Subject: General admits to secret air war Date: Mon, 27 Jun 2005 09:19:35 -0500 Message-ID: <9CBE51C748FC4E469D447D1825C64A3C0A882E@COKE.uwec.edu> From: "Alarcon, Eberth G. Jr." <ALARCOEG@uwec.edu>
Colleagues,
Check this one out!
The American general who commanded allied air forces during the Iraq war
appears to have admitted in a briefing to American and British officers
that coalition aircraft waged a secret air war against Iraq from the
middle of 2002, nine months before the invasion began.
Addressing a briefing on lessons learnt from the Iraq war
Lieutenant-General Michael Moseley said that in 2002 and early 2003
allied aircraft flew 21,736 sorties, dropping more than 600 bombs on 391
"carefully selected targets" before the war officially started.
The nine months of allied raids "laid the foundations" for the allied
victory, Moseley said. They ensured that allied forces did not have to
start the war with a protracted bombardment of Iraqi positions.
If those raids exceeded the need to maintain security in the no-fly
zones of southern and northern Iraq, they would leave President George W
Bush and Tony Blair vulnerable to allegations that they had acted
illegally.
......more.......
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1669640,00.html
Eberth
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My name is Eberth, and I approve this message