Say What?

An April 22 Salon article discussing the disappearance of the Iraqi army, concluded with the following paragraph:

Wamid Nathmi, a political scientist who used to be regarded as something as close to an opposition figure as one could get in Iraq, has made a 180-degree turn and now subscribes to paranoid theories about how Baghdad could have fallen. At first, he says, he blamed "traitors," but now he hints that Americans used some new and terrible weapon, "maybe a limited-scale nuclear device," against the soldiers defending the International Airport. "Go to the airport," he urges. "The Americans keep it closed to everybody, and I have heard there are hundreds or thousands of dead Iraqi soldiers there who have been burned all over, not shot. That is how they were able to defeat us."

This is the one and only time (to this blogger's knowledge) that such a claim has been adduced. Yet, two months later, the airport remains closed to civilian traffic. The reason, stated over the "coalition"'s Baghdad radio station on the weekend, is that planes trying to land are coming under fire from "members of the former regime who want to undermine the rebuilding campaign." The "coalition", rather than using the massive military and reconaissance capabilities at its disposal is asking for members of the general public to come forward with any information about the alleged shooting at of planes!

Totally preposterous. Also at odds with other reasons given: the "antiquated electronics": are not up to "international standards", and "U.S. military and business contractors are filling bomb craters on the main runways and bringing the airport up to international standards". Neither does it take into account that the "coalition" is operating a "fortress-style" detention center at the airport.

The suggestion of a "new and terrible weapon" doesn't seem very credible, if only because eyewitness survivors ought to have surfaced before now. But it would seem that something fishy is going on there. Any ideas?

Posted by Eddie Tews at June 2, 2003 08:47 PM