History
Al-Taji airfield, in the volatile Sunni Triangle, was originally an Iraqi Republican Guard base during the Saddam era. It was once a center for the manufacture of chemical weapons. UNSCOM found at Taji 6,000 empty canisters designed to be filled with chemical weapons for use in 122mm rockets.
According to the Gulf War Airpower Survey, there was a Sector Operations Center located at Al Taji. The airbase is served by a 5,500-foot-long (1,700 m) runway. Taji was also the largest tank maintenance facility in Iraq.
Taji was heavily bombed during Operation Desert Fox in which 13 different targets in the Camp were hit during the December 1998 air strikes.
The base came under American control following the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Read more about this topic: Camp Taji
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Certainly there is not the fight recorded in Concord history, at least, if in the history of America, that will bear a moments comparison with this, whether for the numbers engaged in it, or for the patriotism and heroism displayed.”
—Henry David Thoreau (18171862)
“It is the true office of history to represent the events themselves, together with the counsels, and to leave the observations and conclusions thereupon to the liberty and faculty of every mans judgement.”
—Francis Bacon (15611626)
“Jesus Christ belonged to the true race of the prophets. He saw with an open eye the mystery of the soul. Drawn by its severe harmony, ravished with its beauty, he lived in it, and had his being there. Alone in all history he estimated the greatness of man.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (18031882)