US forces step up Iraq airstrikes

[DoYouEverWonder]

January 01, 2006

AMERICAN forces are dramatically stepping up air attacks on insurgents in Iraq as they prepare to start the withdrawal of ground troops in the spring.

The number of airstrikes in 2005, running at a monthly average of 25 until August, surged to 120 in November and an expected 150 in December, according to official military figures.

The tempo looks set to increase this year as the Americans pull back from urban combat, leaving street fighting increasingly to Iraqi forces supported by US air power.

“The bottom line will be that as the Iraqi army and police gain in competence, they will be able to take on more and more of the territory,” said General Peter Pace, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, announcing a cut in troop numbers from 160,000 to fewer than 138,000 by March.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-1965182,00.html


Isn't it a war crime for an occupying power to bomb civilian populations on a daily basis?

[TheBaldyMan]

1. and aerial bombardment has worked so well in W. bank & Gaza

I won't take any pleasure in the years ahead saying 'I told you so'

this is and always has been a recipe to incite resentment if not outright hatred.

Bombs maybe described as 'smart' but they are still a half ton of explosive in a schrapnel wrapper.

[amandabeech]

5. It worked really well in the Vietnam War, too.

Let's bomb them back to the stone age!

Where's Gen. Curtis LeMay when you need him?

[Theduckno2]

2. Not to mention concerns over airstrikes aiding sectarian violence.

The street fighting may have serious sectarian overtones and it chills me to think that U.S. airpower could weigh in, in the Shite/Sunni fighting.

[allemand]

3. US forces step up Iraq airstrikes

Sarah Baxter, Washington, Ali Rifat, Baghdad and Peter Almond

AMERICAN forces are dramatically stepping up air attacks on insurgents in Iraq as they prepare to start the withdrawal of ground troops in the spring.

The number of airstrikes in 2005, running at a monthly average of 25 until August, surged to 120 in November and an expected 150 in December, according to official military figures.

The tempo looks set to increase this year as the Americans pull back from urban combat, leaving street fighting increasingly to Iraqi forces supported by US air power.

“The bottom line will be that as the Iraqi army and police gain in competence, they will be able to take on more and more of the territory,” said General Peter Pace, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, announcing a cut in troop numbers from 160,000 to fewer than 138,000 by March.

More:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-1965182,00.html

[oblivious]

4. So both 'victory' and 'democracy' have been "redefined" - Hilarious!

President George W Bush promised in a pre-Chistmas speech that America will leave Iraq only when “victory” has been achieved, but the term is being quietly redefined.

Dov Zakheim, a senior Pentagon official during Bush’s first term in office, said: “The goal is not democracy, it is a united Iraq that doesn’t bother its neighbours.