A Hammer Instead of Tweezers

Here's what the American presence in Iraq is more likely to look like in 2006:

BAIJI, Iraq, Jan 3 (Reuters) - A U.S. air strike killed several members of a family in the oil refining town of Baiji in northern Iraq, Iraqi security forces said on Tuesday.

The U.S. military, responding to an inquiry, said aircraft had targeted a house after three men suspected of planting a roadside bomb were seen entering the building late on Monday.

The military statement made no mention of casualties and said Iraqi police had handled the scene after the attack.

Local people at the scene of the blast said seven bodies were recovered from the rubble, including at least two children.

...

A statement from the U.S. 101st Airborne Division in response to an inquiry about the deaths said soldiers monitoring video footage from a reconnaissance drone [likely from a facility in Nevada] spotted three men apparently digging a hole around 9 p.m. (1800 GMT) "following the common pattern of roadside bomb emplacement".

Bomber pilots were alerted, the military statement said: "The individuals left the road site and were followed from the air to a nearby building. Coalition forces employed precision guided munitions on the structure."

The statement did not say whether a roadside bomb was found.

We're going to see a withdrawal of ground troops and increase in air strikes. And who will be calling in those strikes? Probably Iraqi's ... maybe with an axe to grind.

Even when done well with quality intelligence and appropriate targeting, using air power to fight an insurgency is madness. Can you just picture it? Some kid sitting at console screen outside of Vegas eating a mustard dog spots some Iraqi's "digging a hole" and then orders air strikes.

But the U.S. doesn't care. We've routinely killed so many civilian innocents that using airpower makes sense. With fewer American casualties, the pressure on the administration will diminish because the American public just doesn't give a damned about the deaths of a bunch of "them".

Remember, no matter what the press reports. The study published in Lancet in 2004 (now over a year old) conclusively proved that there had been over 100,000 Iraqi's killed. The press continually spits out the 30,000 number, based on "media reports" that the tabulator freely admits are wrong. Of course our stellar media, in an attempt to remain "fair", trumpets the smaller number despite the evidence to the contrary. Besides. It's obvious the 30,000 number is wrong. I know this because Bush uses that same number.

The United States. Winning hearts and minds one bomb at a time. But hey, those Iraq children have some swell new paint jobs on their schools!