The Americans have had to rethink cruise missile routes in an embarrassing shift after up to five ship-fired Tomahawks aimed at Iraq landed in Saudi Arabia.
Missile launches over the kingdom were halted while the US military attempted to fix the problem, which apparently involved missiles fired from ships in the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. None of the missiles exploded and no injuries were reported.
Saudi Arabia, a key Gulf ally, is the second neighbour of Iraq to be accidentally hit by the much-touted US precision weapons. Stray missiles have also landed in Iran – one injured two workers when it smashed into an oil refinery in the south-western city of Abadan. In another incident that angered Syria, a bus carrying Syrian passengers back to Damascus was hit by a cruise missile on the Iraqi side of the border a week ago, killing five people.
“Basically, we have a situation where the Saudis have said, ‘Can you see if we can figure out what has caused this?’” said Major-General Victor Renuart, a US spokesman in Qatar. “And so we have agreed with them to conduct a review of those launch procedures.”
“We continue to use Tomahawk cruise missiles throughout the theatre. We have co-ordinated with the Saudis to hold on a couple of routes that might put them in a position where they could be close to any civilian population,” he said.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Malik73: *
America's "stray" missiles have landed in Iran, Syria, Turkey and now Saudi Arabia - the US has become quite a regional terrorist hasn't it? :)
[/QUOTE]
Yes I suppose if I lived there, I would take it that way. I think the U.S. has stopped sending the defunct missles by way of the red sea.
That's called precision bombing, be it neighbouring countries, or the markets in Baghdad or killing your own allies with friendly fire. At the end of the day it is precision bombing and no one can do it better then the Americans. Ask the British soldiers. :)
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Malik73: *
America's "stray" missiles have landed in Iran, Syria, Turkey and now Saudi Arabia - the US has become quite a regional terrorist hasn't it? :)
[/QUOTE]
Remember they fell in Pakistan as well, back in '98 I think. Last I know of those was that they were being reverse engineered at AWC (after Pakistan refused to give em back). As long as they dont explode, thank you USA!.
No, that was likely an erratic Iraqi missile as I've stated.
[/QUOTE]
Yes according to the liers at the Pentagon, whom you believe hook, line and sinker despite all the proven forgeries and plaigirised documents they promote.
Yes according to the liers at the Pentagon, whom you believe hook, line and sinker despite all the proven forgeries and plaigirised documents they promote.
[/QUOTE]
No, that was likely an erratic Iraqi missile as I've stated.
[/QUOTE]
A a Surface to Air Missile usually has few kgs of explosives, no where near enough to kill/hurt 150+. Iraqi Surface to Surface sites wouldnt be close to Baghdad, so do the maths.
Tomohawk missiles only arm their warhead moments before impacting their programmed target. So, for examples, there was virtually no danger of Tomohawks that land in Saudi Arabia, or in Pakistan exploding. A missile would only explode away from its target in the event of an electronics failure leading to premature arming.
However, the fact that the Tomohawk missile did detonate in the Baghdad marketplace means that its warhead was armed. Its warhead would only be armed if the missile knew it was about to hit the programmed target. The implication of this is that the marketplace was pre-programmed as a target before the missile was launched.
I'd be very sceptical of any claims that the Iraqi GPS-jammers caused the missile to hit the market place. GPS jamming would cause the missile to be unsure of its location, as it would lose the signal from satellites. If the missile was jammed, if it did then head towards the market place, it still would most likely not have detonated because it would not know where it was. It can only arm if it knows it is about to hit the intended target.
