- ABOARD USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN
(Reuters) - American pilots who bombed Baghdad on Friday spoke of the thrill
of a successful attack in the teeth of fierce anti-aircraft fire.
-
- "It was exhilarating," Commander Jeff Penfield
said after landing his F/A-18E Super Hornet back on the Abraham Lincoln,
which is supporting the U.S.-led invasion force from the Gulf.
-
- "It was all nice and calm in the city," he
said. "Once those bombs hit all hell broke loose. I bet we saw 15
SAMs (surface-to-air missiles), about three or four up our way so we had
to defend a couple of times.
-
- "What I felt more than anything was exhilaration."
-
- Under the bombardment, blasts battered government buildings
and pounded the southern outskirts of Baghdad, where U.S.-led forces have
been targeting the city's defenders on the ground.
-
- U.S. commanders and the pilots say they are taking great
pains to limit civilian casualties in their efforts to overthrow President
Saddam Hussein. But Iraqi officials said over 50 were killed by a blast
at a busy market during Friday's raids.
-
- It was the second such Iraqi accusation this week. U.S.
officials have said they are still looking into those claims.
-
- Up in the skies over the Iraqi capital, Penfield led
a "strike package" of three planes that dropped 1,000-pound laser-guided
bombs on mobile targets near the city.
-
- Flying through dense anti-aircraft fire, they sought
targets with infra-red sensors and night-vision goggles.
-
- Baghdad is the most dangerous of destinations: "This
is the most demanding, probably the most threatening place you can go.
-
- "But at the same time you get an element of excitement
because that's where the best targets still are and those targets have
to go away so the ground forces can go in."
-
- So far all the U.S. pilots have come back to the Lincoln.
-
- And on Friday night, they came back buzzing:
-
- "I can't sleep yet," said Penfield. "I'll
go down and get something to eat, unwind, bask in the glory a little bit."
-
|
