Some of Iraqi’s missing air force has turned up down below.
Search teams, some hunting for Iraq’s alleged weapons of mass destruction (search), found dozens of fighter jets from Iraq’s air force buried beneath the sands, U.S. officials say.
At least one Cold War-era MiG-25 interceptor was found when searchers saw the tops of its twin tail fins poking up from the sands, said one Pentagon official familiar with the hunt. He said search teams have found several MiG-25s and Su-25 ground attack jets buried at al-Taqqadum air field west of Baghdad (search).
Iraq’s air squadrons were a no-show during the war, and U.S. military officials supposed their pilots stayed grounded because they believed they were overmatched by American and British air power. |