Iraq’s airforce once lost, now found
It is hard to imagine 19 MIG jet fighters turning up in the lost and found, but Iraq’s missing air force turned up recently in Serbia. Saddam Hussein had outsourced the maintenance of some of his air force to Serbia. He had sent the planes for maintenance, and they got trapped there when the sanctions kicked in. If Iraq is to survive as a nation in a conflict-rife region, basic air support capability is a necessity. Lebanon tried to get planes from Russia, and they were gifted to them, but it turns out they were too rusty to fly. Let’s hope Iraq’s planes have been conserved more carefully.
With Iraq becoming very chummy with Iran, much to the chagrin of the US, who unbelievably seem genuinely surprised by this outcome, more jets may not be what the West (or Israel) wanted. Regardless, it gives the newly fledged democracy of Iraq at least the semblance of its own air force. Now, they just have to find the pilots, support infrastructure and facilities to keep the air force running. We are sure there is more than one foreign power that will offer Baghdad assistance with this.
An Iraqi delegation went to Serbia as part of an effort by the government to locate assets stashed abroad by Saddam Hussein to evade sanctions. Serbia had had friendly relations with Mr. Hussein’s government.
During that visit, Serbian defense officials told the Iraqis that Mr. Hussein had sent 19 fighter jets to Serbia for repairs in the late 1980s, during the Iran-Iraq war, but was unable to bring them back after sanctions were imposed on his country.
Iraq immediately sent a technical delegation, led by the air force chief, Gen. Anwar Mohammed Amin.
The Web site of the Iraqi Supreme Islamic Council, the leading Shiite political party, quoted the Defense Ministry spokesman Mohammed al-Askari as saying that the aircraft had been sent in 1989 “for maintenance, and everything was paid for by Iraq’s money.” Mr. Askari said the discovery was important because Iraq had no jet aircraft with defensive or offensive capabilities. “Our air force only has helicopters,” he said.
“Everyone knows how much we need fighter aircraft,” the ministry statement said. “We have reached a tentative agreement with the Serbian side to rehabilitate the aircraft and deliver them to Iraq in the shortest possible time, in recognition of Iraq’s need for such aircraft.”
