U.S. jets drop (9) 500 lb bombs in Iraq operation

[leftchick]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/iraq_dc;_ylt=Ao.cBnrQCqzpWfGwicDkPlmaK8MA;_ylu=X3oDMTA5bGVna3NhBHNlYwNzc3JlbA--

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. F-16 fighter planes dropped a series of 500 lb (220 kg) bombs on insurgent targets in western Iraq overnight as the U.S. military launched a heavy offensive against rebels near the Syrian border.

Nine of the powerful bombs were dropped, the U.S. military said, two of them targeting suspected rebel safe houses near the town of Qaim, an insurgent stronghold on the Euphrates river about 20 km (12 miles) east of Iraq's border with Syria.

Four more were aimed at rebels as they fired mortars and assault rifles at U.S. ground forces near Qaim, and a further three were used to hit suspected weapons caches in the area.

The air power was in support of Operation Spear, the third major offensive U.S. forces have launched in western Iraq in the past six weeks with the aim of crushing insurgent activity in the Euphrates valley which stretches northwest to Syria.

[bushisanidiot]

1. This is what the Iraqi people want?

they want us to completely DESTROY their country?

sorry, i'm not buying it.. this is turning into Nazi Bush's Operation Genocide.

[chelsea0011]

2. And the civilians all left just before the bombing. Right?

It's amazing all the insurgents that get killed and not civilians. What a war.

[meganmonkey]

3. There's no such thing as 'civilians'

They're just 'collateral damage'

:cry:

[thebigidea]

12. CNN actually claimed that a city of 60,000 was taken over by them

uh huh. And how do they tell? Do they have INSURGENT printed across their foreheads in large, brightly-colored letters?

[getmeouttahere]

16. And how do we take them over.....

from 30,000 feet...we sure as hell don't have the ground troop capability

[tabasco]

23. Exactly right. You don't win an infantry war with bombs.

It is sad and tragic that our military is dropping bombs to kill guerilla fighters. The bombs only create more hatred for the US and place our soldiers in even greater danger. Bombs kill a lot of innocent people and for every innocent killed, the resistance gains new recruits.

If someone dropped a bomb on my town and killed one of my family or friends, I would dedicate my life to extracting revenge.

[TomInTib]

32. You can't bomb a guy who has a shovel

When I was in Qua Viet (northern S Vietnam) we would cover areas carpet-bombed by 52s. The devastation was total and the VC would be using the craters as COVER, for God's sake. I still, to this day, marvel at the resilience of people to arial attack.

[leftchick]

33. Welcome to DU Tom

:toast:


It is indeed sad to see History repeating in Iraq. :(

[Warren Stupidity]

4. We need to send our criminal leaders to the hague for trial.

I don't know how we are going to do that, I don't know what it is going to take or what the cost will be, but it is going to have to be done.

[Warren Stupidity]

13. US announces operation White Fish

The US Military Command announced Operation White Fish. "We are going to safely f*ck the people of Iraq from now on." said Col. ButtNutz. "The air campaign will allow US forces to keep their bigass SUVs and HumVees safely inside the prophylactic shelter of the green zone while penetrating deep inside the fertile triangle of Iraq that is squirming with insurgency."

More to come.

[Spiffarino]

25. Har!

Good one...that would make a great radio bit.
:D:thumbsup:

[UpInArms]

5. Major offensive?

http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/05/01/sprj.irq.bush.speech/index.html





excerpt:

Bush, addressing the nation not from the White House but from the dramatic setting of the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, announced: "Major combat operations in Iraq have ended." (Transcript)

Standing on the giant flight deck, with a banner reading "Mission Accomplished" overhead on the bridge, the commander-in-chief saluted the men and women of the U.S. military.

"Because of you, our nation is more secure. Because of you, the tyrant has fallen, and Iraq is free," was his message. "America is grateful for a job well done."

...more...

[Sub Atomic]

6. But * said that major combat operations were over.

Did he lie to us?

:sarcasm:

[dbt]

7. When do the B-52s arrive?

Might just as well Carpet Bomb while we're so busy trying to do that Viet Nam thing all over again. Jesus Harold Christ!

[cthrumatrix]

8. good thing "things are winding down"...roses should be all over

our soldiers any day -- according to Cheney

[asjr]

9. The country of Iraq just may be obliterated by

the time Shrub is through with it.

