Is Gulf War 2 imminent?

Is the more aggressive members of NATO (USA + UK obviously) likely to hit Iraq anytime soon and will it be a full scale invasion (like the war) or simply a limited action. Which is more likely to overthrow Sadaam Hussein,the Ba’ath party and his loyal Republican Guard.

Lets face it. Sadaam is a tough cookie, though it is not clear what current health he is in. His non-appearance at his own birthday celebrations last week tends to lead speculation that he is very sick, probably with lymph-node cancer, as reported last year.

Either way – an air war is a certainty.

The first stage for the US and UK will be to position their carriers so as to begin aerial assaults and cruise-missile attacks.

Most likely, the primary targets will be centres suspected of manufacturing, developing and storing NBC weapons and delivery vehicles such as Scuds, cruise-missiles, and converted missiles.

It is also possible that Sadaam may try to copy the “Jihad” tactic employed by the Palestinians, but this would not be easy to acheieve, unless he actually went out and found loyal extremists dedicated to such causes.

But of course, the first step will be to oversome Iraqs air defences. My tip of the day is: DONT underestimate your enemy.

The Iraqis have had quite a few years to rebuild their defences, and have learnt many lessons and tactics since the war.
Likely, the Iraquis will still have some SA-2’s, SA-3’s, SA-6’s and SA-8’s, as well as a large variety of locally-produced SAM’s.

Any UAV or UACV fleet deployed by the US will also have to operate in an environment saturated with AAA, man-portable SAM’s, and virtually any weapon which can be modified for antiaircraft use.

Last thing I heard, the Irquis had managed to modify 122-mm BM-21 Grad multiple rocket launchers for use with mobile radar in the AAA role. Presumably they mounted the MRL’s on a rotating pedestal, with hydraulic aiming capacity. There is no other way you could do it.
Very resourceful I think.