Advanced Russian fighters found in the sand in Iraq-Truth!

Advanced Russian Fighter Found in the Sand in Iraq-Truth! & Fiction!

Summary of eRumor:
Several Iraqi fighter jets are said to have been found buried in the desert in Iraq including a Russian MiG-25 “Foxbat.”  The eRumor says the find was significant to the U.S. because of the sophisticated systems aboard the planes.
 
The Truth:
Canadian journalist Terry Reith has looked into this story into detail.  He said that although it is true that the jet fighter was found, some of the information included in the eRumor is inaccurate.
Reith found that the pictures in this forwarded email were taken on July 6, 2003, by Sgt. Master T. Collins of the United States Air Force.
The airplane in the pictures is a Mig 25, nicknamed The Foxbat.  Reith said that it is one of two dozen that were sent to Iraq in 1979 by the Soviets.  The Mig 25 did not perform well, however, in either the Iran-Iraq war or the gulf war in 1991.  It was no match for British and U.S. in the Gulf War planes so Sadaam Hussein did not use the planes very much after two of them were quickly shot down.  Reith said that by the time U.S. and coalition troops invaded Iraq in 2003 the jets were not in action.  They had been hidden by burying them in desert sand.
Contrary to the claims of the forwarded email, these were not “buried treasure” equipped with “sophisticated electronic warfare devices.”  Reith reported that they were remnants of the cold war and more than 30-years old.  In other words, nothing that had not been seen by the U.S. before.
Updated 2/13/08