Latest bombing technology helps reduce risk to Iraqi civilians

[Barrett808]

Latest bombing technology helps reduce risk to Iraqi civilians
By Ron Jensen, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Monday, February 14, 2005

One truth in Iraq, said Col. Bob Chapman, is the minds and hearts of Iraqis won’t be won if America drops bombs on them.

That’s why, the director of operations for U.S. Central Air Force Command said, great care is taken in the country before a bomb is dropped.

“We take collateral damage mitigation very seriously,” he said in a telephone interview from Shaw Air Force Base, S.C. “Almost every weapon we drop is a precision munitions now.”

Every day in Iraq, Air Force planes drop bombs, providing close air support for troops on the ground or going after “high value targets,” such as leaders of the stubborn insurgency.

But in both cases, Air Force officers said, they try to limit or eliminate damage to noncombatants.

“We do a four-tier analysis on every target we go after,” said Maj. Jeff Reiman, an intelligence targeteer at Shaw.

(more)

http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=27170

[HysteryDiagnosis]

1. Better late than never I suppose..... I haven't forgotten the beginning

of this fiasco......


http://edition.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/04/07/sprj.irq.int.war.main/
>>WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and other senior Iraqi officials may have been in a building in a residential area of Baghdad bombed by the U.S. military, U.S. officials have said.

The U.S. military dropped four 2,000-pound bombs on the building Monday based on "time-sensitive intelligence" that some senior Iraqi officials, possibly including Saddam and his two sons, were there, U.S. officials said early Tuesday.

The building was in the Mansour neighborhood, where CNN sources said a blast killed nine people and wounded 13 others Monday.<<

This was how long ago????
>>• According to the latest figures provided by U.S. and British authorities, a total of 119 coalition service members have died in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Seven U.S. service personnel are listed as missing in action and seven held as prisoners of war. (Coalition casualties)

• The Iraqi government has not released information on military losses, but official public statements says 420 civilians have died, 4,000 have been injured and 6,000 taken as prisoners of war.

CNN National Security Correspondent David Ensor and Senior Pentagon Correspondent Jamie McIntyre contributed to this report.<<

[IndianaGreen]

29. The crew of the B1 bomber that destroyed that city block got decorated

with the Distinguished Flying Cross, a decoration normally reserved for heroism in air combat. What pukes!

They should have received the Iron Cross!

[HysteryDiagnosis]

31. Smart bombs dropped by dumb orders. Kinda cancels out the technology.

[Supersedeas]

38. reliable intelligence vs. smart bombs--isn't a bomb still a bomb

[leveymg]

2. They can try to convince themselves of that. Doubt the Iraqis believe

"great care is taken in the country before a bomb is dropped."

God, that sort of happy face propaganda just makes me sick.



:) :puke: :eyes:

[Redstone]

3. You doubt the Iraqis believe it?

I doubt any Americans who have the slightest bit of intelligence believe it either.

It's insulting to have them feed us theis crap and expect us to buy it.

Redstone

[leveymg]

5. Look at the source: S&S. Strictly for American troop consumption

Shame, some of the 19 year olds actually believe it.

Nothng changes. Remember "We had to destroy the village in order to save the village"?

:freak: :nuke:

[jjtss]

4. That Col Chapman has been all over the net.....

posting the same or similar HUMANE bombing in Iraq stories. Especially where young people visit(conspiracy or paranormal sites). Is he trying to up his recruitment quota???

[leveymg]

7. Bet he's a fake journalist pretending to be a fake humanitarian Colonel.

It's like the phony war hero in "1984". A figment of the Ministry of Truth. What was his name?

[oasis]

6. So now we plan to bomb a"democratic" regime in Iraq?

:shrug:

[leveymg]

9. They'd love to bomb France. %!@# - gave that away

[bemildred]

8. I suppose "collateral damage mitigation" by just stopping the bombing

is not a "serious" option.

All "precision" means here is the bomb hits where you aim it. If you
aim it at a wedding, you still blow up the wedding.

This story, BTW, is 100% propaganda drivel.

[yinkaafrica]

13. thank you for making that point

[uppityperson]

10. blah blah blah blah blah

hmm, succinct enough to kill this thread?

[leveymg]

11. What's up your butt this evening, Uppity?

Have something more important to do at the moment?

:hurts: :boring:

[uppityperson]

14. Naw, just tired of all the blabbing by the Bushites and MSM

Obviously untrue or obviously obvious. And almost everytime I post in a thread it dies. And I'm cold and tired so perhaps I should go offline and take it easy? sorry if i'm too uppity but sorry.

