thedrifter
02-10-03, 10:52 AM
The Pentagon calls it ‘shock and awe.’ Iraq will call it a nightmare. The military’s new high-tech road map for taking out Saddam—and how he might fight back
By John Barry and Evan Thomas
NEWSWEEK
Feb. 17 issue — It’s called the “E-bomb.” Delivered by a cruise missile, the E-bomb is a warhead that explodes to emit a high-energy pulse that, like a bolt of lightning, will fuse any electrical equipment within range.
THE E-BOMB HAS been more than a little temperamental in testing, and engineers would still like another year to work out the bugs, but on the first night of the war against Iraq, E-bombs will detonate over President Saddam Hussein’s key command-and-control bunkers in and around Baghdad. If all goes according to plan, lights will blink out, computers will melt down, phones will go silent. Saddam and his lieutenants will be left shivering in silent darkness, alone and waiting to die.
The desired effect of the first night’s bombing, in the expression commonly used by military planners, is “shock and awe.” The overall goal of the American blitz against Iraq will be to so stun and demoralize the Iraqi Army that Saddam’s forces will quickly give up. The Iraqis will realize that resistance is futile and throw down their weapons—or turn them on Saddam. In the first 48 hours of the attack, the United States armed forces are expected to rain some 3,000 precision-guided bombs and missiles on—Iraqi air defenses, command-and-control, WMD sites and “leadership targets,” which is to say they will try to kill Saddam, his sons and their closest followers.
Full Article.........
http://www.msnbc.com/news/870554.asp#BODY
Sempers,
Roger
By John Barry and Evan Thomas
NEWSWEEK
Feb. 17 issue — It’s called the “E-bomb.” Delivered by a cruise missile, the E-bomb is a warhead that explodes to emit a high-energy pulse that, like a bolt of lightning, will fuse any electrical equipment within range.
THE E-BOMB HAS been more than a little temperamental in testing, and engineers would still like another year to work out the bugs, but on the first night of the war against Iraq, E-bombs will detonate over President Saddam Hussein’s key command-and-control bunkers in and around Baghdad. If all goes according to plan, lights will blink out, computers will melt down, phones will go silent. Saddam and his lieutenants will be left shivering in silent darkness, alone and waiting to die.
The desired effect of the first night’s bombing, in the expression commonly used by military planners, is “shock and awe.” The overall goal of the American blitz against Iraq will be to so stun and demoralize the Iraqi Army that Saddam’s forces will quickly give up. The Iraqis will realize that resistance is futile and throw down their weapons—or turn them on Saddam. In the first 48 hours of the attack, the United States armed forces are expected to rain some 3,000 precision-guided bombs and missiles on—Iraqi air defenses, command-and-control, WMD sites and “leadership targets,” which is to say they will try to kill Saddam, his sons and their closest followers.
Full Article.........
http://www.msnbc.com/news/870554.asp#BODY
Sempers,
Roger