| |
U.S. and British warplanes streaked across Iraq last Friday to complete what President George W. Bush called a "routine mission" of self-defense. Warning sirens sounded in Iraq's capital, Baghdad, as 24 planes bombed five Iraqi military sites nearby. Iraq had been using radar at these sites to target and shoot missiles at U.S. and British planes patrolling the area.
President Bush approved the plan to strike back at Iraq. He warned Iraq's leader, Saddam Hussein, to stop the attacks on British and U.S. planes. "Our intention is to make sure the world is as peaceful as possible," Bush said Friday.
|  The U.S. and British warplanes were enforcing the no-fly zone. |
The U.S. led a group of nations that won a war against Iraq in 1991. Iraq had tried to take over Kuwait, a nation friendly to the U.S.
After the war, the U.S. and its allies declared that Iraq could not fly planes in certain zones in northern and southern Iraq. The goal was to prevent Iraq's military from attacking its own people in these areas. Iraq has never accepted the "no-fly zones." Said Saddam of last week's attack: "They thought they would scare Iraq, but they are wrong."