The air war(s) for Dec. 19

The Christian Science Monitor this week has provided something that has been altogether too rare in the major media: coverage of the air war.

Air war costs NATO Afghan supporters: An increase in air strikes has led to more innocent deaths as Taliban fighters use civilians as human shields by Rachel Morarjee Christian Science Monitor 12/18/06.

There's some budget-lobbying type whining in the next article. But I'm glad to see this aspect of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars getting some attention: US Air Force loses out in Iraq war: Aging planes, budget shortages, and ground casualties are a sharp reversal from the success of air power in Kosovo by Richard Whittle Christian Science Monitor 12/19/06:

"At the beginning of the Bush administration, not only did it look like air power could win wars, but there was a new crop of policymakers ready to embrace that message," says Loren Thompson of the Lexington Institute, an Arlington, Va., think tank with close ties to top military officers. Now, "I'm hard-pressed to think of a time when the Air Force has faced more problems."

Here is the Air Force's report covering the day of 12/19 (they title them for the next day's date, for some reason): CENTAF releases airpower summary for Dec. 20 12/20/06:

In Afghanistan Dec. 19, Royal Air Force GR-7 Harriers, Air Force F-15E Strike Eagles and Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt IIs provided close-air support for International Security Assistance Force, or ISAF, troops in contact with Taliban extremists near Kandahar. One of the GR-7s expended a general-purpose 500-pound bomb and the F-15Es expended guided bomb unit-38s on enemy positions. ...

In total, 43 close-air-support missions were flown in support of ISAF and Afghan troops, reconstruction activities and route patrols.

As always, the air strikes described specifically hit "near" some town or city, never "inside" it. In Iraq:

In Iraq, Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcons provided close-air support to troops in contact with anti-Iraqi forces in the vicinity of Baqubah and Baghdad.

In total, coalition aircraft flew 44 close-air-support missions for Operation Iraqi Freedom. These missions included support to coalition troops, infrastructure protection, reconstruction activities and operations to deter and disrupt terrorist activities.

Via Steve Gilliard, here is a YouTube video of what "close air support" looks like.



Think this kind of thing might cause a lot of "collateral damage"? On Tuesday, according to the Air Force's numbers, there were 43 "close air support" incidents in Afghanistan and 44 in Iraq. This strikes are going on day after day, month in and month out.