War to start after September 11

About one hundred American and British war planes (F-15 fighters among them) attacked the Iraqi central air defense system, command, and checkpoints to the west of Baghdad. According to France-Press, the attack was the largest in the past four years. The bjective of the operation was to liquidate the Iraqi air defense and create a safe air corridor for special helicopters to deliver deadly missiles, which will be dropped on innocent Iraqi residential areas.

The INA agency reports with reference to an Iraqi army spokesman that civil objects in western Baghdad were attacked during the night raid. “Hostile war planes started from a Kuwait base and delivered blows against civil and social objects in Rutba.” In response, Iraqi air defense forces opened fire against the planes which had to fly away, the Iraqi source informs.

Americans are about to start a large-scale offensive, and bombings are getting more and more frequent. Competent sources in the British government report that terms, participants, and course of military operations against Iraq should be finally settled within the next ten days. Therefore, the deadline for war is September 15, and it can be supposed quite theoretically that the offensive may start on Monday, September 16. Next week, September 9-15, is dedicated to the tragic anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. These will be days of mourning, and the USA will be very concerned with its security, and not about an offensive against Iraq.

The source in the British government mentioned that Iraq won’t be given enough time to prepare for its defense: Washington and London are currently working on fast deployment plans to deliver a sudden blow against Iraq if a decision to start an offensive is passed. The source adds that the USA and Great Britain “have all means at their disposal to immediately transfer servicemen and hardware by air and by sea to Iraq.” These are certainly wonderful conditions to guarantee the success of the operation.

A meeting between US President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Anthony Blair is scheduled for Saturday at Camp David. And, next week, US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and British Minister of Defense Geoffrey Hoon will meet in Washington. The parties are to discuss details of an upcoming war against Iraq.

Sergey Stefanov PRAVDA.Ru

Translated by Maria Gousseva

Read the original in Russian: http://www.pravda.ru/main/2002/09/06/46709.html

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