Iraq Says Airstrike Hit Civilians

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Iraq on Friday accused U.S. and British planes of striking civilian targets during an air raid southwest of Baghdad, and it claimed its anti-aircraft batteries chased off the attacking jets.

The U.S. military said Thursday that American and British planes attacked an air defense command and control facility at a military airfield 240 miles southwest of Baghdad.

The U.S. Central Command said the strike was a response to an Iraqi attack on allied aircraft patrolling the southern no-fly zone.

On Friday, Iraqi state newspapers quoted an unidentified Iraqi military spokesman as saying enemy warplanes had attacked "civil and service installations" in the al-Rutbah area on Thursday. They gave no further details about the sites.

Iraq almost invariably accuses allied planes of attacking civilian targets.

"Our courageous anti-aircraft units confronted the jets and forced them to leave Iraqi skies," the military spokesman was quoted as saying. [...]

"...and then the courageous civilian workers went back to the making of peaceful baby milks. We try to protect our proud and happy baby milks workers by painting with the brush a large signs on the roof of the manufactory the words "Baby Milk Making Factory--Do Not Bombs," but the evil imperialist infidel dogs do not wish for the brave Iraqi babies to be having no milks at all."

UPDATE: This just in to Possumblog News Central--U.N. Nuclear Experts Detect Changes at Iraqi Sites

By Irwin Arieff

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. experts studying satellite photos of Iraq have identified new construction at several sites linked in the past to Baghdad's development of nuclear weapons, U.N. officials said Friday.

But the experts said they could not draw any conclusions on the significance of the changes at these sites until U.N. weapons inspectors can get in to see them on the ground.

"We see changes on the ground. But we don't draw any conclusions," said Mark Gwozdecky of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Vienna-based nuclear regulatory arm of the United Nations. [...]

An unidentified Iraqi military spokesman stated "What? What for are you the funny-looking at us? Since we no longer are building the things to wipe your filth from our lands, and in fact never had things like that to begin with, if you must know we are only adding another production line for the manufacturing of the baby milks. Our young children are being starved, and so this is necessary. They drink much, MUCH baby milks. Go away from me now. You no need to be looking at anythings else."
posted by Terry at 11:34:00 AM