According to the Post, the rationale for continuing the no-fly zones was that they provide the US with substantial intelligence that can be utilized in preparing an invasion. Moreover, they serve as a means of roping in Saudi Arabia and Turkey, which have publicly expressed opposition to a US war against Iraq.
The operation, one Pentagon official told the newspaper, “keeps our skills high on knowledge of the area and keeps our competency high in flying over the area. The benefits you get from that—should you decide to do something militarily—are great.”
The no-fly zones were decreed in the aftermath of the 1991 Persian Gulf War under the pretext that they would protect the Kurdish minority in northern Iraq and the Shi’a in the south, both of which revolted against the regime of Saddam Hussein at the close of the war. US forces stood back and allowed Iraqi government units to suppress the revolts, and then imposed the no-fly zones.
In practice, the zones have had nothing to do with protecting either people. Exempted from the no-fly restrictions, for example, are Turkish military aircraft, which have regularly carried out cross-border raids in Ankara’s continuing counterinsurgency campaign against Kurdish separatist rebels. Initially, the missions were flown by US, British and French warplanes. France pulled out of the program entirely by 1998 and has since publicly opposed it.
The operation, one Pentagon official told the newspaper, “keeps our skills high on knowledge of the area and keeps our competency high in flying over the area. The benefits you get from that—should you decide to do something militarily—are great.”
The no-fly zones were decreed in the aftermath of the 1991 Persian Gulf War under the pretext that they would protect the Kurdish minority in northern Iraq and the Shi’a in the south, both of which revolted against the regime of Saddam Hussein at the close of the war. US forces stood back and allowed Iraqi government units to suppress the revolts, and then imposed the no-fly zones.
In practice, the zones have had nothing to do with protecting either people. Exempted from the no-fly restrictions, for example, are Turkish military aircraft, which have regularly carried out cross-border raids in Ankara’s continuing counterinsurgency campaign against Kurdish separatist rebels. Initially, the missions were flown by US, British and French warplanes. France pulled out of the program entirely by 1998 and has since publicly opposed it.