last night that more than $1.2B of Saddam's WoMD funding capital (how they knew it was from that particular fund is beyond me) has been seized and will be put towards rebuilding efforts *shrug* I'm fairly confident that U.S. taxpayers won't bear 100% of the burden of restoring Babylon .. err.. BAGHDAD to it's former glory.

I hope you're right. This is one of my major objections to this war. Pay to knock it down and pay to rebuild it DEFECITS here we come, what a bunch of crap. At least funnel some of the oil profits there, since we pretty much offended the UN so bad I'm sure they won't want to help pay for this.