Bombing Them Into Submission

From 10/26/2007 Progress Report.

IRAQ -- FOUR-FOLD INCREASE OF U.S. MILITARY AIR STRIKES IN IRAQ UNDERMINES COUNTERINSURGENCY STRATEGY:

Earlier this week, USA Today reported that "the U.S. military has increased airstrikes in Iraq four-fold this year, reflecting a steep escalation in combat operations aimed at al-Qaeda and other militants." The increased use of air strikes, which often occurs in densely-populated areas, has been condemned by the U.N. Assistance Mission in Iraq. Though October "has seen the smallest number of Americans killed in Iraq than any other month since March 2006," the trade off for "greater safety for our ground troops" through the increased use of air strikes means an increase in "local hostility." Such an increase in hostility undermines the counterinsurgency strategy of Gen. David Petraeus. As the U.S. Army's field manual on counterinsurgency, which Petraeus co-authored, states, "an air strike can cause collateral damage that turns people against the host-nation government and provides insurgents with a major propaganda victory." Max Bergmann of the National Security Network notes that "all this talk about a new counter-insurgency strategy -- adopting less kinetic approaches, emphasizing the security of Iraqis, the need for U.S. Soldiers to take more risk and operate under stricter rules of engagement, etc., etc. - seems really hollow if at the same time, we are lobbing four times as many bombs from the air than we were before."