The Sound of Dropping Pretenses

The Sound of Dropping Pretenses - Iraq is deploying its troops - including surface-to-surface missiles - to try to meet an attack. We're bombing them, in return.

Iraq, for example, is repositioning its Adnan Republican Guard division by moving it from its base near Mosul toward Baghdad or Tikrit, Mr. Hussein's hometown. An Iraqi MIG-25 fighter has zoomed down to the Saudi border, one of several recent violations of the no-flight zone. That may be a way to test the American ability to defend the skies over Saudi Arabia and other gulf states as well as a means of trying to signal to the Saudis what might be in store for them if they cooperate with the American invasion plans.

But the deployment of Iraq's surface-to-surface missiles is a growing concern for the American military, and one that American officials assert violates Security Council resolutions concluded after the Persian Gulf war 12 years ago.

"They have moved some of their short-range, surface-to-surface missiles to the north and to the south," the senior Pentagon official said. He described the missiles as "an immediate potential danger to us and our allies and the coalition in the region."

By the way - for those of you who think inspections are the answer:

The Ababil-100 is one of Iraq's newest systems, and it is under study by the United Nations. The Central Intelligence Agency says the Ababil-100 has a longer range than the 93-mile limit permitted by the United Nations. Work on the engine is carried out at Iraq's Al Mutasim site. The British Defense Ministry says the missile's solid fuel makes the system easier to handle than the Samoud 2, which uses a liquid propellant.

This seems to have escape Hans Blix' attention.

Posted by Mitch at March 1, 2003 06:55 PM