Let U-2 get shot down? Book says idea broached - Air Force News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Air Force Times

Let U-2 get shot down? Book says idea broached

One proposal to start a war in Iraq: Let Saddam Hussein shoot down an Air Force U-2.

Retired Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Hugh Shelton said he heard that idea in October 1997 from a high-ranking member of the Clinton administration. The revelation is part of Shelton’s new autobiography “Without Hesitation: The Odyssey of an American Warrior,” released on Oct. 12.

Shelton said he agreed to the idea with one major condition, that the unnamed administration member fly the U-2. Needless to say, the idea was never mentioned again to the general.

At the time the Air Force, Navy and British Royal Air Force fighters flew daily combat patrols over Iraq as part of Operation Northern Watch and Operation Southern Watch, making sure Iraqi aircraft did not violate no-fly zones. When Iraqi anti-aircraft sites took pot shots at the planes, the response was swift. No allied fighters were ever lost.

Shelton said in the book that early in his tenure as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, top Clinton officials held small, weekly White House breakfasts in National Security Advisor Sandy Berger’s Shelton said it was “a comfortable setting that encouraged brainstorming of potential options on a variety of issues of the day.”

At that time, U-2 aircraft were on reconnaissance sorties over Iraq and at one of his first breakfasts, one of the cabinet members present said to Shelton, “Hugh, I know I shouldn’t even be asking you this, but what we really need in order to go in and take out Saddam is a precipitous event — something that would make us look good in the eyes of the world. Could you have one of our U-2s fly low enough — and slow enough — so as to guarantee that Saddam could shoot it down?”

“The hair on the back of my neck bristled, my teeth clenched, and my fists tightened,” Shelton wrote. “I was so mad I was about to explode. I looked across the table, thinking about the pilot in the U-2 and responded, ‘Of course we can ...’ which prompted a big smile on the official’s face.

“’You can?’ was the excited reply.

“’Why, of course we can,’” I countered. ‘Just as soon as we get your ass qualified to fly it, I will have it flown just as low and slow as you want to go.’

Shelton went onto say that he was shocked at the disrespect and audacity of the question and told the cabinet member, “Remember, there is one of our great Americans flying that U-2, and you are asking me to intentionally send him or her to their death for an opportunity to kick Saddam. The last time I checked, we don’t operate like that here in America.”