[getmeouttahere]

11. I think the people of Fallujah....

would agree with that assessment

[maddezmom]

10. What happened to Operation White Sheild?

Is this another one or did they rename it? There have been so many Operations and things are still one big clusterfuc*.

[getmeouttahere]

15. Has to be "white" shield, doesn't it?

This goes right to the heart of a line I once heard from George Carlin "we love to bomb other countries, especially if your country has a lot of brown people"

[Dhalgren]

18. I believe "White Shield" is happening south of Baghdad...

[Village Idiot]

17. Operation "White Flag" is the one I most want to see...

Bring the troops home NOW. Bring them home ALIVE.

[Warren Stupidity]

21. hows about operation 'white behind"?

As in 'here you take over now, we'll be white behind you, over there by the helicopters in the green zone with all of our stuff on them'.

[leftofthedial]

14. gotta burn up as much ordinance as possible

before impeachment puts the brakes on the gravy train

[Benhurst]

19. The Iraqi people, to say nothing of some people on DU, just don't

understand.

We only bomb them because we LOVE them.

Bomb Love is our way of bringing democracy and freedom to little people all over the world.

[Warren Stupidity]

20. edit: little people => "little brown people"

or the occasional slavic person, but mostly little brown people.

[readmylips]

22. Well, the foking nuts dropped 4 /500 lb bombs on Yuma, AZ....

for Cryst sake....holly chit. Maybe they wanted to get rid of the dark Mexicans of Yuma. They could have wiped Yuma off the map. This chit is getting dangerous.

This week, famous Sheriff Alpaio will have his civilian posse flying helicopters over our properties, looking for people who do not clean their swimming pools. Glad my pool is clear and not of that pebble-tech that makes the pool look as dark as an alligator pit. All we need is one of those helicopters to mal-function and fall on an innocent family, killing a few kids. Every day we look more and more like hitler-ism.

[4_TN_TITANS]

24. SUSPECTED targets???

They're just shooting in the dark now - everything is a suspected safe house, suspected weapons cache.... Whatever happened to confirming what you're target is?

[David__77]

How many children were killed by the United States today?

This is a question we should all be asking ourselves.

[Whoa_Nelly]

27. It's the same question I ask each time, too, David_77

How many innocents were wounded, maimed or killed? How many people are grieving, trying to find their family members, trying to find their homes, their lives? :cry: :mad: :cry:

From now on, let's have the people of Iraq included in voicing their opinions in the Bush performance polls.

I highly doubt any of the Iraqi people have even heard of one of the most evil people on the face of this earth, Karl Rove.

[Enraged_Ape]

31. That was my first thought, too.

I'm willing to guess that more than a few little babies, toddlers, and young children had their limbs or heads blown off with these bombs. Any lurking "culture of lifers" out there who will defend this? :puke:

[bread_and_roses]

41. My first thought too. (n/t)

[sattahipdeep]

48. Depleted Uranium

http://bellaciao.org/en/article.php3?id_article=6232

Depleted uranium is a very, very, very effective biological
weapon. This is the primary purpose for using it. Marion Falk
(a retired chemical physicist who built nuclear bombs for more
than 20 years at Lawrence Livermore lab), who is the
Manhattan Project scientist I work with, taught me pretty
much everything about radiation and particles and DU. He
said the purpose of weapons used by the military is not only
to injure and kill the enemy soldiers, but the purpose is to kill,
maim, and disease the civilian population because it reduces
the productivity of a country and pretty soon a lot of their
resources are going to be used for taking care of sick people.
They will have fewer and fewer healthy workers.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=1532911&mesg_id=1532911

[leftchick]

49. One 10 year old boy though the US is fuzzy on the specifics...

and it is "unfortunate". fuckers! :banghead:

~snip~
It also said a child was killed during an "escalation of force" incident between a vehicle and an Army foot patrol in western Baghdad at about 9 p.m. Thursday. Iraqi police Sgt. Najim Abdullah the victim was a 10-year-old boy.

"We are aggressively investigating this unfortunate incident," said Sgt. 1st Class David Abrams, a spokesman for Task Force Baghdad. He could not confirm if there was an exchange of gunfire.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/iraq;_ylt=ApmdlFj9l3JJymBX4Kelcohn.3QA;_ylu=X3oDMTA4NTMzazIyBHNlYwMxNjk2

[malachi]

26. Seriously bad Karma. We, collectively, as nation are going to pay

a heavy price for these criminal acts committed by the fuckin' chimp and his band of shit heads.

