question for the group about what may happen next...

[MORTARDUDE]

It looks like the news media is preparing us for the possibility of chemical weapon use soon. Iraq has chemical rounds as small as 82MM available. This will result in mass casualties both military and civilian. My question is : Wouldn't this validate this endeavor ? Even though he has used them twice already ( Iran / Iraq War and on the Kurds ). Anyone who is willing to use these weapons deserves to be overthrown... I just don't know if we have all thought this through....It bothers the hell out of me....especially with all of these "embedded" reporters... As soon as the Genie is out of the bottle... what next ? They are saying on TBN that if anything goes Israel's way they have neutron bombs ready to answer....

Larry

[phuloi]

After seeing the execution,or the results anyhow,of American POWs,I don`t believe any further justification is needed.Very touchy situation at hand,no doubt.I would hope that if Isreal is gassed or otherwise attacked,that they would reserve retaliation with coalition forces in the line of fire.Otherwise this whole mess suddenly reaches Biblical proportions in a big hurry,if you get my drift......

[David]

As far as I know neutron bombs are outlawed. That would be a mess if they were used.

[David]

My mistake, looks like it was resumed under Reagan.



ON THE BRINK: THREAT TO USE NEUTRON BOMB ON BAGHDAD AS GULF CRISIS ESCALATES

"ISRAEL has reached agreement with the United States to explode a neutron nuclear bomb in an Iraqi city in the event of a serious attack by Saddam Hussein, it was claimed yesterday. As the United States moved closer to military action in the Gulf, the authoritative British military publishers, 'Jane's Information, said Israel planned to launch a nuclear attack to counter an chemical or bacterial assault by IraqA neutron bomb can kill large numbers of people while doing minimal damage to buildings.

Jane's said that sources had told it that Israel would be given a free hand by the US for its commandos to locate and, if necessary, 'destroy Iraqi missiles to prevent any attacks on it. But if a missile did penetrate Israel's defences and if it carried a chemical or biological cargo, the sources said Israel would retaliate by using a neutron bomb, which suppresses the nuclear blast but increases radiation levels to cause far greater loss of life. Iraq has admitted to producing weapons using anthrax, botulinum, and aflatoxin agents as well as mustard gas, the nerve gas sarin and VX gas, a highly persistent nerve agent. The Pentagon estimates that Iraq bias between 80 and 100 biological weapons sites, more than 100 chemical weapons sites and about 20 nuclear sites despite years of international inspections. 'It is not logical to believe that we can by indirect means attack and destroy every facility. This is a very difficult circumstance,' a Pentagon officer said...'"

[And the following additional story gives details about the neutron bomb weapon]:

THE NEUTRON BOMB: LESS BANG, MORE BODIES

By Geoff Strong of the Sunday Age Science Reporter

"THE neutron bomb, or enhanced radiation warhead, is the ultimate weapon for the misanthrope. It kills people in large numbers while doing minimal damage to real estate.

The technology is now around to make them no bigger than a baseball, leading some analysts to warn that they could become the new weapon of terrorism.

This is the weapon that reports from Britain claim Israel is preparing to use against an Iraqi city, should Baghdad deploy chemical or biological weapons against the Jewish state. A spin-off of the thermonuclear weapon, or hydrogen bomb, neutron bombs were first developed by the US in 1963 and then the Soviet Union in the late '70s. They were primarily intended as a small-scale battlefield weapon.

The US suspended development in 1978 under the Carter administration but resumed it under Reagan in 1981.

In a normal thermonuclear weapon, half of the energy released is produced by the fusion of hydrogen isotopes, tritrium and deuterium. But this weapon is encased in a blanket of the uranium isotope 238 which after detonation produces the rest of the bomb's energy by fission.

A neutron bomb does not have the blanket to produce the blast and the fast neutrons are released into the environment to kill living tissue.

Because a neutron bomb has a ground zero blast area of only a few square metres, the idea was for them to be used as a deterrent against armored or infantry assault.

They could be carried by a lance type missile, fired by a 200 millimetre gun or delivered by an aircraft. The bomb would disable enemy infantry or tank crews in minutes and those exposed would die within a few days.

Strategically, their ideal use would be to destroy targets that are close to a site that a force wants to protect. For example, a bridge heavily guarded by enemy troops.

A neutron bomb detonated near the bridge would kill the enemy troops guarding it without doing any significant damage to the bridge structure.

One of the weapon's most valuable features is its effectiveness against tank attacks. Because neutrons are penetrative radiation, such a weapon could take out large numbers of tank crews simultaneously without destroying the tanks. Residual radiation is minimised, theoretically allowing the tanks to be salvaged by the attacking force."

[David]

Obsolete now but here is a Lance missile launch. Apparently it was very similar to a scud.

[39mto39g]

I don't belive we would ever use nuks in Iraq. Now if we start loseing a bunch of our guys the first thing that will happen is the reporters will be gone so no one can tell what happens next,
Any number of things we have in our arsinal could be brought to bear. MOAB for instance.

Lets hope this don't happen.

Ron

[PHO127]

Old Pershing, track mounted guided missile. Has about a 400 KM range. SCUD missile has conventional or C/B warhead where our Pershing had only Nuke. Lance is a rocket, no inflight guidance. SCUD is an inertially guided missile.

[David]

Thanks for the correction on that

[SEATJERKER]

...they know that there is no hope of winning this war by conventional means, the last 50 miles will be the toughest because the Iraq will wait until we have the most amount of soldiers in the city, and then unload all that they have been hiding...

...I don't think they will hurl anything towards Isreal because they know the consequences,...

..I believe their objective is to kill as many of our soldiers in one mass attack as a last ditch effort as Sa-DUMB cares not for anyone , but himself, his republican guard knows their lives are worthless without him, and will have no place in the post Iraq...

...At the first trace of ANY chemical/ bio attack, our troops should start heading back to safe territory, and level it all, I am sorry if that means the loss of so many innocent Iraq citizens, but our troops are number 1, and we have to defend ours first...

...ther is no middle ground in that senerio, our objective is to liberate Iraq,...

... BUT ALL BETS ARE OFF IF HE EVEN POPS ONE CHEM/BIO WEAPON....

..reality check in progress......

[grunt66]

I think the Iraqi (and volunteers) are counting on the cities to act as a deterrecnt to the coalition forces. As forts , thinking that we will face "Stalingrads" . Our military has been training for this for decades.
I once read a book about how the Israeli captured Jerusalem.From the top down, very interesting .
My only regret here is that I am too old to be with them .

Bill
Vietnam Vet