Thursday, July 07, 2011
F-18E warplane
David Petraeus, the United States’ top military commander in Afghanistan who’s now moving to the CIA, promised last year to cut down on the use of airstrikes to combat the Taliban, in order to reduce the risk of civilian casualties.
But the numbers don’t indicate Petraeus lived up to his promise of holding back on air assaults, which were dubbed by one general the “tactic of last resort.”
Wired found after reviewing military statistics that American and allied warplanes last year conducted 5,831 sorties—representing a 65% increase over the 3,510 attacks flown during the 12 months before that.
It also appears the air campaign is still going strong this year, with 554 sorties flown in June, compared to about 450 each in June of 2009 and 2008.
If the government follows through on President Obama’s plan to draw down 30,000 troops on the ground by next year, there will be even greater pressure to control the war from the sky with warplanes, drones and other “kinetic activity.”
-Noel Brinkerhoff
5,800 Attacks Are Just the Beginning after Petraeus’ Year-Long Air War (by Noah Shachtman and Spencer Ackerman, Wired)
US Message in Drone Strikes: If Pakistan Doesn't Take on Taliban, We Will (by Howard LaFranchi, Christian Science Monitor)
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