DHL resumes cargo flights to Iraq

[Papa]

DHL resumes cargo flights to Iraq
From correspondents in Baghdad
December 3, 2003

THE German-owned international courier DHL has resumed flights to Iraq just over a week after one of its planes was hit by a surface-to-air missile but is temporarily using an airport north of Baghdad, a US-led coalition spokesman said today.

"DHL has resumed its flights to Iraq but its planes are now landing in Balad. In the next few days they will fly again into Baghdad," he said.

Balad, which was the scene of massive US army raids last June, lies in the infamous Sunni triangle, known for its staunch support for deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and a mere 30 kilometres south of the hotspot city of Samarra where scores of Iraqis, among them civilians, were reported killed by US forces Sunday.

A DHL Airbus A-300 freighter was forced to make an emergency landing at Baghdad airport after being struck by a portable shoulder-fired SA-14 missile in the first successful hit of the seven-month-old anti-US insurgency here. Miraculously there were no casualties.


...more
http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,8056198%255E1702,00.html

[Robb]

1. In some language, DHL must be an acronym

...for "balls of steel".

Godspeed, DHL pilots.

[realFedUp]

2. Carrying turkeys?

or is that just Air Force One's job?

[trof]

3. As a former "trash hauler"

(cargo pilot) I've GOT to wonder what they are paying these guys.

[Kelvin Mace]

4. Hey, they're civillians

and don't count against the military body count if they die. For Bush, this is a win-win scenario.

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