But, as things turned out, Boeing's warplane operations were set back only momentarily.
Besides ensuring that very few of the oil wells were set alight, allied warplanes and special forces also have been successful so far in preventing Iraq from launching Scud missiles at Israel, also a considerable undertaking and one that is a high priority given the United States desire to keep Israel out of the war.
At the same time, Canadian Special Forces operators are training Kurdish Peshmerga forces and those operations are set to increase as warplanes are withdrawn.
Plumes of smoke turned clear skies a somber gray after warplanes struck a fuel-storage tank at the refinery and fighters set a dozen tires on fire in a futile attempt to provide cover.
Before the convoy had traveled two miles, NATO officials said, it was set upon by an American Predator drone and a French warplane.
As the air wing commander, in charge of all 70 warplanes aboard this carrier, he alone could decide whether to heed a strict rule of anonymity set by the ship's commanding officer, for security reasons.
Mr. Sharon's pattern, first as a general and then as a politician, has been to set seemingly audacious goals, or to employ seemingly audacious tactics like the use of warplanes against Palestinian targets, and then, over time, to accustom even his sharpest critics to them.
Belgrade still shows the scars of attacks by United States warplanes in the bombing campaign during the Kosovo war in 1999, and where the American Embassy there was set on fire last year by demonstrators outraged over Kosovo's declaration of independence.
The work is set to an original score by Keaton Henson, which combines heavy strings and percussion with recordings of bells, sirens and warplanes.
Another two layers of fortifications were quickly breached and, as the sun set, the rebels reached Gaddafi's residence, climbing on the statue of a fist clutching a US warplane, a symbol of his defiance after an American bombing raid in 1986.
