Operation Swarmer was a total photo op.

[WilliamPitt]

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/031806A.shtml

On Scene: How Operation Swarmer Fizzled
By Brian Bennett and Al Jallam
Time Magazine

Friday 17 March 2006

Not a shot was fired, or a leader nabbed, in a major offensive that failed to live up to its advance billing.

Four Black Hawk helicopters landed in a wheat field and dropped off a television crew, three photographers, three print reporters and three Iraqi government officials right into the middle of Operation Swarmer. Iraqi soldiers in newly painted humvees, green and red Iraqi flags stenciled on the tailgates, had just finished searching the farm populated by a half-dozen skinny cows and a woman kneading freshly risen dough and slapping it to the walls of a mud oven.

The press, flown in from Baghdad to this agricultural gridiron northeast of Samarra, huddled around the Iraqi officials and US Army commanders who explained that the "largest air assault since 2003" in Iraq using over 50 helicopters to put 1500 Iraqi and US troops on the ground had netted 48 suspected insurgents, 17 of which had already been cleared and released. The area, explained the officials, has long been suspected of being used as a base for insurgents operating in and around Samarra, the city north of Baghdad where the bombing of a sacred shrine recently sparked a wave of sectarian violence.

But contrary to what many many television networks erroneously reported, the operation was by no means the largest use of airpower since the start of the war. ("Air Assault" is a military term that refers specifically to transporting troops into an area.) In fact, there were no air strikes and no leading insurgents were nabbed in an operation that some skeptical military analysts described as little more than a photo op. What's more, there were no shots fired at all and the units had met no resistance, said the US and Iraqi commanders.

The operation, which doubled the population of the flat farmland in one single airlift, was initiated by intelligence from Iraq security forces, says Lt Col Skip Johnson commander of the 187 Battalion, 3rd Combat Brigade of the 101st Airborne. "They have the lead," he said to reporters at the second stop of the tour. But by Friday afternoon, the major targets seemed to have slipped through their fingers. Iraqi Army General Abdul Jabar says that Samarra-based insurgent leader Hamad el Taki of Mohammad's Army was thought to be in the area, and Iraqi intelligence officers were still working to compare known voice recordings and photographs with the prisoners in custody.

...more...

[dogday]

1. I believe the MSM reported one Soldier's Death

I thought that weird for a major offensive as well....

[SmokingJacket]

2. Incredible.

I have shock fatigue, can barely work up any sense of surprise anymore.

But wow! And reported by TIME, too.

[rodeodance]

3. "from Iraq security forces"--used to start this offense.

[acmavm]

4. Another phony attempt to make it seem like bush**s bull about all

the progress the Iraqi military is making might just be true. This would be funny except it's just so sick and desperate.

[misternormal]

5. Bushco's major events is more like...

... a monkey fucking a football

[MadisonProgressive]

6. Do I look surprised?

:rofl:

[kentuck]

7. Yeah..they want to catapult the propaganda...

...with some reality shots of their own...

[otohara]

8. Wandering Among The Cows....

Before loading up into the helicopters for a return trip to Baghdad, Iraqi and American soldiers and some reporters helped themselves to the woman's freshly baked bread, tearing bits off and chewing it as they wandered among the cows. For most of them, it was the only thing worthwhile they'd found all day.

[Gabi Hayes]

10. gee, do you think if she'd known they were coming,

she'd have baked a cake?

instead?

did they leave anything for her family, I wonder?

good PR move

[malaise]

9. The only surprise here is

that Time carried this. No one believes these fugging liars anymore. They are so naked. Maybe someone should send time Time that photo of those dead Iraqi toddlers.

[CJCRANE]

11. At least they didn't blow anything up this time..nt

[Burried News]

12. 70 Billion Supplemental - No Problem

We are a Banana Republic with color television.

[pberq]

13. Potemkin operation

http://www.antiwar.com/roberts/?articleid=8728

<snip>
When the Bush administration gets in trouble, it turns to war, which has worked for it in the past. Thus, this past week there was live coverage of "Operation Swarmer," which occupied a solid day on CNN and Fox "News." The venerable Washington Monthly reports that the hyped "assault on Samarra" was nothing but a Potemkin operation – a set propaganda piece to demonstrate U.S. military prowess and the battle-ready "new Iraqi army," only there were no insurgents in Samarra to battle. The much-hyped "Operation Swarmer" was a photo op for TV cameras as troops fired into empty desert.

[gratuitous]

14. But, but, but, I saw on ABC News all this snappy footage!

Okay, some of it was stock footage, intermixed with CGI stuff of helicopters, but it just looked soooo impressive! You know, like when ABC did an artist's re-creation of the "rescue" of Jessica Lynch, complete with a night landing near the hospital, Rangers springing out of the bellies of the helicopters, securing the perimeter, and our brave, freckle-faced, star-spangled men and women in uniform storming the hospital and extracting the plucky Private Lynch.

Bush's war looks a lot better in the hands of Disney's Imagineers at ABC than it does in real life.

[DinahMoeHum]

15. Tune: "On Top Of Old Smokey". . .

The choppers all landed,
A magnificent flight,
There was hand-to-hand combat,
But no insurgents in sight.


:evilgrin:

[catmandu57]

16. It was a made for TV operation

Nothing more than another backdrop for one of the monkeyboy's* screeches.

[Katherine Brengle]

17. Duh--as soon as I saw the "footage" all I could think of was...

that constant image during the first Gulf War of that smart bomb dropping into a chimney.

[TNOE]

18. But how does that square with this article

The bombing is still going on - I suppose this Operation Swarmer was just all for show.


http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/special_packages/iraq/14098141.htm

U.S. military airstrikes significantly increased in Iraq
By Tom LasseterKnight Ridder NewspapersBAGHD AD, Iraq -

American forces have dramatically increased airstrikes in Iraq during the past five months, a change of tactics that may foreshadow how the United States plans to battle a still-strong insurgency while reducing the number of U.S. ground troops serving here.

A review of military data shows that daily bombing runs and jet-missile launches have increased by more than 50 percent in the past five months, compared with the same period last year. Knight Ridder's statistical findings were reviewed and confirmed by American Air Force officials in the region.

The numbers also show that U.S. forces dropped bombs on more cities during the last five months than they did during the same period a year ago. Air strikes a year ago struck at least nine cities, but were mostly concentrated in and around the western city of Fallujah. This year, U.S. warplanes have struck at least 18 cities.

[Imagevision]

19. ya mean it was "phoney-Baloney" after-all Wil?....

[madfloridian]

20. This article says 700 families driven out, explosions from air strikes.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IRIN/633fb060ca280e5379fc5d914e5471ce.htm

I wonder which of these is correct.

[cascadiance]

21. How about having an "Operation Shawarma" instead!

And get some food to those people to eat...

I like that sort of "photo-op" better!

[pinniped]

22. If their goal was to jack us up at the pump, their mission....

was accomplished.

Prices shot up 20 cents or so.