Iraqi Hercs

[StopStart]

This story passed me by but then so do most things these days....

Iraqi AF Hercs (http://www.mnstci.iraq.centcom.mil/headline2.htm)

[BlueWolf]

They are rumoured to be in line for a whole bunch of pointy planes as well, something like 40 F-15s and 160 F-16s if the report I read was correct, though naturally these will be paid for from oil revenues, rather than being "gifts".

Dunno what the timeframe on those is. I would imagine the "current and ongoing situation" will be a determining factor.

[Pass-A-Frozo]

A standard crew on a C-130 is five: two pilots, a navigator, radio operator and loadmaster

:p

That explains why the Flight Engineer would spend half the flight pulling the pi$$ out of my radio calls :}

Incidently, the picture wasn't overly clear. I hope the Herc's have ASE fitted! :)

[Gainesy]

Iraqi Air Force personnel followed Iraqi custom by slaughtering five sheep in honor of the occasion. Blood from the sheep was collected and used to mark the sides of the planes as well as the occasion

Bit posher than sacrificial meat pies eh?

[Solid Rust Twotter]

Blood?

Dangerous goods. Have to ground the aircraft to check for corrosion damage.:E

[BEagle]

"...40 F-15s and 160 F-16s..."

Shame the RAF doesn't have anything that good.

[Arty]

Applied for the exchange tour yet Stoppers??

[LXGB]

"40 F-15s and 160 F-16s"

Bet they're all well chuffed in Eye-Ran! :*

LXGB

[walter kennedy]

LXGB
<<Bet they're all well chuffed in Eye-Ran!>>
You hit the nail right on the head!

[Gainesy]

Bet they're all well chuffed in Eye-Ran!

Go well with the MiG-29s and Su-24s if the Iraqis use their usual tactics, eh?

[Razor61]

So it won't be Oman for the next 'joint' exercise then, it will be Iraq... Typhoons and Tornado's flying with Iraqi F-15's and F-16's (who will be probably trained by NATO) flying from bases we bombed the :mad: out of.
Does this mean that Europe and USA are again to be supplying 'aircraft and weapons' to Iraq..... oh, and we probably have to fix and re-supply all the air defences we knocked out over the past 14yrs and re-build all their airfields too!! :hmm:

So... we spent billions knocking them down, and we spend billions re-building them.....to defend against their own aircraft they scarpered with in 1991 across the border in eyeran...

:rolleyes:

[OBNO]

Until they turn into a very naughty country again in about 10 - 15 years and they have to have the **** bombed out of them again!

[Muff Coupling]

Dont forget the wagon load of Swindnik SWL4 Helis just ordered from Poland (NATO member) either!!:oh:

[Fg Off Max Stout]

Maybe they could use a sqn of Merlins. I hear they're good in the desert.

[Razor61]

Hmm... what else could we sell the Iraqis...

Type 23's we are getting rid of...hmm have to fix the air conditioning first!
Type 42's we are getting rid of...
Jaguars, two squadrons about to be disbanded... the ones that destroyed the Iraqi navy in 1991.....
Gazelles about to be disbanded, the ones that spotted a load of Iraqi armour to be destroyed.... (ok only a few)
Challenger II's we are getting rid of, the ones that destroyed a load of Iraqi Armour....
Mr Hoon.....the one who destroyed our military....


Cheers

[ORAC]

I think they only want smart bombs...

[Cambridge Crash]

For those with a casual acquaitance with Cold War history, doesn't this have a similarlity with the rearmament of Germany in the 1950s as a result of NSC 68? Probably prolonged the Cold War by another 20 years...

[ORAC]

Without which the USSR and communism might not have pushed economically`past the point of collapse - and without having to fight an all out war. Not all of us saw that as a bad thing.

Worth every penny from my point of view. :E

[Cambridge Crash]

The Soviet leadership's greatest fear was a re-armed and re-emergent Germany, especially as there were justified concersn that (W) Germany wanted to acquire a nuclear capability. A fear, by the way, that was shared in London and Paris, for similar reasons to those in power in the Kremlin. See Trachtenberg 'A Constructed Peace' 1999 or John Gaddis 'We Now Know' 1997.

But, back to the thread. The Iraqi project, for this has been planned for many years, is best outlined in the recently-published 'America Alone' by Stefan Halper, a former Whitehouse insider. Iran is definitely not the flavour of the month...

