Carrier Jets Not Bombing Iraq Lately

[maddezmom]

BY ADNAN MALIK, Associated Press Writer
17 minutes ago



ABOARD THE USS CARL VINSON - Dozens of fighter jets have been roaring off the deck of this aircraft carrier to patrol Iraq for four weeks now but haven't dropped a single bomb — a clear sign of success, the ship's commander said Wednesday.

The last time the planes bombed a target in support of the U.S.-led multinational force and Iraqi troops was May 8 when fighters dropped six precision bombs during a battle with insurgents, said Capt. Kevin M. Donegan.

"If airplanes come back with all their bombs on, that's a good thing because that means the soldiers (on the ground) did not need help and that things are under control," Donegan said.

~snip~
more: http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050609/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_u_s__navy_1

What planet is this guy on? Tell that to the men and women on the ground getting killed daily. :mad:

[xultar]

1. No need blow up shit if it is already blown up. Do they think we are

idiots?

Between the insurgents and the shit we already blew up nothing is left.

[CatholicEdHead]

2. Are we saving the bombs for late this month

or early next? (Due to the delay in the Bolton nomination)

[pfitz59]

3. $1 million + a day to operate a carrier...

Very expensive toys.....

[pfitz59]

4. PS - and the next two carriers are named?

USS Ronald Reagan & USS George H W Bush! Gag me!

[PuraVidaDreamin]

5. FIVE American soldiers died in the last 24 HOURS!

FUCKERS!

[Geo55]

6. Hmmm....gotta save them bombs for a "fresh" target ,

Iran comes to mind.

[fryguy]

7. 500lbs bombs v. suicide car bombs?

what are they thinking they can do? kill the person holding the detonator from 35,000 feet? Morans!

[NinetySix]

8. What are the planes supposed to do,

drop a quarter-million-dollar precision guided bomb on a guy planting an IED on a roadside in the middle of the night? Yeah, let's do that -- remember how defense spending supposedly bankrupted the Soviet Union?

[artr2]

9. Aircraft maintenance & Down time

As a former naval aircraft maintenance technician, those aircraft cost so much per hour to fly. if they are not flying so much it saves wear & tear on the aircraft and it doesn't use up so much fuel. Even a Pentagon awash in cash has to save somewhere.

[oblivious]

10. 42,000 such sorties during the illegal no-fly-zone period.

But with targets hit. Imagine how many bombs and missiles have fallen on that poor country.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

11. That would be because the tanker situation is

getting very bad.

The Navy lost it's airborne tankers recently, and has to depend on the USAF now.

This limits the time and distance Navy/Marine Corps jets travel.

[OneBlueSky]

12. guess we've done our job . . . nothing left to bomb . . .

we've literally destroyed the country (to save it, don'tcha know), and left huge areas uninhabitable due to depleted uranium contamination . . . we should be s-o-o-o-o-o proud of ourselves! . . .

[Nihil]

13. They've received an update from HQ ...

"Slow down a bit guys, Halliburton can't keep up with you"

It must be getting to the point where the only targets big enough
for the fly-boys to hit from 10,000 feet are newly built (albeit shoddy
and incredibly over-priced) droppings from the "humanitarian effort".
All of the old stuff (power stations, water-processing plants, sewage
farms) has been bombed to gravel over the last 15 years ...

[DS1]

14. No it means that the fighting is either so close one of those bombs

would either kill everyone involved - bad - or blow up another aspirin factory by accident - bad.

They're simply too big to use in urban warfare.

[nolabels]

20. What "urban warfare", I thought thought the LIAR sent the troops for oil

Silly me, that's the last time I try to follow the money :shrug:

Exxon Mobil reaps record profits
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/1134616.stm

Revealed: how oil giant influenced Bush (Exxon)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=1531884

The Going to War File
http://www.iraqwar.org/how-and-why-the-war-file.htm

[zipplewrath]

15. The Air Force is doing it

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, May 28, 2005 - A U.S. Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon provided close air support to ground troops fighting to recover two slain helicopter crewmen in the vicinity of Baquba, Iraq, on May 26, officials said.

The ground troops had to battle terrorist insurgents while performing search-and-recovery operations. The F-16 reportedly suppressed enemy small-arms fire by dropping a laser-guided "guided bomb unit-12" bomb.

An Air Force joint tactical attack controller was embedded with the Army ground units. This enabled the ground units to communicate with the F-16, ultimately directing the pilot to the impact point of the bomb, officials said.

[Jacobin]

16. I honestly didn't know we were still routinely bombing IraqNam

How in the hell does air defense help any in a guerilla war?

Guess it just goes to show that we truly didn't learn one goddamned thing in Viet Nam, we are simply repeating patterns of failure over and over again.

[DemoTex]

17. Seems like carrier ops are dangerous enough ..

I'd be as nervous as a cat scratching shit on a sidewalk if I had to recover 70 bomb-laden fighter jets a day. Are they really landing back on the carrier with bombs on the racks? Or are they dropping them in the desert or open water?

One little slip (blown tire, landing gear collapse) and you have another USS Forrestal (July 29, 1967 Gulf of Tonkin) tragedy.

[Captain Hilts]

18. Remember, aviators wanted and planned this war

This is why ground pounders should have felt insulted when President Bush 'celebrated' "Mission Accomplished" on a carrier deck.

Someone needs to tell the Vinson's skipper that nearly ninety US military personnel were killed in Iraq in May. Eight this week alone.

You just can't trust aviators who never get their nails dirty on issues like this.

But note that Bush, Rumsfeld and Meyers were all aviators and don't have a clue about how ground wars are fought and ignored the protests of the army hierarchy.

[DemoTex]

19. Welcome to DU Mookie! Good point.

It is kind of like allowing a pilot to rise to president or CEO of an airline. It seldom works (Frank Borman at Eastern Air Lines comes to mind).

[Javaman]

21. They are saving their bombs for Iran.

[Hobarticus]

22. 'We've got a hidden roadside IED, come bomb it..."

What a fucking pinhead.

[Barrett808]

23. Last week in LBN we read about "fireballs" torching Iraqi fields and trees

We came to agreement that these are flares being fired from choppers to confuse heat-seeking SAMs. From this we inferred that the insurgency has many more SAMs than we're being told, and that air missions are much more dangerous.

If this reasoning holds up, perhaps it's become too dangerous to fly sorties.

[daleo]

24. Maybe they are probing Iranian air defenses

And this article is just propaganda cover.