Birmingham Post April 05, 2003
Iraq War: Largest Military Supply Planes Can Land On Runway
US troops with the 3rd Infantry Division secure a runway at the airport
Saddam International Airport - renamed Baghdad International Airport by coalition forces - is potentially a massive military base for bringing in weapons and troops and channelling aid to the Iraqi people.
Saddam Hussein liked the first-class air hub, complete with its duty free shops, so much that he named it after himself.
US strategists prize the airport's main runway because it is long enough at 13,000ft to land the military's largest transport planes as well as civilian jumbo jets. It also has a second 8,000ft runway, once used by Iraqi fighter jets, that could help speed up the arrival of supplies.
But its crowning appeal is proximity to the Iraqi capital. The airport is about ten miles from the heart of Baghdad and is adjacent to the Radwaniyah presidential site, which served as Saddam's main residence.
Flying in troops, armour and humanitarian aid there will shave hours, if not days, from trucking supplies north from other air bases further south.
'This is a very large area immediately adjacent to Baghdad that you can just sort of move into, and American forces could congregate and regroup and gather themselves together and stage from,' said John Pike, a military analyst.
Following the coalition strategy of leap-frogging supplies to the front lines through captured Iraqi air bases, the first US supply plane landed on Thursday at an airfield four miles from the southern town of Nasiriyah, where US Marines are still trying to root out resistance.
The Tallil Airfield was overrun by the 3rd Infantry Division on March 22. But it took days for US troops to clear away the jumbles of wrecked vehicles and other barriers strewn around the strip by the Iraqi military to prevent its use.
Setting up shop at Saddam International Airport could also take a while - mostly because the surrounding area is still not under Allied control.
Lumbering C-130 transport planes would make ideal targets for militia fighters or regular Iraqi army troops armed with anti-aircraft missiles.
A military official at US Central Command in Doha said an airfield would be an important asset if coalition forces were assured of its security.
Copyright © 2003, Midland Independent Newspapers plc
