Update: Escalating the Air War in Iraq
07.15.07 - 10:34am
More civilian deaths as US steps up the bombing, commanders “like what they see”
Days after I posted here regarding the dangers of the US escalating the air war in Iraq, Forbes has, with drooling enthusiasm, revealed a massive build up in aerial power.
According to the story on Forbes.com, squadrons of attack planes have been added, the US air reconnaissance arm has almost doubled since last year and the B1-B bomber has been put back into action, with bombing rates so far this year four times that of the same period in 2006.
In a quite shocking display of the different priorities involved, the story says: “The escalation worries some about an increase in ‘collateral damage’, casualties among Iraqi civilians. Air Force generals worry about wear and tear on aging aircraft. But ground commanders clearly like what they see.”
The story quotes the controversial Iraq Body Count group as reporting a spike in civilian deaths but adds that the US Air Force do not keep such records. Iraq Body Count has often stated that its own figures, due to the methodology used in taking only deaths reported in the media, underplay the number of civilian casualties, indicating that the increase in civilian deaths is much greater than so far identified.
I often wonder what the history books will put down for the number of Iraqis killed in this American aggression.
Well in Vietnam the military continually released kill figures for all the commies it had offed, until the number got too high. Then, of course, it emerged that anyone the military killed was immediately classed as a communist fighter. I strongly suspect a lot of these ‘insurgents’ being killed in raids and airstrikes will be found to be just Iraqi people who got in the way. The number is going to go up and up.