Word: scud
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...decision by the U.S. to hand over 15 SCUD missiles to Yemen after interdicting them aboard a North Korean vessel on the high seas underscores the legal gray area in which the incident occurred. It was maritime irregularities aboard the SCUD-bearing vessel So San - nationality and papers not being in order, a false manifest and the vessel's refusal to submit to inspection - that allowed the Spanish navy, acting on a U.S. intelligence tip, to seize it in international waters in the Arabian sea. Those irregularities, and the fact that its unlisted cargo of 15 SCUD missiles bound...
Meanwhile, a key U.S. ally is working to undermine the Iraqi regime's capabilities in the west of Iraq, where Iraq launched Scud missiles on Israel in the Gulf War. U.S. and Israeli officials tell TIME that Israeli special forces have been operating inside Iraq's western desert on reconnaissance and training missions, surveying 30,000 sq. mi. for places where Iraq might have hidden the missiles and launchers it kept after the Gulf War. "You sniff around in the western desert," says a U.S. official, "and try to get an idea about those hardened concrete bunkers that Saddam...
...result, six U.S. intelligence satellites the size of city buses are prowling the skies over Iraq every day. Three KH-11 and three Lacrosse satellites are searching for places where Saddam might be producing such weapons, as well as for any signs that he is moving his Scud missiles into launching positions. This intelligence would not only help commanders draft target lists, it would also guide U.S. commandos to the right places once they secreted inside Iraq, something planners foresee in the early hours of a new engagement...
Beyond those schemes, U.S. war planners are focused on attacking the delivery systems--missiles, planes and drones--that Iraq might use to deploy chemical and biological weapons. The U.S. Air Force remains profoundly embarrassed by its inability in the 1991 war to destroy a single Scud launcher, despite 2,400 missions aimed at just that. Better satellites, more deadly Apache helicopter gunships and improved--and armed--drones should enable the U.S. to do better should there be a next time...
...attacks with smart bombs can find and safely destroy hidden caches of bio-chem agents that inspectors have failed to uncover. The plans also presume that this can be done before Saddam unleashes any of those weapons. The bombers also need to take out Saddam's 20 to 30 Scud missiles (which they were not able to do in 1991) before he can fire warheads loaded with conventional explosives or perhaps chemical agents at Israel or his Arab neighbors. Even if all these pre-emptive measures are taken, Saddam could still try a crude pre-emptive strike...