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| Iraq |
| US stepping up airstrikes in Iraq |
| 2006-01-01 |
| 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. âThe 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,â 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. The intensification in the air war comes as Iraqi politicians struggle in the aftermath of last monthâs elections to put together a coalition government that will satisfy the disaffected Sunni minority, which ran Iraq under Saddam Hussein. âWe are insisting on a national unity government,â said Adel Abdel Mahdi, a leading member of the Shiâite United Iraqi Alliance, the likely election winner. The Sunni bloc, allied to the secular party of Iyad Allawi, the former prime minister, has been secretly discussing the terms of a possible political deal with insurgent groups. But those groupsâ leaders have a long list of demands, chief of which is a timetable for American withdrawal as well as the release of prisoners, an effective rehabilitation of Saddamâs former ruling Baâath party and the disbanding of Shiâite and Kurdish militias. Insurgent sources said that they are also including Al-Qaeda in Iraq in their talks as its involvement was vital if a deal was to work. President George W Bush promised in a pre-Chistmas speech that America will leave Iraq only when âvictoryâ has been achieved, but the term is being quietly redefined. Dov Zakheim, a senior Pentagon official during Bushâs first term in office, said: âThe goal is not democracy, it is a united Iraq that doesnât bother its neighbours. There is no law that says American troops have to be in the most hostile areas.â The shift to air power is part of that policy. Determined to reduce âcollateral damageâ, the American military is relying on laser or satellite-guided bombs that can strike rooms or buildings without killing large numbers of civilians. The bombs are also getting smaller: 500lb devices are becoming the norm, rather than those of 1,000lb or 2,000lb common in recent conflicts, and 3,000 new 7in 250lb devices are on order. Allen Peck, a US air force general, said that in some cases the 100lb Hellfire missile is used: âIt wonât knock down a house, but it can be effective in taking out a car.â In an example of the strategy, two US F16 fighters last week dropped two 500lb laser-guided bombs on three men planting roadside explosives in Kirkuk province, killing them and seven others. However, some experts insist that even the smallest, most precise bombs cannot replace boots on the ground. âItâs transitory. You hit it, even occupy it, but then the insurgents return when youâve gone, like Falluja last year,â said Wing Commander Andrew Brookes of the International Insititute for Strategic Studies. âEven a 400lb bomb has a wide area of blast and you are quite likely to kill some civilians. Kill a wife, children, mother or uncle and people become so angry the terrorist cycle starts all over again.â There is also concern that Iraqi forces could abuse US air power. In a recent issue of The New Yorker magazine, a senior Pentagon military planner wondered aloud to Seymour Hersh, the writer: âWill the Iraqis call in airstrikes in order to snuff rivals, other warlords or members of their own sect and blame somebody else? Will some Iraqis be targeting on behalf of Al-Qaeda, the insurgency or the Iranians?â The Americans insist, however, they will keep control of targeting by âembeddingâ more US troops in Iraqi police and army units. At the same time they are making no effort to build an Iraqi air force â a sign that they have no intention of ceding control of the skies to a new Iraqi government. If the use of planes proves effective, US troop levels should fall below 100,000 by next autumn in time for the American mid-term congressional elections. The US death toll in Iraq last year was 841 â just five short of the 2004 total. âThe biggest problem we have is that our strategy has to include winning the war at home,â said Zakheim. âWe have a different electoral timetable to the Iraqis.â |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #5 A little about the IISS and whothe considerto be friends: Alastair Buchan Lecture - Dr Mohamed ElBaradei On 6 December 2005 Dr Mohamed ElBaradei, the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has agreed to deliver the 2005 Alastair Buchan Memorial Lecture at the IISS in London. And here is their non-proliferation "expert" Mr. Fitzpatrick comes to IISS from a distinguished 26-year career in the U.S. Department of State, where for the last ten years he focused on nonproliferation issues ... in his last posting, he served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Nonproliferation, responsible for policies to address the proliferation problems posed by Iran, North Korea, Libya, Iraq, South Asia and other regions of concern. In other words a washed up former State official (and an abject failure given how the Norks cheated on his area of expertise). And here is their lead "expert" on US Defense: Dr Jean-Yves Haine was a Senior Research fellow at the European Union Institute for Security Studies and a fellow at the Government Department, Harvard University. He holds a law degree from the University of Louvain (Belgium) and a Ph.D. in Political Science from Sciences-Po. (France) Recent Publications include: 'The imperial moment', Cambridge Review of International Affairs, Vol. 16, n°3, Fall 2003, pp. 511-538; 'LâAlliance superflue ?', Esprit, Août-Septembre 2003, pp. 5-21; 'The EU Soft Power: Not Hard Enough?', Georgetown Journal of International Affairs, Winter 2003/ Spring 2004, Vol. V, n°1, pp. 69-77 ; Les Etats-Unis ont-ils besoin d'alliés ?, Paris: Payot, 2004, 397pp., which received the France-Amérique Prize 2004 Too bad Time, your bias is BUSTED! The IIS is just another closet Lefty group home for Eurotrash and washed up State Department and Ivy leaguers - with an impressive (but meaningless) non-left sounding title. |
| Posted by: Oldspook 2006-01-01 21:40 |
| #4 This is sophomoric drivel. Quoting a senior military planner who is questioning release authority of bombs shows he clearly has no understanding how it works. |
| Posted by: 49 Pan 2006-01-01 21:23 |
| #3 Dov Zakheim, a senior Pentagon official during Bushâs first term in office, said: âThe goal is not democracy, it is a united Iraq that doesnât bother its neighbours." So the writer chooses to quote someone who hasn't been part of the team for at least two years to make a truly obnoxious and unsubstantiated claim. And you'll notice that the gentleman being quoted has an Israeli name. What are they learning in journalism schools these days?!? |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2006-01-01 21:15 |
| #2 TimesOnline renewing its membership in the Chicken Little Quagmire Raving Moonbat Anti-Society... and the gullible who swallow without chewing pretty much anything that fits their worldview. Swill. |
| Posted by: Jitle Cluger8838 2006-01-01 15:30 |
| #1 âItâs transitory. You hit it, even occupy it, but then the insurgents return when youâve gone, like Falluja last year,â said Wing Commander Andrew Brookes of the International Insititute for Strategic Studies. âEven a 400lb bomb has a wide area of blast and you are quite likely to kill some civilians. Kill a wife, children, mother or uncle and people become so angry the terrorist cycle starts all over again.â |
| Posted by: visiter 2006-01-01 15:08 |