Iraqi
'Mach 3' MiG Buried in Sand
Charles R. Smith
Wednesday August 6, 2003
NewsMax.com has obtained exclusive photos of a buried Iraqi jet fighter being
recovered by U.S. Air Force troops. The Iraqi jet, an advanced Russian MiG-25
Foxbat, was found buried in the sand after an informant tipped off U.S. troops.
The MiG was dug out of a massive sand dune near the Al Taqqadum airfield by U.S.
Air Force recovery teams. The MiG was reportedly one of over two dozen Iraqi
jets buried in the sand, like hidden treasure, waiting to be recovered at a
later date.
Contrary to what some in the major media have reported, not all the jets
found were from the Gulf War era.
The Russian-made MiG-25 Foxbat being recovered by U.S. Air Force troops in
the photos is an advanced reconnaissance version never before seen in the West
and is equipped with sophisticated electronic warfare devices.
U.S. Air Force recovery teams had to use large earth-moving equipment to
uncover the MiG, which is over 70 feet long and weighs nearly 25 tons.
(All photos courtesy of MSGT T. Collins, USAF)
The Foxbat is known to be one of Iraq's top jet fighters. The advanced
electronic reconnaissance version found by the U.S. Air Force is currently in
service with the Russian air force. The MiG is capable of flying at speeds of
over 2,000 miles an hour, or three times the speed of sound, and at altitudes of
over 75,000 feet.
The recovery of the advanced MiG fighter is considered to be an intelligence
coup by the U.S. Air Force. The Foxbat may also be equipped with advanced
Russian- and French-made electronics that were sold to Iraq during the 1990s in
violation of a U.N. ban on arms sales to Baghdad.
The buried aircraft at Al Taqqadum were covered in camouflage netting, sealed
and, in many cases, had their wings removed before being buried more than 10
feet beneath the Iraqi desert.
X Marks the Spot
The discovery of the buried Iraqi jet fighters illustrates the problem faced
by U.S. inspection teams searching Iraq for weapons of mass destruction. Iraq is
larger in size than California, and the massive deserts south and west of
Baghdad were used by Saddam Hussein to hide weapons during the first Gulf war.
U.S. intelligence sources have already uncovered several mass grave burial
sites in the open deserts with an estimated 10,000 dead hidden there. In
addition, Iraq previously hid SCUD missiles, chemical weapons and biological
warheads by burying them under the desert sand. U.N. inspection teams found the
weapons in the early 1990s after detailed information of the exact locations was
obtained.
Top U.S. weapons inspector Dr. David Kay is known to favor human intelligence
as the primary means to find Iraq's hidden treasure trove of weapons and
secrets.
While there are rumors of Iraqi chemical and biological weapons being shipped
to nearby Syria, the weapons may very well still remain inside Iraq buried under
the vast desert wastelands.
Some critics of the Bush administration have claimed that the inability of
U.S. forces to uncover weapons of mass destruction is proof that the president
misled the nation into the war with Iraq. However, in recent days the critics
have fallen silent as word quietly leaked from Iraq that major discoveries have
already been made and are now being documented completely. Bush administration
officials are keeping any such discoveries secret for the moment.