Carebear-
Once Saddam broke just one, it was on with no further discussion required.
The fact is that we kept giving Saddam second chances when GW II could have lawfully been kicked off by any signatory a dozen times prior for simple violations of the no-fly zones.
Yep.
Interesting read.
http://www.afa.org/magazine/Feb2004/0204war.aspThe two no-fly zones were, from December 1998 onward, the scenes of a long series of duels between US and British air forces and the Iraqi land-based air defenses, with occasional probes and challenges by Iraqi aircraft, said Cordesman. He continued: The Iraqis lost all of these duels and suffered a steady attrition of their land-based defense capabilities. It must have also become apparent that the Iraqi Air Force could not successfully challenge US and British forces in air combat.
It must not have been apparent to Saddam Hussein, however. According to a January 1999 Iraqi news report, the dictator had offered a $14,000 bounty to any unit that succeeded in shooting down an allied airplane and an additional $2,800 reward to anyone who managed to capture a coalition pilot.
Saddam had ousted UN weapons inspectors in late 1998, and, in response, in mid-December 1998, President Clinton launched Operation Desert Fox, four days of air strikes that targeted suspected weapons of mass destruction sites, Republican Guard facilities, and air defense systems. After those strikes, the Iraqis became even more aggressive in their attacks on coalition aircraft.
Before Desert Fox, the coalition tended to confine its response to an Iraqi attack to the attacks immediate source. On Jan. 27, 1999, the Clinton Administration revised the rules of engagement (ROE), permitting US aircraft to target a wider range of Iraqi air defense systems and related installations. Pilots could not only defend themselves but also act to reduce the overall Iraqi air defense threat to coalition aircraft.
From 1999 onward, Iraq mounted more than 1,000 AAA attacks, launched 600 rockets, and fired some 60 SAMs. On Feb. 16, 2001, 24 US and British aircraft struck five Iraqi air defense command and control installations. The goal was to disrupt a fiber optic cable network that China was installing for the Iraqi military. On July 24, 2001, Iraqi forces fired a SAM at a U-2 spyplane, narrowly missing.
After the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the US, there was a brief lull in Iraqs provocations. It lasted just two months. Iraq subsequently resumed full-throttle attacks.
In 2001, Iraq showed a considerably more aggressive stance in trying to bring down a coalition aircraft, said Rear Adm. Craig R. Quigley, a Pentagon spokesman. The motivation, said Quigley, was the reward that Saddam offered on several occasions. He is trying his darnedest to bring down a coalition aircraft, said Quigley.
Quigley added that the volume of fire was up throughout Northern and Southern Watch, as compared to the same period in the preceding year.
In the first nine months of 2002, Iraq fired upon OSW aircraft 206 times and ONW aircraft 200 times. The coalition responses to those 406 attacks numbered about 60. As the Iraqi attacks continuedaccording to CENTCOM, they totaled nearly 500 for all of 2002the number of coalition responses rose to about 90 for the year.
Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, reminded reporters at a Sept. 30, 2002, briefing that the Iraqi attacks were not limited to AAA and SAMs. Iraqi military aircraft, he said, were also violating the no-fly zone airspace. Iraqi fighter aircraft flew into no-fly zone airspace about seven times between Jan. 1 and Sept. 20, said Myers. On Sept. 24, three Iraqi MiG-25s violated Operation Southern Watch airspace, flying deep into the no-fly zone area.
Pentagon officials maintained that coalition actions, though focused on a new target set, were the direct result of Iraqi attacks on coalition aircraft. To the extent they keep shooting at our airplanes, ... we keep engaging in response options, said Rumsfeld at a mid-September 2002 briefing. He added that, if those response options are harmful to their air defense, which they are, then thats good.
Commenting about Southern Focus after the war, Moseley said, If the Iraqi forces had stopped threatening or actually shooting at the aircraft, ... we would not have had to use force against any of the military targets.
According to the Air Force, coalition aircrews dropped 606 bombs on 391 targets during Southern Focus, which lasted from June 2002 to the March 20, 2003, start of Gulf War II.
At the peak of Iraqi attacks, Saddams forces were firing more than a dozen missiles and rockets per day at coalition forces. On one day, Iraq fired 15 SAMs.
