‘Shock and awe’ blitz planned by US

IN a strategy US Defence Department officials are calling “shock and awe,” forces plan to drop 10 times the bombs in the opening days of the air campaign in Iraq than they did in the first Gulf War.

If President Bush orders the invasion of Iraq, the powerful air strikes with thousands of bombs and missiles would be combined with quick ground assaults a combination aimed at overwhelming President Saddam Hussein's defences, keeping him from mustering catastrophic retaliation and convince his forces they can't win, Pentagon officials said.

They said yesterday that part of that plan is to launch an initial air bombardment using 10 times the number of precision-guided weapons fired in the opening days of 1991 war.