how advanced are sadam's weapons?

[vinphetamin]

I mean could they hit British soil?

[lisaj]

No. Saddam Hussein does not have the delivery mechanisms to directly attack any western nation other than Turkey. Israel is his favourite target it would seem. Finally, he could give terrorists weapons and logistical/financial support - acting as the delivery mechanism, they could load a nuke onto a container ship, and sail it right into London (or New York), before detonating it just offshore.

[lisaj]

Ooh, forgot to say: Not to mention the fact that directly attacking any western soil would result in his instant demise. There could be no alternative for the victim (and their allies?), but to annihilate his regime in response.

[BenDToy]

Sorry but the answer is actually yes. There are British naval bases on Cyprus which are technically British soil, and his weapons could hit them from Iraq. I seem to remember there are other similar places but I'm not sure which. (Malta?)

[rekstout]

According to publically available information, the longest range weapon Mr Hussain has in his arsenal (ignoring aircraft) would be able to hit Cyprus where there are indeed four Sovereign Base Areas. The problem is that the accuracy of these weapons over that distance is so poor that a single targeted weapon would have as little as ten percent chance of hitting its target (plus or minus a mile is not an unreasonable accuracy measure) - and that's ignoring Rapier and Patriot SAM systems in place for missile defense. If they did hit it would be more luck than judgement. There are other bases with British or NATO troops but they are guests of a foreign nation and as such as not British soil (Incirlik in Turkey, Bases in Saudi, Oman, Kuwait - the list is endless)

[lisaj]

I stand corrected: of course those bases are British soil.