[BEagle]

It also flushed out all those Cambridge Spies - Burgess, Maclean, Philby, Blunt... Perhaps there were others as yet undiscovered?

[Razor61]

Iran is definitely not the flavour of the month...


From the BBC:-
Condoleezza Rice has insisted that attacking Iran is not on the US'agenda "at this point in time".
She was speaking in London following meetings with Tony Blair and Jack Straw, on her first overseas trip as US secretary of state.

She said the US would use diplomacy to deal with Iran's nuclear programme.

But she attacked its human rights record and claimed it was harming prospects for peace in the Middle East by supporting terrorism.

Diplomatic tools

Ms Rice described the half hour meeting with Mr Straw and Mr Blair as "productive" and hailed the strength of the US/UK friendship, saying America had "no better friend and no better ally".

We have many diplomatic tools still at our disposal and we intend to pursue them fully

Condoleezza Rice on dealing with Iran

Asked if she envisaged circumstances in which the US would attack Iran, she said: "The question is simply not on the agenda at this point in time."

She added: "We have many diplomatic tools still at our disposal and we intend to pursue them fully."

But she said the Iranian people "deserved better", and condemned the regime's "abysmal human rights record".

Healing divisions

Attention has been focused on Iran's civilian nuclear programme amid fears that the Tehran regime is trying to build a nuclear bomb.

Mr Straw hailed efforts by the UK, Germany and France to secure a diplomatic resolution to the crisis, insisting that Washington had been "very supportive of the process".

He later told BBC's the World At One: "As Condoleezza Rice and indeed President Bush have said, they are backing the diplomacy which is being led by France, Germany and the UK."

As a result of agreements reached, all of Iran's uranium enrichment and related activities, apart from some "very limited compliance", have been suspended, he said.

On Iraq, Mr Straw highlighted the success of the country's recent elections as helping heal world divisions over the war.

Peace talks

"The success of the Iraqi elections were celebrated, not just by the coalition and the Iraqi people, but by those too who questioned the military action which the US, UK and other partners took," he said.

Ms Rice's week-long tour of Europe and the Middle East includes talks with the Israeli and Palestinian leaders.

She said there was "a greater opportunity now for progress" on peace talks since the appointment of new Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.

She also confirmed her attendance at a Palestinian conference in London next month.

During the rest of the trip, Ms Rice is expected to give a staunch defence of President George Bush's stated aim of spreading freedom and democracy around the world in what is seen as a bid to mend relations with nationals opposed to the Iraq war.

Whistle-stop tour

A more contentious issue may be Britain's support for moves by France and Germany to lift the EU arms embargo on China imposed after the Tiananmen Square massacre of student demonstrators in 1989.

Ms Rice has warned of the dangers of sending the "wrong signal" on human rights.

Her whistle-stop tour is scheduled to include stops in Belgium, Luxembourg, Turkey, Italy and Poland.

Ms Rice will round off the trip by making a major speech on US-EU relations in Paris.


Condoleezza Rice has insisted that attacking Iran is not on the US'agenda "at this point in time".

Well Iran must sign relief and think it is 'good to know' that the US won't attack their country 'yet'.....or as she says "not at this point in time"........talk about fighting talk....in the meantime the country can increase defences knowing that they won't get attacked yet, but will do in the near future!
Give them some time to get those F-14's back in the air by illegally acquiring spares from all those mothballed -14s being disbanded at the moment!

:suspect:

[c130 alm]

The link at the top doesnt work.

[Melchett01]

She added: "We have many diplomatic tools still at our disposal and we intend to pursue them fully."

Quite Ms Rice. But forgive me if I'm ever so slightly sceptical about this ........ I seem to remember your predecessor saying something very similar about Iraq in Oct 2002.

Or does going to the UN and saying "agree with us or not, it doens't matter" constitute a diplomatic option these days?

I think GOC MND(SE) might have other things to worry about now rather than are the troops properly dressed inside service vehicles!

[pr00ne]

Cambridge Crash,

WHAT????????????

Surely the lack of a re-armed Western Germany would have resulted in only two possible outcomes;
1. The Cold war would still be going on in 2005.
2. We would merely be a heap of slowly cooling radioactive dust.

As to the Soviet leaderships greatest fear, I think you’ll find that was a free thinking Soviet people………………………………

[StopStart]

C130 alm, story has moved down their list....

http://www.mnstci.iraq.centcom.mil/headline3.htm