[Peace-discuss] The Air War in Iraq

[jencart at mailstation.com]

WE know what we mean bec we know what's really going on over there.  I'd say signs, etc should be more specific so EVERYONE knows what we mean. 

-----Original Message-----
>From: "C. G. Estabrook" <galliher at uiuc.edu>
>Sent: Jan 3, 2006 11:45 PM
>To: jencart at mailstation.com, David Green <davegreen84 at yahoo.com>
>Cc: Peace-Discuss-Lists <peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net>
>Subject: Re: [Peace-discuss] The Air War in Iraq
>
>When we say, "Bring the troops home now," it should be clear
>that we mean air forces as well as ground troops. "Out now"
>means all American forces and interests -- military,
>mercenary, corporate, and proxy.  --CGE
>
>---- Original message ----
>>Date: Tue, 3 Jan 2006 18:04:11 -0600 (GMT-06:00)
>>From: jencart at mailstation.com  
>>Subject: Re: [Peace-discuss] The Air War in Iraq  
>>To: David Green <davegreen84 at yahoo.com>
>>Cc: Peace-Discuss-Lists <peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net>
>>
>>Yes, and predicted to get worse as troops are brought home. 
>We know that the current US admin has NO intention of ending
>the war or leaving Iraq.  "Bring the troops home now" is
>becoming code for replacing the unwinnable ground war -- that
>at least looks like a war, keeps the public aware and worried
>and has the "advantage" of killing fewer Iraqi civilians -- w/
>air strikes that will take fewer American lives, be ignorable
>and ignored and will -- indiscriminately -- kill far more
>Iraqi civilians...  Does anyone actually think otherwise??  
>>
>>Are there enough of us to elect politicians who can and will
>change US policy for the better?  
>>
>>Jenifer   
>>
>>-----Original Message-----
>>>From: David Green <davegreen84 at yahoo.com>
>>>Sent: Jan 3, 2006 5:37 PM
>>>To: Peace Discuss <peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net>
>>>Subject: [Peace-discuss] The Air War in Iraq
>>>
>>>A submission to the Chicago Tribune:
>>>
>>>Date: Tue, 3 Jan 2006 03:35:36 EST
>>>
>>>From: Annette Jacobson 
>>>
>>>To: ctc-COMMENT at tribune.com 
>>>
>>>Sent: Wednesday, December 28, 2005 10:58 PM
>>>
>>>Subject: Air War in Iraq
>>>
>>>Op-Ed Page, The Chicago Tribune                       
>>>                       
>>>                         December 29, 2005
>>>
>>>
>>>Dear Editor,
>>>
>>>A small news headline, "US Air Strikes Take Toll on
>>>Civilians" 
>>>[Washington 
>>>Post, 12/25/05] reveals that there is an ongoing air
>>>war in Iraq, and 
>>>it is 
>>>largely being waged without publicity or major media
>>>reporting, except 
>>>in 
>>>scattered and short military announcements, and rarely
>>>taking civilian 
>>>casualties into 
>>>account. Air strikes by the US military in Iraq have
>>>surged this fall, 
>>>jumping to nearly five times the average monthly rate
>>>earlier in the 
>>>year, according 
>>>to US military figures. The Post report is a major
>>>exception in news 
>>>reporting about it:
>>>
>>>"US Marine air strikes targeting insurgents sheltering
>>>in Iraqi 
>>>residential 
>>>neighborhoods are killing civilians as well as
>>>guerrillas...according 
>>>to Iraqi 
>>>townspeople and officials and the US military. Just
>>>how many civilians 
>>>have 
>>>been killed is strongly disputed by the Marines, and
>>>some critics say 
>>>too little 
>>>investigated. But townspeople, tribal leaders, medical
>>>workers and 
>>>witnesses 
>>>at the sites of clashes, at hospitals and graveyards
>>>indicated that 
>>>scores of 
>>>noncombatants were killed last month in fighting,
>>>including air 
>>>strikes, in 
>>>the opening stages of a 17-day US-Iraqi offensive in
>>>Anbar 
>>>province...Medical 
>>>workers had recorded 97 civilians killed. At least 38
>>>insurgents were 
>>>also 
>>>killed in the offensive's early days."
>>>
>>>Though it receives little coverage in the US media,
>>>the Air Force, 
>>>Marines, 
>>>and Navy have flown thousands of missions in support
>>>of ground 
>>>offensives in 
>>>Iraq. Independent Canadian journalist Dahr Jamail in a
>>>published 
>>>article in 
>>>mid-December quoted figures provided by Central
>>>Command Air Force's 
