The following is an archived copy of a message sent to a Discussion List run by the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq.
Views expressed in this archived message are those of the author, not of the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq.
[Main archive index/search] [List information] [Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq Homepage]
I do remember reading about it, in small print somewhere. Someone also said later that Iran had been advised not to make too much noise about it. I wasn't particularly surprised about the inaccurate bomb, and the subsequent fact of Iran being advised not to make too much noise (though I can't attest to the latter, because I didn't see it written down). In 1990 CNN presented the war as a vast computer game, and it was so successful as coverage that in India pirated video tapes of missiles hitting targets were being sold illegally. When later news of civilian casualties began to filter in, many people who had seen the videos refused to believe it - on the screen it all looked so clinical. I find it significant that this isn't big news - but most of the press is quite servile to the government line. In 1990, I also remember hearing that a US diplomat had given out that Iraq had been given the impression by US diplomatic sources that the US would have no major objections to Iraq's invading Kuwait. These bits and pieces are conveniently suppressed. Or placed next to the food column on page 83 of the advertising supplement. Can anyone confirm the bit about the US diplomat in 1990? It was significant enough, I seem to remember, for various people to have to deny it. Ben Zachariah. On Wed, 6 Jan 1999 gjr@ula.cam.ac.uk wrote: > In the Cambridge Evening News of 17 December 1998 (p.5), it was reported that > a US missile had fallen on the city of Khorramshahr in Iran, and that British > and Swiss (representing USA) diplomats had been summoned to the Foreign > Ministry in Tehran to receive an official protest. This was, apparently, one > of the missiles aimed at Basra in Iraq. > > If true, this shows that, far from achieving "pin-point" or "surgical" > accuracy, as often claimed by US & UK government and military spokesmen, these > missiles cannot even be relied on to hit the right country. The possibility, > and reality, of "collateral" damage during the December war must have been > enormous. > > I never saw this report anywhere else in the press, nor did I hear anything > about it on the radio news, nor it was it mentioned in discussions about the > raids, even by opponents of them. But I might have missed it. Did anyone else > catch it, or was it perhaps suppressed? > > Geoffrey Roper > Cambridge > -- > ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- > This is a discussion list run by Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq. > To be removed/added, email soc-casi-discuss-request@lists.cam.ac.uk, NOT the > whole list. Archived at http://linux.clare.cam.ac.uk/~saw27/casi/discuss.html > -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a discussion list run by Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq. To be removed/added, email soc-casi-discuss-request@lists.cam.ac.uk, NOT the whole list. Archived at http://linux.clare.cam.ac.uk/~saw27/casi/discuss.html