How the Iraq War came together

Mike Sullivan has sent a very long account of the beginning of the Iraq war. It is summarized in the opening section. The full text can be found in the Knight-Ridder newspapers (6/20/03)

Joe Galloway: "How the Iraq War Plan Came Together"

Well before Americans saw the start of the ground and air war in Iraq, teams of U.S. special forces took control of Iraq's western desert - 25 percent of the country, Gen. Tommy Franks said in his first interview detailing how the war was planned, fought and won. War planners worried that Iraq might launch Scud missile attacks on Israel and Jordan from its western desert, so American forces had to infiltrate the area as quickly as possible to prevent a wider Middle East conflict, said Franks, the commander of U.S. Central Command, which was in charge of the war. More than 50 12-member Special Forces A Teams and British and Australian special operations units secretly entered the Iraqi desert before the war officially started. On the first night they took out some 50 observation posts along the borders with Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. On the second night, they destroyed another 50 observation posts, Franks said. He didn't say whether the secret warriors found any Scuds; none were launched during the war.

Ronald Hilton - 6/26/03