Tausende alliierte Soldaten operieren bereits im Irak - 500 Beiträge pro Seite

[Heizkessel]

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[Heizkessel]

the guardian:

No-fly zone raids `opening new war`

Richard Norton-Taylor and Nicholas Watt
Tuesday March 4, 2003
The Guardian

The government yesterday came under strong pressure to explain the purpose and role of the no-fly zone over southern Iraq as British and American aircraft struck five more military targets.
The zone was originally presented as a humanitarian exercise - to protect Shias and marsh Arabs - but air patrols are now widely seen as an "undeclared war", a military operation to soften up Iraqi air defence systems and mobile surface-to-surface missiles which would threaten invading British and US forces.

Iraq said yesterday that six civilians were killed and 15 wounded in an overnight raid on the port city of Basra.

America`s central command said the aircraft attacked five air defence targets in response to anti-aircraft fire from the ground.

The targets included four fibre-optic communications centres near Al Kut, about 95 miles southeast of Baghdad, and a military command and control centre near Basra.

The US military said Iraqi forces fired anti-aircraft artillery. "The specific targets were struck because they enhanced Iraq`s integrated air defence network," said Lieutenant Commander Nick Balice.

In the Commons, the defence secretary, Geoff Hoon, said there had been "no substantial change in the operation of the northern or southern no-fly zones".

His comments provoked a sharp response from the shadow defence secretary, Bernard Jenkin, just returned from visiting British troops in Kuwait. "Isn`t it clear that US and UK aircraft are now pre-empting threats to allied ground forces in Kuwait, which are themselves preparing to invade," he said.

"And while we still hope diplomacy will avoid the need for the last resort of war, haven`t we already seen the opening shots of the second Gulf war?

"The tactics are no longer just to enforce the no-fly zones themselves. The tactics now reflect the government`s decision to help clear the way for the invasion of Iraq, which requires the protection of British and American ground forces now massing to cross the Iraqi border."

Liberal Democrat defence spokesman Paul Keetch said later: "When senior officials in the Pentagon brief that a more aggressive approach is being taken in the no-fly zones, hitting targets that threaten ground forces not air forces, a flat denial from the UK defence secretary raises suspicions. The no-fly zones have no official sanction from the UN and it is imperative that they are not abused."

Anti-war Labour MPs last night demanded an emergency Commons statement from Mr Hoon. Alice Mahon, MP for Halifax, called for a "full and proper" statement after Mr Hoon insisted that there had been no change in the rules governing the no-fly zones.

Raising a point of order at the end of Mr Hoon`s monthly question time in the Commons, Ms Mahon claimed "radical" changes had been introduced through the "back door". She asked the Commons speaker Michael Martin: "Given the lack of answers to genuine questions can I ask you if you will request that [Mr Hoon] comes back and gives a full and proper statement where he answers the questions that were asked today?"

Mr Martin advised Ms Mahon to apply for an "urgent question".

Suspicions that the government has already made up its mind were fuelled by remarks by the outgoing British ambassador to Washington. Sir Christopher Meyer told the Daily Telegraph: "Probably we`re going to have a war."

[Demos]

das ist doch in Ordnug oder?

[Realisti]

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