An Air Force F-16 pilot who is flying bombing runs to support U.S. Marines and Army troops fighting terrorists in Najaf tells us that fighting was fierce this week. The fighters were called in to drop precision-guided bombs, and helicopter gunships also took part. The terrorists and other anti-coalition elements "really are not winning," our pilot correspondent says. "Not even a little."
Bombing runs had to be sharply curtailed to avoid collateral damage, the pilot says. "That really pains me, as an F-16 pilot, — not because we don't get to mop up all of the action, but more importantly because that means that our 'boots on the ground' are too closely engaged to allow safe delivery of the stuff that we carry. Accuracy is our forte, but these [bombs] still go 'boom' when they hit. I mean, really BIG Boom." The pilot quoted one colonel on the ground as saying "The engagements in the cemetery were done on foot, encountering numerous fighters at a range when you can smell a man, and it's hand-to-hand combat."
Echoing the political debate under way here, the pilot took a slap at a certain Democratic presidential candidate who has been critical of President Bush's handling of Iraq. "The vast majority, maybe even all of us, are 100 percent behind our president's decision to free Iraq and go on the offensive against terrorists," he said. "Hunkered down in Massachusetts, waiting for the next terrorist strike, is no way to deal with Bad People. That's why we're here." The pilot said many in the military in Iraq are upset at the U.S. television networks for biased reporting. "The Third Reich's Disinformation Machine couldn't possibly have been as thorough as the broadcast 'news,' " he said. |