OK, Folks... It's A Shooting War Now

The United States has led off the first actions in its war with Iraq with a "surgical strike" designed to disable a key Iraqi military target.

In a short address that started at 2215 Wednesday night, President George W. Bush indicated that the first attack had begun. This initial effort was a combination of F-117 actions combined with Tomahawk cruise missiles against a specific target, rumored to be a bunker, in Baghdad, Iraq. 

Sirens, signaling the start of the first air engagement of the war, went off in Baghdad about 0530 Thursday (local time), only 90 minutes after the President's deadline expired for the self-imposed exile of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

The bunker was believed to have been shielding a number of senior Iraqi officials and was an obvious target of an attack that was led first by a series of Tomahawks and followed by laser-guided "bunker buster" munitions dropped by F-117A NightHawks. Numerous sources suggest that hussein, himself, may have been a specific target in this attack.

The first attack was quite limited... and initial expectations were that a "significant" action (the "Shock and Awe" scenario bandied about for the last few days) would be waged that would be unlike anything ever seen in the region. A possible hold-up, though, exists due to sandstorms in the region that might pose a serious problem for US helicopters--expected to be a major force in the upcoming action. 

FMI: www.whitehouse.gov