Summer 2002, continued.          In June 2002, “Operation Southern Focus” begins, with U.S. aircraft dropping over 600 bombs on Iraqi air defenses up until the beginning of the invasion of Iraq in March 2003. While stating publicly that the US is enforcing the “no-fly” zone over southern Iraq, the sorties actually carry out offensive strikes against both civilian and military targets in Iraq, damaging or destroying Iraqi defenses well before the invasion. Reportedly the US flies more than 21,000 sorties over southern Iraq between June 2002 and the start of the invasion in March 2003, reinforced by British ...   more »