Back in Iraq: "U.S. warplanes dropped 40,000 pounds of bombs on Thursday "

[leftchick]

No photos at all of this on Yahoo. Nothing on TV. It is a good time for the US occupiers to get away with this I guess....

:(

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. warplanes dropped 40,000 pounds of bombs on Thursday in a sudden and massive strike on more than 40 al Qaeda targets clustered in date palm groves on Baghdad's southern outskirts, the military said.

The U.S. Air Force sent two B-1 bombers and four F-16 fighter jets, aiming at three large target areas in Arab Jabour, a lush area just south of the capital that has become a haven for fighters driven out of other areas.

<snip>

It followed the death of six American soldiers on Wednesday by an explosion in a booby-trapped house in northern Diyala province. Three other soldiers were killed on Tuesday in Salahuddin province.

"Thirty-eight bombs were dropped within the first 10 minutes, with a total tonnage of 40,000 pounds," the military said in a statement. "Each bomber passed over twice and the F-16s followed to complete the set."

A spokeswoman for U.S. forces in central Iraq, Major Allayne Conway, said it was too soon to say how many people had been killed in the airstrikes, but a damage assessment was under way.

Airstrikes on such a large scale have been rare in Iraq, especially over the past few months when the intensity of military action tapered off as overall violence declined.

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSL1069138220080110

[rurallib]

1. just heard that on NPR

Surely things were checked out so no civilians were killeed.
What a shame.

[unhappycamper]

2. I guess they're calling this "Arc Light, Phase II". n/t

[shadowknows69]

3. They ordered the carpet bombing of North Vietnam?

Oh, wait. Wrong war. Or is it?

[zanne]

4. Do you remember the false body counts?

I don't know if you're old enough to actually remember the war in Vietnam, but with the "success" of the surge, I'm reminded of the false body counts during the infamous Vietnam war. Isn't it interesting how things start going better in Iraq during an election season?

[shadowknows69]

7. It's easy to make the "surge" work if you're committing near genocide

I was quite young in the tail end of Vietnam, born in 69. Some of my earliest memories are of my grandmother trying to explain it to a 5 year old. I made a point to learn as much as I could about it. It was still my generation's war to a certain extent. We got to grow up in the aftermath.

[droidamus2]

8. yeah I remember

It always seemed like we were getting reports like 5000 VietCong attacked 500 American soldiers. There were 3500 casualties on the Vietcong side and 25 deaths and 55 injuries on the American side.
Okay I am exaggerating but it was almost that bad.

[zanne]

11. I think we have to put Iraq on the editorial pages again.

When did Iraq stop being important? If we want to win the general election, I think we have to start questioning the official reports and reminding the nation that the war is still a miserable failure and that fellow human beings are being blown to bits every day with our tax dollars.

[unhappycamper]

9. They both were/are. n/t

[mac2]

5. War profiteering and destruction

is being allowed by our Congress. They gave Bush a blank check and power of war. It is their duty under the Constitution which they have abandoned.

Change and impeachment is what we've demanded but don't get.

[Mira]

6. War is Terrorism with a bigger budget - that's how the surge is "working"

[madokie]

10. War is Terrorism with a bigger budget

War is a failure of diplomacy

[conspirator]

15. There wasn't diplomacy with Iraq. It was:"give us your oil or else" nt

[madokie]

16. thats the way bush/cheney do bidness, huh

over there now demanding the Palestinians or the Israelis do this or do that, there is no diplomacy in demand, none whatsoever

[leftchick]

12. and genocide

:cry:

[conspirator]

13. Killing some more children as a revenge nt

[kentuck]

14. This can only help...

Yeah, right!