The stealth fighter/ bomber proved its worth in the gulf war, slipping through Iraqi radar and knocking out key communications sites. The plane works alone. But other, conventional planes sometimes fly at the same time, and to deliver their payload-often smart bombs. The angular surface deflects radar signals and enables the single-pilot aircraft to elude detection.

In its fourth decade of service, the Stratofortress is still a cornerstone of the United States’s air strike capability. It has been used to launch cruise missiles in the latest confrontation with Iraq. But the plane is best known for its massive 70,000-pound bomb load. Being near a B-52 bomb target can be a psychologically shaking experience.

Sliding quietly through the sky at altitudes too high to be seen or heard, a B-52 often begins its attack in silence. For many, a zooming whistle is the only warning a bombing raid has begun. The sound is followed only seconds later by the thunderous, ear-popping booms of shells hitting the earth. The huge number of bombs dropped creates large shock waves, made visible by the debris they kick up.

Those who are not killed usually suffer from heavy ear and nose bleeding, and are often left dizzy for days after the actual strike.

Nearly three dozen B-52s fought in the gulf war. Last Saturday, four of the planes were sent to nearby Diego Garcia.

1996 strikes against air bases

—Oil pipelines

While many still show gulf war scars, others sustained little damage and are fully operational. Baghdad central HQ has been rebuilt.

Without air supremacy, bridges road and rail-are crucial to Iraqi troop movements. All bridges hit in the war have been rebuilt.

Saddam’s lifeblood. In spite of an embargo, he smuggles out just enough oil to keep himself and his elite comfortable.

The coalition crippled Iraq in 1991 with major damage to its power grid. But the plants are cranking out the kilowatts again.

Since the end of the gull’ war, Saddam has been trying to rebuild his war machine, defying an arms embargo. Though he has managed some successes, the Iraqis are still far from prewar levels.

The allies failed to hit a single mobile Scud launcher in the gulf war. Saddam now has 10 Scuds with components for a few dozen more.

Nearly half of Iraq’s complement was wiped out in the gulf war. But most of Iraq’s best, the Republican Guard’s T-72s, or “Lions of Babylon,” left Kuwait before the allies arrived and are serviceable.

The air force, never near U.S. strength, was hammered in the war. It is estimated that the Iraqi Air Force is left with only 70 to 90 fighter planes, though at least 100 helicopters are still functional.

Though Saddam threatens to strike out at U.S. planes, and in fact fired on them last week, Iraq’s SAMs are obsolete and their radar is vulnerable to U.S. HARM missiles. But the SAM launchers are mobile and therefore hard to hit with airstrikes.

ARMORED TROOPS TANKS PERSONNEL ARTILLERY AIR- (ARMY) CARRIERS (OVER 100MM) CRAFT ————————————————————- Prewar 750,000 5,800 5,100 3,850 650 Gulf war losses 15,000 2,663 1,668 2,196 350 1993 400,000 2,200 2,500 1,650 300 Now 350,000 2,700 2,000 2,050 300

The city houses a network of deep leadership bunkers, the headquarters of Saddam’s intelligence and security services and Iraq’s two most important telecommunication facilities.

Still the regime’s backbone. There are seven divisions–two in the north, one in the south and the rest around Baghdad–but they are not the daunting force they were. Only half are thought to be ready for offensive action. ..MR0-