4 years into the occupation of Iraq and civilian deaths are rising from 'stepped-up' U.S. airstrikes

[bigtree]

. . . hearts and minds.


U.S. airpower dropping bombs on Iraq at twice last year's rate

6th June 2007

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.

In the first 4½ months of 2007, American aircraft dropped 237 bombs and missiles in support of ground forces in Iraq, already surpassing the 229 expended in all of 2006, according to U.S. Air Force figures obtained by The Associated Press.

"Air operations over Iraq have ratcheted up significantly, in the number of sorties, the number of hours (in the air)," said Col. Joe Guastella, Air Force operations chief for the region.

"It has a lot to do with increased pressure on the enemy by MNC-I" - the Multinational Corps-Iraq - "combined with more carriers."

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.

The rate of such reported civilian deaths appeared to climb steadily through 2006, the group reports, averaging just a few a month in early 2006, hitting some 40 a month by year's end, and averaging more than 50 a month so far this year.

Those are maximum tolls based on news reports, and they count those killed by Army helicopter fire as well as by warplanes, Iraq Body Count's John Sloboda said.

The count is regarded as conservative, since it doesn't include deaths missed by the international media.

report: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=460326&in_page_id=1811&ito=newsnow

[Dhalgren]

1. Over at "Informed Comment", Juan says that it is a war crime,

according to the Geneva Conventions, for an occupying power to bomb a city it is occupying. Not that it makes any difference...

www.juancole.com

[hobbit709]

3. Just one more in a long list

of war crimes. I've lost count of all the infractions of the Geneva Conventions by shrub and cohorts. The list of items in the Accords that HAVEN'T been broken is probably shorter.

[bdamomma]

2. and 4.2 million Iraqis have been displaced.

this must stop, and the worst humanitarian crisis.

[bigtree]

4. kick