Edited to add:
And I don't believe anything the military or current administration says, so I go blah blah blah blah blah

[leveymg]

33. Hey, look the thread survived!

Maybe you're not the touch of death, after all. I know exactly how you feel. Cold and tired (alone, and not making any difference).

Buck up, Uppity. We're all in this together. If we're going down, it's in good company. The fact that this board is still here is evidence that we all might just get through this.

:hi: :grouphug:

[Vladimir]

12. Sure, sure... that's why you "Don't do bodycounts"

fucking cock.

[VegasWolf]

15. bush's answer to war, build better bombs. Dumb fuck.

[TahitiNut]

20. GMTA. Cloud-cuckoo-land and Orwell's barnyard.

Perpetual war for eternal peace. :eyes: What kind of sick mind can invent the term "smart bomb"??

[ausiedownunderground]

16. God ,there getting desperate now!

A 500lb bomb is a 500lb bomb no matter how accurate it is. Military intelligence has identified a Guerilla commander at No5 Fallujah Street. Even if the 500lb bomb walks up the street and knocks on the door before exploding it's still going take out No 2, No 3, No 4, No 6, No 7 and No 8 Fallujah Street. The compassion of the US military brings a tear to my eye! Where do i sign up!! Recruiter! Recruiter!Is there a Recruiter in the house!

[leesa]

17. Right Just like the myth of "precision bombing". These people are

psychotic monsters.

[oasis]

18. "Your bomb killed my 2 aunts and sister but I survived" thanks Yank.

:eyes:

[Mountainman]

19. The insurgents are Iraqi citizens fools!

Where can we bomb and not kill a civilian? I guess if you oppose the invasion of your country you then give up your citizenship to your country.

Smart bombs in the hand of idiots I think.

[Darranar]

21. Yeah, right. Just like the last fifty times. n/t

[Voltaire99]

22. “We take collateral damage mitigation very seriously"...

...he said, before collapsing into hysterical laughter.

[leveymg]

34. 'We take", the only true words in that statement.

We take lives.
We take terroritory.
Then, we take their oil.
We take our own eternal right to do the above for granted.
Someone is going to take that away.

[ckramer]

23. You mean Bush didn't point to a target and said "Bomb this!" ?

Then what fun would one have as a commander-in-chief?

[diatribal]

24. A better strategy

would be to stop dropping bombs altogether. The war is over, isnt it? Isnt that what they said? Over a year ago?

[NYC]

25. Every day in Iraq, Air Force planes drop bombs...

Every day in Iraq, Air Force planes drop bombs...

I think that phrase is significant. Every day, we are still dropping bombs. Shock and Awe was not enough.

[truthisfreedom]

26. precision munitions KNOW who the bad guys are.

they're SMART bombs.

[enki23]

27. holy shit, they pulled out the "four tier analysis"

guess we all had nothing to worry about. it is now clear that every single one the tens of thousands of dead and maimed iraqi citizens was completely unaviodable.

[leveymg]

35. Laws of physics. 500 lb. bomb =300 ft. lethal blast radius.

You don't have to be a genius to figure out the unalterable result of bombing civilian areas.

Foreseeable civilian casualties = intentional killing of civilians = war crimes.

:grr: :nuke:

[IndianaGreen]

28. What a lying sack of shit!

Colonel Chapman should have worked for Dr. Goebbels's Propaganda Ministry. No matter how accurate you are, if you drop a 500 pound bomb in the middle of a city you are going to kill a lot of civilians.

I guess COL Chapman would also want us to believe that the US has not purposely targeted journalists in Iraq and Afghanistan. Tell that to the journalists killed in the Palestine Hotel, or the poor Al-Jazeera correspondent that hit by bombs in Baghdad, or the poor souls that were living next door to Al-Jazeera's office in Kabul.

Gott mitt uns!

[w4rma]

30. Not if they can't tell the difference between a civilian and a fighter.

And they really can't. They don't understand the culture well enough.

If they understood the culture we, most likely, wouldn't even be over there.

[davhill]

32. We could even use the smart bombs at home

It would eliminate need for police, judges and juries. They are smart enough to tell the guilty from the innocent and execute the former as well. We have no further need of a criminal justice system at all. </sarcasm>

[leveymg]

36. Choicepoint is working on the software.

:freak:

[Jacobin]

37. "We blow up Iraqis vewy vewy carefully"

:puke: