The Uncovered War: Air Power in Iraq (MSM silent)

[sabra]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/thenation/20061120/cm_thenation/15142240

The Uncovered War: Air Power in Iraq The Nation

The Nation -- In addition to our largely ignored permanent bases in Iraq, here's another mystery of Iraqi (and Afghani) media coverage: The essential American way of war -- air power -- has long been completely MIA, except at a few websites. Until last week, there had been not a single mainstream piece of any significance on the air war these last years, with the exception of journalist Seymour Hersh's remarkable December 2005 report, "Up in the Air," in the New Yorker. ("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 American airpower. Quick, deadly strikes by U.S. warplanes are seen as a way to improve dramatically the combat capability of even the weakest Iraqi combat units.") It is, of course, an irony that the only American reporter in these last years to look up and notice all those planes, helicopters, and Hellfire-missile-armed Predator drones overhead has never been to Iraq.

...

Not surprisingly, the use of air power in Iraq remains a non-issue in this country. How could Americans react, when there's no news to react to, when there's next to no information to be had--which doesn't mean that information on our ongoing air campaign is unavailable. In fact, the Air Force is proud as punch of the job it's doing; so any reporter, not to speak of any citizen, can go to the Air Force website and look at daily reports of air missions over both Iraq and Afghanistan. The report of November 15th, for instance, offers the following:


"In Iraq, U.S. Marine Corps F/A-18s conducted a strike against anti-Iraqi forces near Ramadi. The F/A-18s expended guided bomb unit-31s on enemy targets. Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcons provided close-air support to troops in contact with anti-Iraqi forces near Forward Operating Base McHenry and Baqubah. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagles provided close-air support to troops in contact with anti-Iraqi forces near Baghdad.

"In total, coalition aircraft flew 32 close air support missions for Operation Iraqi Freedom. These missions included support to coalition troops, infrastructure protection, reconstruction activities and operations to deter and disrupt terrorist activities."


This was a pretty typical day's work in recent months; there were 34 "close air support missions" on November 14th, 32 on the 13th, and 35 on the 12th--and note that each of the strikes mentioned was "near" a major city. These reports can be hard to parse, but they certainly give a sense, day by day, that the low-level air war in Iraq is no less ongoing for being unreported.

[twilight_sailing]

1. What kind of air power does the Iraqi Army have? None.

A couple of cargo planes.


No attack helicopters, no bombers, no fighters, no nothing.

How can they be an independent, sovereign nation without such things?

How can they be anything other than a puppet government as long as
we control the air in Iraq?

Are there any plans for the new Iraqi government to obtain any
air power? None I have ever heard of.

[Junkdrawer]

2. Hell, 655,000 Iraqis are dead and there's hardly a peep over that...

The Pentagon says "Don't cover that" and the Media says "Sir, yes sir".

This is the most stage managed war since the invention of radio.

[Brotherjohn]

4. I guess they all died by rifle, handgun and "terra-ist" attacks. (nt)

[Brotherjohn]

3. MSM ran a story the other day on comparisons to Viet Nam... said there was NO air war!

They were pretending to give both sides of the story as to whether there were similarities to viet nam (on the eve of bush going there).

They actually pointed out, as one of the big differences, that there is "NO" air war in Iraq.

If by that they mean we're not having dogfights with enemy pilots, then maybe they're right. But neither were we (much) in Viet Nam. It was mostly our pilots flying over their territory, bombing the hell out of them with little resistance.

To me, that sounds a lot like what's going on now.

BTW, Bush (in the same story, I think) was quoted as saying that one of the lessons we learned in Viet Nam was that we need to "not give up" and "stay the course" (not those words, anymore, of course)... basically saying we need to bide our time and be patient.

THAT was a lesson from Viet Nam?!?! WTF!?!?

[thingfisher]

5. See John McCain for clarification!