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Place your bets...will Trump exceed Obamas 26,000+ bombs in 2017?
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dlaw7566
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Cowardly? Sorry but I am all for using a drone and accomplishing the mission as opposed to having to put Marines' lives at risk. There is no glory or honor in so called "face to face" combat. I would rather my enemy destroyed by drone, artillery fire, or whatever rather than going hand to hand with him.
And what exactly is the "scope of warfare" that you refer to? My scope was to accomplish the mission and bring everyone back home alive. If a drone helps with that then all the better.
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- Sep 23, 2005
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Unfortunately in one month the coalition bombing killed nearly one thousand civilians as well. And reports posted earlier indicate that Trump has already exceeded the number of civilian deaths under Obama. The only good sign is that bombing has tapered off now in Iraq and Syria because they have largely run out of targets. If that holds then at least Trump "cleaned up the mess", and that might be worth it.
However, it is possible also that what happened is one of two other scenarios.
1. The terrorists show up again later, requiring more bombing after a delay, as has now happened in Libya where we had a break for nearly a year.
2. The terrorists leave the area, but go to soft target zones instead.
This was the case when ISIS militants left Raqqa
Thousands of ISIS members were secretly allowed to leave Raqqa with weapons and ammo — and the US knew about it
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- Sep 23, 2005
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I think he may have meant the part about killing first responders.
On the larger point, I agree it is good not to risk lives of soldiers. However, it does set a dangerous precedent. As more and more AI technology, etc. is developed it may pass the point where we can develop good defenses against it ourselves. If Americans start to be targeted by drones or autonomous killing robots by other nations we might change our view of things.
Of course, that cat is now seemingly out of the bag with several of the largest nations refusing to end AI killing tech, or at least wanting to grandfather in what they already have.
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- Sep 23, 2005
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The United States had considered retiring older cluster bombs that had a higher likelyhood of individual explosives not detonating (which can lead to later detonation and greater risk to civilians). However, they have now decided not to do so until they have more munitions to replace them.
America takes turn for the worse on cluster bombs
https://www.defense.gov/Portals/1/Documents/pubs/DOD-POLICY-ON-CLUSTER-MUNITIONS-OSD071415-17.pdf
America takes turn for the worse on cluster bombs
https://www.defense.gov/Portals/1/Documents/pubs/DOD-POLICY-ON-CLUSTER-MUNITIONS-OSD071415-17.pdf
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- Sep 23, 2005
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New record bomb dropping in 2018. And now we are in danger of running out of bomb parts.
The US is running out of bombs — and it may soon struggle to make more
All this is happening as the U.S. is expending munitions at a rapid rate. For instance, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction concluded that 1,186 munitions were dropped in that country during the first quarter of 2018 ― the highest number recorded for the first three months of the year since tracking began in 2013; that number is also more than two and a half times the amount dropped in the first quarter of 2017.
The US is running out of bombs — and it may soon struggle to make more
All this is happening as the U.S. is expending munitions at a rapid rate. For instance, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction concluded that 1,186 munitions were dropped in that country during the first quarter of 2018 ― the highest number recorded for the first three months of the year since tracking began in 2013; that number is also more than two and a half times the amount dropped in the first quarter of 2017.
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- Sep 23, 2005
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Well I am sure we would take your money. But don't worry, the US would not fail to dedicate lots of money to bombs. The problem is they are running out of parts!
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Tanj
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Well, I let my dnd group salvage arrows, no reason they couldn't rummage the bomb site, and recycle...hmm, green, eco friendly recycled bombs. Much better for the environment.
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- Sep 23, 2005
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And while they are over there reclaiming parts, perhaps they could investigate chemical attacks before retaliating against them.
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TLK Valentine
I've already read the books you want burned.
- Apr 15, 2012
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The inevitable result of the military-industrial complex -- we've designed weapons that would be unthinkable to actually use, so we invent machines to think about using them for us.
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Fact-Checking Trump’s Statements on Increased Military Strikes in Afghanistan
So far this year, the number of American airdropped missiles and bombs in Afghanistan is set to meet or possibly outpace the 7,362 munitions launched in 2018. The most ordnance dropped before 2018, according to Air Force data compiled since 2006, was in 2011 at the height of American military presence in the country, with 5,411 munitions.
Since we have far fewer troops in Afghanistan they have turned to more bombing, with lax rules of engagement to fight the Taliban. Trump claims the bombing surged to new heights after the peace talks fell apart. Trump continues to set a higher pace than his predecessors in bombing.
So far this year, the number of American airdropped missiles and bombs in Afghanistan is set to meet or possibly outpace the 7,362 munitions launched in 2018. The most ordnance dropped before 2018, according to Air Force data compiled since 2006, was in 2011 at the height of American military presence in the country, with 5,411 munitions.