>>>public affairs 
>>>office showing that the number of air missions
>>>including air support 
>>>grew 
>>>from 1,111 - in September 2005 alone - to 1,492 in
>>>November. News 
>>>reports focus 
>>>on mainly ground action, but the whole panoply of US
>>>and Coalition 
>>>aircraft 
>>>carry out attacks daily, including front line Air
>>>Force and Navy 
>>>fighters, as 
>>>well as Marine attack planes and unmanned Predator
>>>aircraft armed with 
>>>Hellfire 
>>>missiles.
>>>
>>>The Air Force claims that 70 percent of all munitions
>>>they use are 
>>>"precision-guided" and that "every possible precaution
>>>is taken to 
>>>protect innocent 
>>>Iraqi civilians, facilities and infrastructure." This
>>>benign 
>>>pronouncement by the 
>>>people-friendly Pentagon fails to describe a
>>>distinction between how 
>>>much 
>>>protection precision-guided bombs provide and the
>>>actual devastation on 
>>>the ground 
>>>they cause.
>>>
>>>Bombs used range in explosive power from 250 to 2000
>>>pounds; they were 
>>>used 
>>>extensively during the massive operation recently in
>>>Fallujah, and now 
>>>in towns 
>>>and cities in western Anbar province and the Euphrates
>>>river valley. 
>>>Also 
>>>used in Fallujah was the 500 pound fire bomb
>>>(equivalent of Napalm), 
>>>also the 
>>>infamous White Phosphorous (recently disclosed on
>>>Italian television 
>>>and 
>>>subsequently admitted to by the US)
>>>
>>>- 2 -
>>>
>>>As reported by Dahr Jamail, the 2000 pound variety has
>>>the capacity to 
>>>blast 
>>>a crater in a concrete street 70 feet in diameter and
>>>30 feet deep, has 
>>>a 
>>>blast radius of 110 feet within which a human being
>>>will die, while 
>>>fragmentation 
>>>from the bomb casing can achieve velocities up to 9000
>>>feet a second 
>>>and reach 
>>>areas over 3000 feet away from the detonation site.
>>>
>>>
>>>Since the bombing runs are regularly conducted in
>>>densely-inhabited 
>>>areas of 
>>>cities and towns 
>>>
>>>where much of the resistance is located, it is obvious
>>>that scores of 
>>>people 
>>>within the range of detonation will be killed or
>>>severely injured. Thus 
>>>the 
>>>cynical public relations caveat of "precision-guided"
>>>is empty of 
>>>meaning with 
>>>respect to civilian casualties 
>>>
>>>Soon it will be three years since the start of the
>>>American-led 
>>>invasion of 
>>>Iraq. The estimates of Iraqi civilians killed range
>>>from 30,000 to 
>>>118,000, the 
>>>numbers of injured in hospital wards and neighborhoods
>>>are two to three 
>>>times 
>>>those numbers.
>>>
>>>The recent talk in Washington is about withdrawing
>>>some troops from 
>>>Iraq, and 
>>>because there is very little reporting about the air
>>>war, the public is 
>>>led 
>>>to assume that a reduction of American troop levels
>>>will mean a drop in 
>>>the 
>>>carnage carried out by the US. 
>>>
>>>But in the in-depth report by Seymour Hersh in the New
>>>Yorker he 
>>>states: "A 
>>>key element of the drawdown plans, not mentioned in
>>>the president's 
>>>public 
>>>statements, is that the departing American troops will
>>>be replaced by 
>>>[increased] 
>>>American air power." One is left to wonder how much
>>>more devastation 
>>>can be 
>>>sustained by the Iraqi people more than that already
>>>caused by the 
>>>current 
>>>levels of American air power dropped specifically on
>>>densely populated 
>>>urban areas 
>>>of that country?
>>>
>>>And, as Hersh states, "As yet, neither Congress nor
>>>the public has 
>>>engaged in 
>>>a significant discussion or debate about the air war."
>>>And one reason 
>>>for 
>>>that (among others) is that the major US news media
>>>are not widely 
>>>reporting on 
>>>the extent of the urban bombardment, nor the resulting
>>>slaughter and 
>>>horrendous 
>>>consequences for the people who suffer under it.
>>>
>>>Annette Jacobson
>>>Highland Park, Il.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>		
>>>__________________________________________ 
>>>Yahoo! DSL ? Something to write home about. 
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>>>
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>>
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