The US government (including the president), is considering going to the UN and claiming that Iraq firing upon US and UK planes patroling the Southern No Fly Zone is a material breach of the resolution Iraq accepted just a few days ago. In the resolution accepted a few days ago, there were rules outlining that Iraq would not use threatening or hostile force against any member of the United Nations Security Council attempting to enforce a resolution (which would include past resolutions, meaning the No Fly Zone which Clinton helped put together in 1998 during Operation Desert Fox). Iraq has already attempted to shoot down US and British planes flying over the area 12 times since they accepted the resolution a few days ago. There have been over 500 incidents of Iraq using anti-aircraft fire on planes patroling the No Fly Zone since it was adopted, however I'm not aware of any occasion that has resulted in an aircraft being shot down. This was just reported on CNN Live. If Iraq shoots at any unmanned drones or manned planes searching for possible sites of weapons of mass destruction, this would be a clear material breach of the resolution according to a government official the news anchor was talking to (since the objective would be part of the current resolution to disarm Iraq - it would be not only disobedince, but a clear attempt to resist disarment; however this would not be constituted in the no fly zone resolution). Edit: The first incident of the US and UK returning fire to hit a ground defense target occurred not long ago. There have been 12 cases of Iraq attacking patroling planes since it accepted the resolution, but this was the first time there was a counter response. They had a pilot on briefly, that said it is commonplace to look out your window and see an explosion about 1,000 feet away. They are regularly fired upon.
So... the US and UK fly planes over Iraqi airspace and bomb things, and then get upset when Iraq decides to shoot back? :bugeye:
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They signed the agreement allowing us to enforce the airspace. One bullet shot at us is too much. Any bombing we do is retaliation. They shoot at us and we bomb one of their military bases.
I agree with clockwood on this. They agreed to the no-fly zones at the end of the war. We insisted on them largely because Sadam was using aircraft to kill Kurds in northern Iraq. It's not as if we just arbitrarily created a no-fly zone without consulting Baghdad.
Please explain to me why the No Fly Zone is in the South and those being slaughtered are in the North ...
There are no-fly zones in both the north and south. The northern zone is to protect the Kurds, while the southern zone is to protect Shia separatists.