Since we have far fewer troops in Afghanistan they have turned to more bombing, with lax rules of engagement to fight the Taliban. Trump claims the bombing surged to new heights after the peace talks fell apart. Trump continues to set a higher pace than his predecessors in bombing.
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- Sep 23, 2005
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A father's grief and the Made in USA bomb dropped in Yemen
Screaming for her daughter, Amira saw Raja’s twisted body under a small tree. Her jaw and entire right side had been ripped apart and blood had already dyed the sand around her black. A neighbour, Hamoud Mohammed al-Ghar, dodged the remaining submunitions to pick Raja up and then ran with her to the nearest road to find a car to take her to hospital. “I knew the girl was already dead,” he said. “But I had to try.” The drones circled ahead the entire time.
The cluster bomb that killed Raja was manufactured at the Milan Army Ammunition Plant in 1977.
The US no longer manufactures CBU-52s: it has long since upgraded to “smart” computer-guided cluster bombs with supposedly more accurate arming and targeting systems. One possible reason a 1977 bomb found its way to Sahar farms, in Yemen, in 2018 is because the US has such a large stockpile of the weapons.
While other countries were adopting the international convention on cluster munitions in 2008, the Pentagon defended its use of them as a “military necessity”. However, it conceded to international criticism by instituting a policy to reduce the failure rate of the munitions – ie the amount of unexploded ordnance left behind – to 1% or less after 2018, although that policy was actually scrapped by Donald Trump 2017.
In the interim, a good way of reducing the stockpile of outdated weapons – and making some money – was to sell them. Data from 2017 showed the US still had some 2.2m cluster bombs in its arsenal.
The total extent of export licences to the kingdom is not known, and neither is it known when the bomb that killed Raja was sold. The SIPRI Arms Transfers Database, the world’s most extensive record, yielded no results: it contains just a fraction of true sales, as pre-digital record-keeping was poor and states cite national security concerns to avoid disclosing records.
It is possible the CBU could have been sold by the US years ago to a third party state and then sold on again to Saudi Arabia: cluster bomb sales to Riyadh were officially stopped in 2016. The US Department of Defense and the state department did not respond to requests for information. Such inquiries are usually met with no comment.
It took two days to clear out Sahar farms after that strike,” said Umayyad. “The work is very dangerous. Three men have been killed in clearance operations here in Saada. My old boss lost his hands, eyes and nose after trying to disarm a cluster bomb submunition last year.” Despite condemnation from human rights groups over airstrikes in Yemen, Yemac’s records suggest more cluster bombs are being dropped on Saada than ever: at least 147 cluster munitions were recovered in the province in the first six months of 2019, up on 122 in the same period of 2018
Screaming for her daughter, Amira saw Raja’s twisted body under a small tree. Her jaw and entire right side had been ripped apart and blood had already dyed the sand around her black. A neighbour, Hamoud Mohammed al-Ghar, dodged the remaining submunitions to pick Raja up and then ran with her to the nearest road to find a car to take her to hospital. “I knew the girl was already dead,” he said. “But I had to try.” The drones circled ahead the entire time.
The cluster bomb that killed Raja was manufactured at the Milan Army Ammunition Plant in 1977.
The US no longer manufactures CBU-52s: it has long since upgraded to “smart” computer-guided cluster bombs with supposedly more accurate arming and targeting systems. One possible reason a 1977 bomb found its way to Sahar farms, in Yemen, in 2018 is because the US has such a large stockpile of the weapons.
While other countries were adopting the international convention on cluster munitions in 2008, the Pentagon defended its use of them as a “military necessity”. However, it conceded to international criticism by instituting a policy to reduce the failure rate of the munitions – ie the amount of unexploded ordnance left behind – to 1% or less after 2018, although that policy was actually scrapped by Donald Trump 2017.
In the interim, a good way of reducing the stockpile of outdated weapons – and making some money – was to sell them. Data from 2017 showed the US still had some 2.2m cluster bombs in its arsenal.
The total extent of export licences to the kingdom is not known, and neither is it known when the bomb that killed Raja was sold. The SIPRI Arms Transfers Database, the world’s most extensive record, yielded no results: it contains just a fraction of true sales, as pre-digital record-keeping was poor and states cite national security concerns to avoid disclosing records.
It is possible the CBU could have been sold by the US years ago to a third party state and then sold on again to Saudi Arabia: cluster bomb sales to Riyadh were officially stopped in 2016. The US Department of Defense and the state department did not respond to requests for information. Such inquiries are usually met with no comment.
It took two days to clear out Sahar farms after that strike,” said Umayyad. “The work is very dangerous. Three men have been killed in clearance operations here in Saada. My old boss lost his hands, eyes and nose after trying to disarm a cluster bomb submunition last year.” Despite condemnation from human rights groups over airstrikes in Yemen, Yemac’s records suggest more cluster bombs are being dropped on Saada than ever: at least 147 cluster munitions were recovered in the province in the first six months of 2019, up on 122 in the same period of 2018
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