Bomb,Bomb,Iran ! Why bother there's plenty of Iraq and Afghanistan left yet

Air Force Link Feb 15th Airpower summary

In Afghanistan a total of 25 close-air-support missions were flown.

In total, coalition aircraft flew 43 close-air-support missions for Operation Iraqi Freedom

A Navy F/A-18F Super Hornet dropped a guided bomb unit-38 (2,000lb) in order to destroy an enemy rocket position in Basrah.

On Feb. 14, Air Force and RAF tanker crews flew 39 sorties and off-loaded approximately 2.7 million pounds of fuel to 210 receiving aircraft.

On February 16, the Los Angeles Times reported that a US air strike managed to kill 9 Iraqi civilians and 3 Sons of Iraq. See here "Errant U.S. airstrike kills 9 in Iraq"

On February 16th the Seattle Times reported "3 Iraq guards die in errant U.S. strike" - 3 neighborhood security guards were killed and two others injured when U.S. attack helicopters fired at their checkpoint south of Baghdad , Iraqi police said. The article also reports that the U.S. military has acknowledged a Feb. 2 airstrike that killed 9 people, including at least 3 Awakening members and a child.

An Awakening Council in Zab said four of its members were killed when attack helicopters fired at a house in the area about 20 miles southwest of Kirkuk during raids late Wednesday and early Thursday 14/5th Feb. Two women were also killed.

Sheik Mohammed Ghuriari, who heads the so-called Awakening Councils that supply fighters at US$10 per diem (called Concerned Local Citizens or Sons of Iraq by US PR staff) ) to protect neighborhoods in the north of Babil province, said it was the third U.S.-led strike on their checkpoints in fewer than two months. He claimed 19 people had been killed and 14 injured.

Read Dahr Jamail's detailed report Here see also Bastard.logic here

"The use of B1 bombers shows the terrible failure of the U.S. campaign in Iraq," Iraqi Major General Muhammad al-Azzawy, of an aerial attack on a clutch of villages in the Latifiya district south of Baghdad on January 10th. Two B1 bombers and four F-16 fighter jets dropped at least 40,000 pounds of explosives on the villages and plantations within a span of 10 minutes.

"They were bombing everything and everybody."

"Apache helicopters later fired at the trucks that were carrying the families out of the area"

The Air Force Link Jan 19th Air Power Summary or on the 11th Jan made no mention of such an attack or the use of B1 bombers.

Here's paragraph 22 of a 34-paragraph January 22nd story by Stephen Farrell of the New York Times:

"The threat from buried bombs was well known before the [Arab Jabour] operation. To help clear the ground, the military had dropped nearly 100,000 pounds of bombs to destroy weapons caches and I.E.D.'s."

A January 21st Los Angeles Times Iraq piece by Ned Parker and Saif Rasheed;

"The U.S. military also said in a statement that it had dropped 19,000 pounds of explosives on the farmland of Arab Jabour south of Baghdad. The strikes targeted buried bombs and weapons caches. In the last 10 days, the military has dropped nearly 100,000 pounds of explosives on the area, which has been a gateway for Sunni militants into Baghdad."

This piece also mentioned the destruction in the area of a Mine protected vehicle (MRAP) which Lord Patel posted about . Also see article by By Tom Engelhardt