A Bold & Brilliant Leadership Move

It is now being reported that Saddam has fired his air defense commander as the coalition forces have gained 95% control of the air over Iraq.

Of course this leads to two questions: why did it take so long for Saddam to realize that his air defenses weren't very effective and why don't we have total control of the air over Iraq? I mean who do we have to fire since we only control 95% of the skies? It's not like Saddam is sending up the entire Iraqi Air Force or even a single plane! There is no reason we can't have 100% control here.

Actually, I'm betting that the 95% figure is something that was made up. We, in all reality, do dominate 100% of the skies over Iraq. The only things keeping us from complete air domination are the occasional surface-to-air missile, not that they're very effective against us either. I've got a feeling that this reporter just felt a need to downplay just how successful we have been in the air.

So will this air defense general be considered successful if he gets us from 95% control to 94%? If not, maybe he can get air defense techiniques from the French. After all, they were pretty successful in protecting Paris from German bombs during their rolling surrender to kick off the main event in WWII. I think the French plan was to put both arms straight up to deflect and eventually stop the bombs. It worked for them, and I'm guessing it would work for Saddam too. He should try it.