] The cruisers and destroyers are armed with Tomahawk ] missiles, satellite-guided weapons which would be used in ] the early days of any war in Iraq to destroy key ] installations. ] ] ] Originally the US had planned to fire missiles from the ] eastern Mediterranean through Turkish airspace. ] ] ] However the Turkish parliament recently voted against the ] deployment of US troops on its soil, therefore the ships ] will instead pass through the Suez canal into the Red Sea ] and fire through Saudi Arabian airspace. |