(Telegraph-UK) Con Coughlin - Chinese military advisers played a key role in helping Saddam's air defenses withstand coalition air strikes in the months preceding Operation Iraqi Freedom, according to Iraqi Lt.-Col. al-Dabbagh, who said he worked with a number of Chinese air-defense specialists during 2002 and the early part of this year. "They arrived in the spring of 2002," said al-Dabbagh, who commanded an air defense unit in Iraq's western desert. "They were personally greeted by Saddam and seemed very happy to be in Iraq. A couple of them even grew moustaches and wore keffiyehs (Arab scarves)." The Chinese devised a sophisticated decoy device that forced missiles fired by allied warplanes to hit the wrong targets. "The American pilot would return home thinking he had hit three of our radar units, when in fact all he would have hit were three $25 decoys," said al-Dabbagh.
2003-12-15 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive