July 30, 2006

The Australians in 2003 - Limiting the US Attack in Iraq

I found this story off a link on Juan Cole's site - does anyone know about this? It's the first I'd heard of the practice.

In one instance, Major General McNarn vetoed a US plan to drop a range of huge non-precision bombs on Baghdad, causing one angry US Air Force general to call the Australian a "pencil dick".

However, US military command accepted Major General McNarn's objection and the US plans were scrapped ...

As coalition forces prepared plans to take Baghdad, Major General McNarn vetoed three of five proposed US Air Force weapon systems - mostly huge bombs - on the grounds that they were not accurate for a radius of less than 16m and, as a result, were unsuitable for use in a built-up area.

On one occasion, Australia, along with fellow coalition partner Britain, successfully whittled down a list of proposed individuals the US considered legitimate targets.

Posted by armand at July 30, 2006 09:07 AM | TrackBack | Posted to International Affairs | War


Comments
Post a comment









Remember personal info?