Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Iraq could try to jam U.S. satellite signals, officials say

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 13 Mar 2003 23:33:07 -0500

Iraq could try to jam U.S. satellite signals, officials say
Wed Mar 12, 8:28 PM ET

By MATT KELLEY, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - Iraq (news - web sites) could try to jam U.S. military
satellite signals during a possible invasion, but the United States has
defenses against such attempts, Pentagon (news - web sites) officials said.

Indonesia reportedly jammed signals from a commercial satellite leased by
the Pacific nation of Tonga in 1997, and Iraq could try to do the same thing,
said the Air Force's space operations director, Maj. Gen. Franklin Blaisdell.
Iraq also reportedly is seeking ways to jam the Global Positioning Satellite
signals that help guide U.S. bombs.

"Any enemy that would depend on GPS jammers for their livelihood is in
grave trouble," Blaisdell said at a Pentagon news conference Wednesday.

Also Wednesday, Gen. Tommy Franks, who would run the war in Iraq,
arrived at the military's command center in Qatar. It was not known whether
he would return to the United States, visit other nations in the Gulf region, or
stay in Qatar to position himself for the start of military action.

Army Chief of Staff Gen. Eric Shinseki, testifying before a House
Appropriations subcommittee, repeated his view that the number of troops
needed to occupy a postwar Iraq could be several hundred thousand. When
Shinseki first made that estimate last month, Defense Secretary Donald H.
Rumsfeld and Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said the estimate
was far too high.

Speaking to reporters later, Shinseki called it "sort of a rough estimate,"
saying that a more accurate estimate could be given by Franks.

U.S. aircraft dropped 120,000 leaflets over several sites between Baghdad
and the southern city of Basra. The messages included a warning to the
Iraqi military not to use chemical or biological weapons against U.S. or
allied troops, according to U.S. Central Command.

U.S. soldiers in the Kuwaiti desert stepped up preparations, breaking out
their chemical weapons suits for the first time and scheduling a joint battle
rehearsal.

At Camp New Jersey, temporary home to the 101st Airborne Division's 3rd
Brigade, soldiers also were instructed to pin glint tape to a flap on the
outside that can be observed by U.S. forces in the sky, so they can avoid
friendly fire.

The brigade planned the rehearsal with members of 3rd Infantry Division,
based at Fort Stewart, Georgia. On Wednesday night, hundreds of Marines
sat on top of their vehicles as they watched a missile training exercise.
Marines fired six Javelins — optically guided, handheld missiles — at Iraqi
armored vehicles left over from the Gulf War

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030313/ap_wo_en_ge/na_gen_us_iraq_military_15

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