Buried Iraqi jets found in desert

AMERICAN teams hunting for Iraq’s alleged weapons of mass destruction found dozens of fighter jets from Iraq’s air force buried beneath the sands, US officials say.

At least one Cold War-era MiG-25 interceptor was found when searchers saw the tops of its twin tail fins poking up from the sands, said one Pentagon official familiar with the hunt. He said search teams have found several MiG-25s and Su-25 ground attack jets buried at the al-Taqqadum air field west of Baghdad.

Iraq’s air squadrons were a no-show during the war, and US military officials supposed their pilots stayed grounded because they believed they were overmatched by American and British air power.

Various officials differed in opinion as to whether the buried aircraft could ever fly again. Many of the planes were buried intact with minimal efforts to protect them from the sand.

Porter Goss, chairman of the US House of Representatives intelligence committee, said the discovery showed how far Iraqi forces went to conceal their activities. The Florida Republican was briefed on the discovery during a recent trip to Iraq.

"Our guys have found 30-something brand new aircraft buried in the sand to deny us access to them," Mr Goss said.

He added the planes were not considered weapons of mass destruction for which coalition troops have been searching for months, "but they are weapons [Iraq] tried to hide".

Pre-war intelligence estimates from earlier this year said Saddam Hussein’s regime had about 300 combat aircraft, all of them survivors of the first Gulf war.

Most were aging Soviet-era MiGs, Sukhois and older French Mirage fighters. The best are MiG-29 Fulcrums, one of the most advanced fighters produced in the Soviet era.

Allied warplanes bombed several planes on the ground, and US air force officials say no Iraqi planes were detected flying a combat mission during the war.