Word: exocet
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There are other potential Iraqi surprises. Saddam, remembering the damage done to the U.S.S. Stark by an Exocet missile in 1987, could attack allied ships in the gulf with either air-launched or sea-launched Exocets. They would do little damage to a battleship or cruiser but could cause havoc on a destroyer or frigate. It is also possible that Iraqi frogmen might try to swim in and plant mines in Saudi ports or oil facilities...
...have been bombed full of craters. Powell displayed a map showing only five of 66 airfields at which the U.S. spotted any activity last week. When the Iraqi planes do fly, their performance in dogfighting is miserable. Last Friday two Iraqi jets tried to stage an attack with Exocet missiles on British ships in the Persian Gulf; a Saudi pilot shot down both. In any case, the U.S. and Britain claim to have achieved practical air superiority...
...building where it's completely precise, and they say, 'If it's going so well, why isn't the war over?' " Another senior official says, "In this video-game war, we have been so successful so far that people may really be shocked if Saddam gets off an Exocet and sinks one of our ships or pulls some other big surprise." The parallel universes of the enemies -- that of the alliance and that of Saddam Hussein -- have their own elaborate reality and logic. Each makes some sense on its own terms, each is performing its role in collision with...
...know the passwords, and unless they are keyed in, Iraqi guided missiles will not be able to reach their targets. Moreover, a Defense Ministry spokesman in Paris confirms that his country's warships carry transmitters that can jam French-built Iraqi radar systems and confuse the sensors on their Exocet missiles. But he concedes that battle-ready Western forces "definitely cannot jam all the weapons systems, because we have simply delivered too much weaponry to Iraq...
...Garcia could lay down carpets of high explosives on Iraqi targets. They would be supported by F-14 interceptors and attack planes from the U.S. carriers in the Indian Ocean and Red Sea. Those ships are more than 600 miles from Iraq, out of range of Iraqi jets and Exocet missiles, which in 1987 badly damaged the patrolling frigate U.S.S. Stark, apparently accidentally, and killed 37 of its crew. The carrier-based planes would be refueled in air, six at a time, by KC-10 airborne tankers, and arrive over their targets ready to fight. In addition, the battleship Wisconsin...