Operation KFC - chooks enlisted
February 21, 2003
BLACK Hawk helicopters, the Screaming Eagles paratroopers ... now the US army has a new elite winged unit - desert chooks.
Yesterday, it was revealed that American troops going into battle in Iraq will use chickens to detect chemicals or nerve agents.
Despite carrying the latest in military technology, the US is concerned pollution from oil installations will clog up detection equipment, hindering efforts to pick up traces of poisonous gases or chemical agents.
Chickens will be placed in cages on the top of their Hum-Vee vehicles.
The smallest traces of gases or chemicals will kill the birds, warning the troops to put their gas masks on.
Soldiers have dubbed the operation KFC - for Kuwait Field Chicken.
The news came as Saddam Hussein's last-ditch plan to unleash chemical weapons while using his own people as hostages was revealed.
Hussain al-Shahristani, a former chief adviser to the Iraqi Atomic Energy Commission, said Saddam had developed an underground tun nel system where chemical and biological weapons were stored.
In an invasion, they were to be used around Baghdad - forming what Mr al-Shahristani has referred to as a "chemical belt" to trap the four million residents in the city.
He said Saddam had appointed thousands of security officers to hide the weapons so deep underground they would not be found by UN weapons inspectors.
Mr al-Shahristani fled Iraq in 1991 after being jailed for refusing to develop weapons of mass destruction.
He revealed the plan at a conference in the Philippines.
According to an article in the New York Post, Pentagon officials have confirmed Mr al-Shahristani's claims are similar to US intelligence predictions on Saddam's strategy.
Along with the use of VX nerve gas and sarin, the Bush Administration has also been told Saddam is likely to order troops to sabotage civilian escape routes such as bridges and highways to stop them leaving.
|
