US denies Iraq downed Predator spy plane
( 2003-01-23 10:52 ) (7 )

Iraq said on Wednesday it had shot down a second unmanned US Predator spy plane within a month, but the United States dismissed the claim as "lies".

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said there was no truth in the Iraqi statement that anti-aircraft gunners had downed the $3.2 million Predator. The US military also issued a denial.

"We did not lose a Predator," said Lt. Daniel Hetlage, a Pentagon spokesman.

In Baghdad, an Iraqi military spokesman was quoted by the official INA news agency as saying "Iraqi air force defences downed an American Predator spy plane coming from Kuwait".

"Iraqi air defence men renew their pledge to President Saddam Hussein that they will hit at any one who dares to encroach upon Iraq's security and sovereignty," he added.

State television showed footage of a few pieces of wreckage in the desert, including what appeared to be an aircraft engine bearing a name-plate on which the words "Allison Gas Turbine" could be made out.

Iraqi authorities did not say where the Predator had been shot down.

US officials say a Predator drone was lost late last month after being fired on by an Iraqi aircraft in the southern no-fly zone. Richard Myers, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, called that a "lucky shot".

Arguing its case for forcibly disarming Iraq if Baghdad fails to do so voluntarily under UN resolutions, the White House on Tuesday released a 32-page report on Iraqi propaganda called "Apparatus of Lies".

"One day after issuing the 'Apparatus of Lies'...Saddam Hussein this morning lied to the Iraqi people and the world," Fleischer said. "There is no truth to the Iraqi claim."

Iraq regularly fires at US and British jets patrolling the "no-fly" zones over north and south Iraq, imposed by the Allies after the 1991 Gulf War. So far there has been no independent confirmation of a crewed aircraft being shot down.

Baghdad charges that Western aircraft have attacked civilian targets and killed innocent people, which the Pentagon denies.

A senior US Air Force official acknowledged on Tuesday that about half of the 50 Predators built by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems had been lost over the past nine years, but defended a plane he said was performing "magnificently".

The medium-altitude surveillance drone demonstrated its potency last November when the CIA used one to kill six suspected al Qaeda guerrillas in Yemen with its on-board Hellfire missiles.

Nevertheless, some defence experts say the drone is overrated, given its technical problems that have led to a series of crashes.