[Wait4Truth]

Peach, the attack will depend on the moon..nothing can or should happen until between Feb 27 and March 6th when Iraq is totally dark.

[Peach]

I read that about the moon, but do you think the Iraqis know this too and then we've lost an element of surprise? How important is it to have total darkness for our planes? Ignorant questions, I know, but inquiring minds want to know. Just don't see us waiting till late Feb.

[per loin]

With every "expert" on the tube lowering his voice and letting out the "secret" that we will attack when the moon is not, a full moon attack would surprise.

[L`enn]

I will bet you a virtual cyber-beer that the phase of the moon will have no bearing on the date of the attack commencement. It was a factor in pre-stealth days against much more formidable foes, not an issue in this theatre.

[redheadtoo]

nothing can or should happen until between Feb 27 and March 6th when Iraq is totally dark.

Actually the lack of moon light is a benefit. We have the technology to see targets in the dark but the Iraqis lack the technology to aim at and shoot our bombers when there is no moonlight to see by.

[geedee]

I heard one of the military talking heads say the same thing on Fox News today...That we owned the night.

[mhking]

nothing can or should happen until between Feb 27 and March 6th when Iraq is totally dark.

Moon? We don't need no stinking moon...it's time.

[uncbob]

Peach, the attack will depend on the moon..nothing can or should happen until between Feb 27 and March 6th when Iraq is totally dark.

this ain't like 91 when Iraqi main air defenses were still intact and their Air Force hadn't yet been decimated

[DAnconia55]

Peach, the attack will depend on the moon..nothing can or should happen until between Feb 27 and March 6th when Iraq is totally dark.

Actually my bet is the air war starts before this. We don't need total darkness for air strikes. But it would help a lot for ground movements.

[Future Useless Eater]

Peach, the attack will depend on the moon..nothing can or should happen until between Feb 27 and March 6th when Iraq is totally dark.

Well.... not exactly true. There is still time, even IF you stick to your belief that the moon makes a difference. ...See the calendar to the right. Its dates are off by 4, so tomorrow (Sunday Feb 9th) will be like the (Sunday '13') shown on that calendar.

The moon will be at HALF tomorrow night (called '1st Quarter'), but that also means there will STILL be half the nighttime hours where the moon is behind the earth. So it will be totally pitch black for about 6 hours from roughly midnight to sunrise!

Monday evening, the moon will be slightly more than half, so the total-blackout period will be shorter, but we'll still have 5 hours of NO-MOON at all.

After 2 nights of bombing, the Moon won't matter anymore, assuming it mattered in the first place.

Note - The times below might seem wierd because Baghdad is not centered within its timezone, (and the evening of Feb 09 is same as the morning of Feb 10). Baghdad MoonSet/Sunrise times will be as follows:

  Eve/Morning  MoonSet...  SunRise    Pitch-Darkess
    Feb 08/09   1:12am      7:53am    6hrs 39min   
Sun Feb 09/10   2:08am      7:52am    5hrs 46m     
Mon Feb 10/11   3:06am      7:51am    4hrs 45m     
Tue Feb 11/12   4:05am      7:50am    3hrs 45m     
Wed Feb 12/13   5:04am      7:49am    2hrs 45m     
Thu Feb 13/14   5:59am      7:48am    1hr  49m     

  Eve/Morning  SunSet...  MoonRise    Pitch-Darkness
Fri Feb 21/22   6:52pm     11:57pm    5hrs 05min    
Sat Feb 22/23   6:53pm      1:06am    6hrs 13m      
Sun Feb 23/24   6:54pm      2:15am    7hrs 21m      
Mon Feb 24/25   6:55pm      3:22am    8hrs 27m      
Tue Feb 25/26   6:55pm      4:24am    9hrs 12m      
Wed Feb 26/27   6:56pm      5:20am   10hrs 11m      
Thu Feb 27/28   6:57pm      6:08am   11hrs 10m      
Fri Feb 28/01   6:58pm      7:31am   total blackout 

I also like the rest of your guy's theories... Soften 'em up for a while with cruise missles.