Word: raids
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...prevailing joke in Baghdad is that the city must be the only one in the world where the sirens do not start to wail until after the air raid is over. Strictly speaking, that may not be true, but since there is no difference between the alert and the all clear, there is room for confusion. Iranian Phantoms have put on a dazzling display of technical skill, swooping in over Baghdad at treetop level to avoid radar detection, dropping their bombs and hightailing it back to Iran before the Iraqis realize what has happened...
...soldiers carrying machine guns throughout the city nervously clear the streets when the sirens begin to wail and pedestrians crowd into underground shelters. Many of the concrete shelters are new or still under construction; they contain no food but often have water storage tanks. The atmosphere in air raid shelters is frequently relaxed even if, as one Iraqi insisted, the shelters are considered essential not only as protection against Iran "but especially against Israel, which might attack us at any minute...
...explosion overhead. Waiters nervously scurried to put out candles and lanterns. When the patrons went outside to find out what had happened, there were no planes to be seen. As the diners went back inside to resume their meal, the unanimous conclusion was that it was not an Iranian raid at all, but a sonic boom caused by an Iraqi MiG breaking the sound barrier...
Despite the shrill peal of air-raid sirens regularly echoing throughout the port of Basra early last week, the absence of air strikes for four days had nurtured a languid mood among the Iraqi soldiers and civilians in the town. Troops from the front lines recounted boastful tales of Iranians fleeing before their artillery barrages, while the television pumped out scenes of Iraqi attacks to martial music and announced the claim that Ahwaz, 45 miles into Iran, had just been captured. "Maybe tomorrow, maybe the next day," boasted Captain Abu Rashid, beaming proudly in his black beret and crisp green...
That serene facade was shattered moments later. At precisely 12 noon, the windowpanes in the Shatt al Arab Hotel were blasted by a concussive boom. As explosion after explosion followed, everyone in the lobby dived to the floor or huddled next to pillars for protection from the surprise raid by two Iranian Phantoms skimming 100 yds. above the port. In less than a minute it was over. We poured outside and crossed a rickety wooden bridge to view the damage: just 300 yds. away on Sinbad Island, bright orange flames and thick black smoke curled from a coastal dredging vessel...