AT AN AIRBASE IN EASTERN SAUDI ARABIA -- Wave after wave of fighter-bombers with yellow flames shooting from their tails rocketed off a runway into the nighttime sky Thursday as the U.S.-led force pressed its advantages gained in stunning attack on Iraq.
Airbases across the country witnessed a similar scene as warplanes in groups of four took off and banked north toward Iraq and Kuwait. Iraqi forces responded by shelling the northern Saudi border town of Khafji, forcing the evacuation of a small contingent of troops from the otherwise deserted city.
A Saudimilitary communique said the shelling had hit several oil tanks in the city, where firefighters were still trying to put out smoky blazes in two of the containers. No other details were available on the attack, nor had the military released any casualty figures on the first round of combat.
Pilots estimated the multinational force destroyed up to 80 percent of the Iraqi air force during the first night's raid, when they achieved complete tactical surprise, penetrated the country's air defense system and dropped thousands of tons of bombs on strategic targets with very little challenge.
The ease of the first night's raid, which hit everything from missile batteries to chemical weapons facilities, caused many pilots to wonder why the Iraqi fliers failed to offer stiffer resistance.
Pilots said the lack of a challenge from the Iraqi side made their night's work a little dull.
'It could mean that they were unprepared. It could mean they want to wait us out,' said Air Force Col. John McBroom, who flew his F-15 jet as an escort for the second attack wave.
'I just thought ... if somebody was coming into my homeland, I would go after them a little bit harder, I feel like, than he came after us,' McBroom told a combat news pool. 'But I don't have all the knowledge of all the damage that has been done. Maybe we've done such an outstanding job that he does not have the capability.'
'I'm not exactly sure why he wasn't airborne,' he added. 'Whatever the reason, it made for a very uneventful, routine day. I know a lot of guys who are looking forward to matching up against Iraq.'
'I think their reaction to us was not that good. It was too late. It was a surprise for them, that's all,' said Capt. Mohammed Al Ahmari Dhafer, 23, who flew his Tornado fighter-bomber in a raid that dropped anti-airfield cluster bombs on an Iraqi runway.
'We have very high technology aircraft,' said the captain, who told reporters that Iraq was estimated to have lost 80 percent of its air force. 'You see, the Tornados and the F-15s ... it is the best aircraft in the world now.'
'And we know that we are fighting for something we believe in. We are not occupying other countrys,' he added. 'We are obeying the orders for peace and that is our moral high (ground).'
Capt. Steve Tate, a 28-year-old fighter pilot from Watersmeet, Mich., was one of the few American fliers who saw action. While escorting a group of bombers in his F-15 jet over Baghdad, he spotted an Iraqi fighter coming off the ground, dogged the plane and shot it down with a Sparrow air-to-air missile.
'When the airplane blew up, the whole sky lit up,' Tate told a news pool. 'It continued to burn all the way to the ground and then just blew up into a thousand pieces.'
Lt. Col. George 'John Boy' Walton, who also flew during the raids over Baghdad, said the anti-aircraft fire over the Iraqi capital was very heavy and that the ground forces had launched at least one SAM anti-aircraft missile. He said the impact of the bombing was stunning.
'I saw one of the most fantastic fireworks demonstrations I've seen since years ago,' he said. 'Baghdad lit up like a Christmas tree. We were shooting the SAMs around the perimeter of Baghdad. We fired at two SAMs but I don't know if we hit both.'
The multinational ground forces, who were left out during the initial phase of the war, welcomed the arrival of combat after months of uncertainty. Many learned the battle had arrived when they were ordered to begin taking a series of pills to limit the damage of the nerve gasIraq is thought to possess.
'It's about time,' said Sgt. Michael Senter, 24, of San Antonio, Texas, when he learned the war had begun. 'After 5 months, there's a sense of relief. We're part of something that's going to be in the history books.'
'It was the biggest poker game in the world,' said Maj. Larry Burns of Cabot, Ark. 'President Bush called him. I'm happy to see it start. We'll be happy to go home. Of course, all the people in Kuwait will be happy to go home, too.'
