Looking idly at the front page of last Wednesday’s Washington Post Express as I rode the Metro to work, I received a shock. It showed a railroad station in Iraq, recently destroyed by an American air strike. So now we are bombing the railroad stations in a country we occupy? What comes next, bombing Iraq’s power plants and oil refineries? How about the Green Zone? If the Iraqi Parliament doesn’t pass the legislation we want it to, we can always lay a couple of JDAMs on it.
It turns out the bombed railroad station was no fluke. According to other reports, U.S. aircraft have dropped more than 200 bombs or missiles on Iraqi ground targets this year in support of U.S. ground forces at a rate double that of last year.
Nothing could testify more powerfully to the failure of U.S. efforts on the ground in Iraq than a ramp-up in airstrikes. Calling in air is the last, desperate, and usually futile action of an army that is losing. If anyone still wonders whether the “surge” is working, the increase in air strikes offers a definitive answer: It isn’t.
William Lind and I couldn’t be further apart, politically and culturally. But, most of the folks I get to have serious discussions with – about military history and strategy – are probably closer to his viewpoint than mine. At least, this side of Sun Tzu.
I think he’s got this part of the Iraq War right on the target.
This is what they call “the surge” it is where they surge money into the pockets of US corporations like Haliburton and others who are rebuilding the infrastructure in Iraq. Strangely though the infrastructure that they are building is permanent structures for the US troops and rebuilding little of the infrastructure that is meaningful to the Iraqis.
Well, I hesitate to ask “Why did the USAF bomb that target?” – – and – –
isn’t the USAF under the control/orders/plan of the Iraq Area Guy in Charge? ((Changing too fast for me to keep up–Petraus??))
But yes, absent more info, does seem like we are supposed to be BUILDING up the infrastructure, not BLOWING it up. I’m also sure the locals won’t thank us when we rebuild it but some spokesman will stand in front of the future target and say “Look what we are doing for them!”
Overuse of Airpower is a result of the United States’ fear of casualties. Hence, we’d rather do overkill and destroy a building from afar, rather than clean it out using age old infantry assault methods. Either stop complaining about casualties, or accept the sledge hammer approach to destroying insurgents.
#3, how about we just leave and let these people alone.
#4 damn straight. They should be left to kill as many of each other as they want.
Wait… are you sure???
Nothing else could say a failure to prove your point of view than posting the same, meaningless stories everyday.
Just because the left failed on this issue, despite Bush helping them at every turn, is no reason to get pissy.
“Calling in air is the last, desperate, and usually futile action of an army that is losing.”
Can’t agree with that…at all. If you want to say we failed then so be it, but air support doesn’t ‘prove’ that either way.
No question the people of Iraq have been betrayed by both the right and the left politicos of America. Tragically sad we’ve gone from being perceived as “freedom”… to loathed around the world. As much as I think W and Cheney are cretins, that they can’t be stopped by the Senate and House is why we do not deserve the respect of anyone. Our fat asses are busy shopping at Wall-Mart while the people of Iraq are dying.
And yes, James… we need to get the hell out now. There is nothing we can do to make the lives of these people better and I believe only a true moron doesn’t grasp this incursion has been a unnecessary fiasco from the beginning.
Calling in air support is the first thing to do. Only fools rush in to die.
Why bomb that target?
Is Milo Minderbinder still at work? Thought he’d be retired by now.
#3 & – – Your post misses the point of the article. We are losing the hearts and minds of the Iraqi’s as is demonstrated by calling in airstrikes 3 years after “major hostilities are over.” This is ALSO indicated by increasing numbers of “old infantry assault methods.” You see, increased violence is not an indication of Iraq becoming more peaceful.
#7–See above. In a vacuum, use of air (sic) does not indicate winning or losing, but “in context==in this case” it does.
This war has been all Bush Hubrus from beginning to end. And BushCo doesn’t care about the damage they have caused to GOUSA because they personally have no injuries of note. Old Rich men send young poor ones to war. Nothing changes much.
All these idiot soldiers are doing is bringing the war back home. This is EXACTLY why terrorism occurs. They are retaliating for the same crap that was done to them. Oh well… Support your baby killers! I mean troops.
Major Jizz
As a Viet era vet, may I invite you to enjoy a draft of anal wind?
No human is a natural killer except psychopaths and the military tries to screen those out as wackos really don’t care which direction they aim. Beyond this reality is the brutal truth that in a combat situation where either you or the other person is going out, self preservation and adrenaline are a powerful motivators. You might argue a pilot is immune to this kill or be killed mentality. Really? How would you like a SAM up your ass. Or an RPG?
Soldiers, sailors and pilots are you and me in a uniform.
FYI: W and Cheney never saw combat… there’s a clue why they perceived no problem starting a war.
You wonder what reason they would have to bomb a rail station when they know they’ll just have to re-build it bigger and better than before with US tax dollars. Unless they lose the war.
RBG
Kinda reminds me of Ke Sahn. The US dropped 5,000 lbs of bombs for every 1 NVA soldier. And let’s not forget how that war turned out.
#8 – Your worship is noted. I made no comment as to staying or leaving, though I have said in the past that leaving wouldn’t be a bad thing despite the fact that the logic behind “take the fight to the terrorists” has been proven correct.
The more interesting storyline is how Internet-based liberals keep flailing, not doing anything. Will they ever learn?
James…
‘despite the fact that the logic behind “take the fight to the terrorists” has been proven correct.’
You would do well to read “The Utility of Force” by Gen. Rupert Smith.
We need to get out of Iraq now, so that we can then follow the rest of Jimmy Carter’s advice. Next on the list, he says it’s criminal to not support Hamas in Gaza.
The increase in the number of buildings that we’re bombing is due to the changing techniques of the enemy that we’re fighting. Of course you could risk fighting out of a house and dying, but after seeing the houses there, you wouldn’t be that foolish. OR, you could fight out of a railway station, which is more fortified and serves a public function, so that when the Americans determine that they’re going to have to drop bombs, you get one final jab in when the building drops because all of the people who hear about the incident will get their panties in a wad about the US destroying infrastructure. Way to be an unwitting participant.
By the time it comes to dropping bombs, all other alternatives have been exhausted; and no terrorist, no piece of infrastructure is worth the life of an American sent in just so we can avoid an airstrike.
Guys – just pat l’il james on the head and leave him alone. He’s the one stuck with the neocon nutcases who have proved to the world their incompetence at everything from war to balancing the budget. In fact, just about everything they lied about before each election.
Sounds like he realizes how taken in he was. Which, after all, is better than the average American dunce. Nowadays, they just lie and say, “Golly gosh – I didn’t vote for him/them/it”.
In the days that followed the American invasion, it was Iraq’s own people who looted, trashed and stripped-out what seems to be all accessible buildings, especially public & gov’t-connected – pulling out air conditioners, furniture, window frames – even dialysis machines.
RBG