[donkeyotay]

28. Operation Futility

Problem:
Some Iraqis hate us: They are called insurgents.
Some Iraqis just desperately want to get on with their lives: They are called collateral damage.
(Curiously, there are no citizens in democratic Iraq)

Solution: Drop big, really smart bombs that kill insurgents, but also convert collateral damage into insurgents.

So to win, you must kill insurgents at a rate faster than you create them. Clear-thinking pentagon planners will be working on this.

I still can't help but think this is a success from the neoCon junta's point of view. They got what they wanted: the forward bases, the contracts, the oil, total control domestically. If the transition to democracy had gone well, if the occupation had been short, none of these achievements would have been possible, so all of this "failure" was necessary.

[Whoa_Nelly]

29. "... air strikes killed about 40 rebels near there on June 11."

(Subject line from the article)

Wait a minute! I know I read an article, (which was ni doubt NOT MSM), stating that those air strikes killed many children and other innocents. If I recall correctly, the people in those neighborhoods that were bombed we very angry; Their homes, lives and families had been decimated without warning.

[Frederik]

43. I remember it too

It was like Falluja on a slightly smaller scale. Death and destruction all around.

[PurityOfEssence]

30. Suspected? How big a bomb do you drop when you KNOW they're there?

So, a "suspected" safe house gets clobbered with a 500 lb. bomb. What do you use on a house that you just sorta think might be one? A 250? What if you REALLY KNOW the baddies are there? Do you nuke 'em?

Lest we forget, this is right near Syria, too, the next revenge target.

[janx]

40. That's what bothers me the most.

It's right on the border.

[sattahipdeep]

47. It is also believed to be the main hideout of Abu Musab al Zarqawi nt

[janx]

34. U.S. jets drop 500 lb bombs in Iraq operation ("Operation Spear")

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. F-16 fighter planes dropped a series of 500 lb (220 kg) bombs on insurgent targets in western Iraq overnight as the U.S. military launched a heavy offensive against rebels near the Syrian border.

Nine of the powerful bombs were dropped, the U.S. military said, two of them targeting suspected rebel safe houses near the town of Qaim, an insurgent stronghold on the Euphrates river about 20 km (12 miles) east of Iraq's border with Syria.

Four more were aimed at rebels as they fired mortars and assault rifles at U.S. ground forces near Qaim, and a further three were used to hit suspected weapons caches in the area.

The air power was in support of Operation Spear, the third major offensive U.S. forces have launched in western Iraq in the past six weeks with the aim of crushing insurgent activity in the Euphrates valley which stretches northwest to Syria.

More at link:

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=8823316

[ewagner]

35. Wasn't there another

offensive in that area? Maybe one even closer to the Syrian border?

This is high-stakes chicken going on here folks....

[janx]

37. YES IT IS. And yes there was--around June 11?

I believe it's the same area. Apparently this one began this morning and is quite intense.

[MisterP]

44. "Matador"--note the name...

[Barkley]

36. I'm sure glad the insurgents are in their 'last throws'...

[geomon666]

38. That whole article is bold faced (literally) lie!

Thank you all very much. Admiral Kelly, Captain Card, officers and sailors of the USS Abraham Lincoln, my fellow Americans: Major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed.

See? It's all lies!:eyes:

[janx]

39. No wonder the boy king is doing an Iraq War PR tour...

touting democracy in Iraq "and elsewhere"...

[daleo]

42. "suspected rebel safe houses"

Do they even give any background about their suspicions anymore? What evidence do they have? Aerial surveillance, informers, electronic signals? Or is it just based on gossip? Perhaps someone just throws a dart at a map.

[janx]

45. Most people don't even know this operation is going on.

It's major, but the "news" is so diluted...

[sattahipdeep]

46. Since late April, more than 1,000 Iraqis and 120 U.S. troops have died

A CBS/New York Times poll released on Thursday said 60 percent of
Americans thought things were going badly for the United States in
Iraq. Fifty-one percent now think Washington should have stayed
out of Iraq.

The chief doctor at Qaim hospital, Hamdi al-Alusi, said six bodies
had been brought to the morgue on Friday, including one of a woman.
The identities of the five men were unclear.

http://www.chinapost.com.tw/i_latestdetail.asp?id=28655