A Great Fall
This wasn't the sweetest picture of Humpty, but the sunglasses leant something of Bono from U2, and somehow that seemed appropriate.
''Four years into the war that opened with 'shock and awe,' U.S. warplanes have again stepped up attacks in Iraq, dropping bombs at more than twice the rate of a year ago [237 bombs and missiles in the first four months of 2007, surpassing the 229 expended in all of 2006, according to Air Force figures.] (American Airstrikes in Iraq Rise Above '06 Total).''
By my reckoning, if this rate holds consistent, then we are dropping munitions at four times the rate of last year. Likewise, the rate seems to have quadrupled in Afghanistan, with 929 munition dropped thus far this year, versus 404 for all of 2005 (curiously, 2006 is omitted.)
''At the same time, the number of civilian Iraqi casualties from U.S. airstrikes appears to have risen sharply, according to Iraq Body Count, a London-based, anti-war research group that maintains a database compiling news media reports on Iraqi war deaths.''
That group bases their admittedly conservative death tally on news reports, counting those killed by Army helicopter fire as well as by warplanes, but it ''doesn't include deaths missed by the international media.''
''The U.S. military says it doesn't track civilian casualties.'' Why?
Wouldn't it seem appropriate for the Iraqi government or the U.S. government to transparently release these figures?
''Meanwhile Tuesday, a suicide car bomber struck a group of tribal chiefs who opposed al-Qaida, killing at least 18 in a market area near Fallujah.''
Yep, car bombers are bad news. But is an Iraqi civilian any less dead if killed by a U.S. munition versus an improvised explosive device in a car? Munition sure sounds tidier, but both go boom and kill people indiscriminately.
Further in line with COIN operations, do our pilots mix with the people to win their hearts and minds? Maybe only the ground troops need perform this function, while the fly boys blow them to hell. A one-two punch guaranteed to sow seeds of distrust among the alternately wooed/bombed populations.
They can only further rent his fragile shell.
Labels: Iraq bombing
posted by rangeragainstwar at 5:07 PM
4 Comments:
Infantry leaders are trained to call for immediate air support when confronted by strong resistance. Since the level of resistance seems to be rising, it's inevitable that there will be more bombs dropped, and since the troops aren't being attacked by gunfire ambush very often in open ground, civilian casualties have to be mushrooming.
The only reason to not count casualties is obvious.
The Army just moved the 3rd ID's 3rd Aviation Brigade, with about 48 Apaches and 44 Blackhawks (which can be tricked out as gunships) as the 5th Brigade in Fred Kagan's plan to rule the earth, so we can expect more civilian casualties.
What is the point of "counting coup" if you can't sing about it at the campfire?
one of the most vivid memories i have from viet nam was walking through the aftermath of an "arclight" strike. they had flown over nearly 20 B-52's on one of the knife ridge valleys just south of the DMZ and they had pounded the place into oblivion. there wasn't any intel to gather. nothing was there. about twelve hours into my walkabout i realized the thing that was bugging me the most. there weren't any bugs. no mosquitos, no flies, no crawlies. nothing. i was in a rain forest and there were no bugs. creepy. they are stepping up the air strikes because they have nothing else left. the military is on the verge of a meltdown like the one we had in the early 70's .
lurch,
I was an infantry platoon leader back in the stone age, and we did have aerial rocket artillery available to us.
However, if I remember my training correctly, the first thing you do on receiving fire is to determine if it is effective. If you can't move, it's effective. At which point, you start with your mortars and work up to the highest calibre of artillery available.
Then you maneuver. The problem is, we are describing classic infantry combat, which you clearly delineate in your letter.
I do not accept the legitimacy of even being in Iraq, let alone applying combat power to the citizens who object to our presence.
But hey, fuck 'em if they can't take a joke.
minstrel boy,
Excellent analysis. But please be advised: all the experts tell us that Iraq cannot be compared to Vietnam.
My guess is, we're saving the arc lights for Iran. I've often wondered what the cost per enemy dead was in an arc light strike.
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