U.S. Air Force bombs AT&T !!

[John Breeden]

(San Jose Mercury News, Jan 17th, 1991)

SHOT HEARD ROUND THE GULF HIT AT&T SITE

IN SAUDI ARABIA (AP) - The opening shot of the war with Iraq was a 2,000 
pound bomb dropped squarely into the AT&T building in downtown Bagdad by
a Stealth fighter, an Air Force commander disclosed today.

Col Alton C. Whitley, commanding the 37th Tactical Figher Wing, told reporters 
at the air base where Stealth 117A fighers are based that Thursday's attack 
had been a brilliant success. He credited new technology that enables 
aircraft to avoid radar detection and split-second timing in planning and 
executing the attack.

Whitley said F117As from two squadrons carried out some 30 sorties against 
80 Iraqi targets in the pre-dawn hours Thursday. The results of these attacks 
where shown to reporters in dramatic video footage recorded by sensors in the 
planes.

The American Telephone & Telegraph Co. building, near the Tigris River, was 
a target because of the communications it provided the Iraqi armed forces. 
In the video footage, the building comes into the cross-hair site centered 
on it's roof to control the flight of the laser guided bomb.

As the building passes beneath the fighter, still undetected by Iraqi 
defenses, the viewer sees a mighty blast hurling debris from all sides of 
the building.