U.S.-Led Coalition Forces Bomb Shiite Militia in Basra
BASRA, Iraq - US-led coalition warplanes dropped bombs on Shiite militia positions in Basra overnight, directly entering the fray for the first time since the Iraqi army launched a crackdown in the southern city, a British military spokesman said on Friday.
Two bombing missions were carried out against specific targets, Major Tom Holloway told AFP.
“It was on identified rocket teams in the city and there was a concentration of militia troops which was bombed,” he said, adding that the bombings were the first by the coalition forces since Iraqi military operations started in Basra on Tuesday.
Holloway said at Basra airport, where the British contingent of around 4,100 troops are based, that coalition forces have also been providing air support, surveillance and are refuelling Iraqi helicopters and transport planes.
“Coalition forces are providing capability in those niche areas that the Iraqi armed forces don’t have,” Holloway said.
“Particularly, we are providing them air power over the top of the city. The Iraqi air force does exist but doesn’t yet have fast jets. We are also providing surveillance and that is being fed back into the Iraqi’s operational command centre in Basra.
“And also they have been providing air support in terms of dropping munitions on identified militia targets in the city.”
Coalition forces rather than the Iraqi army are directing the air support, the British spokesman added. “The Iraqi air support is being directed by our call signs.”
© 2008 Agence France Presse
Native troops being aided and directed by foreign officers in a war against their fellow citizens. Sounds like classic colonialism to me.
The “Laws of Armed Conflict” state:
“Proportionality prohibits the use of any kind or degree of force that exceeds that needed to accomplish the military objective.”
We The People are dropping hundred of thousands of pounds of bombs on an “enemy” that does not have an Air Force, nor any anti-aircraft defenses, nor even air raid shelters. And Our stated objective, to “kill the enemy,” is no more an objective than GWOT is an actual war.
Imagine… the cops firing rockets from Blackhawk helicopters against suspected Crips and/or Bloods positions in South Central…
And, yet, We The People still wonder why They The People f**king hate us so much.
John Wayne rides to the rescue wearing a “Yellow Ribbon”. There is a parallel there someplace.
“Coalition forces are providing capability in those niche areas that the Iraqi armed forces don’t have,” Holloway said.
Oh, well, cripes, that’s so innocent. Nothing like “we’re taking sides in a nascent civil war”, nosirree.
Of course Preznit Dumbass said today this is a healthy sign of a free democracy, or some such gabble to that effect. Who knew running gunbattles in the street was such a sign of a free country?
Tet
i guess the bush administration gloat that the iraqi were fiting this battle with out u.s. and british help turned out to be another BIG LIE AS USUAL….NOTE TO BUSHCO…YOU ARE NOT GETTING THE OIL WE WANT FOR YOUR BIG OIL FRIENDS IN THE WEST
Hey, there is a time limit for bombs too, can’t just let them sit around and rot. Luckily we had Vietnam and were able to effectively use the left over WW2 ordance. A B-52D could load and drop 108 (500) pounders. Awsome, one aIRcraft could string them babies out for miles. BOOM BOOM BOOOM.
President Bush has called this a defining moment,
This is a defining moment for us also.
Are we going to stand by while he orders the destruction of Sadr City and Basra as he did with Fallujah, or are we going to try to stop the massacre?
We can clearly see what is coming. We have the example of Fallujah only this would be on 20, 30, 40 times the scale. US bombs can do it. If we let this happen without a struggle, we will be accessories to a monstrous crime.
Many will look on this with detachment, making it about who is the good guy, what is the balance of the equation of lives, is this costing too many American lives, or aha this proves what a bad guy Bush is. We have no right to do that. Out of control or not this is our government that is standing on the brink of committing another monstrous crime in our name, and we are morally bound to try to stop it.
I suggest we each contact each person with any power that we can think of with the message “stop the massacre!”, and then circulate an appeal to all of our correspondents to do so. And when we find ourselves holding back or speaking cynically to justify our inaction, stop and examine our motives and ask “what gives me the right to not act positively to stop this? Would I have been a ‘Good German’ and stood by passively while Hitler ordered and oversaw the slaughter of 6 million Jews, 20 million Russians and a million Gypsies? No? Then how can I not act now?”
This is so Bush. Deadlines. $$s for guns. And the U.S.-trained Iraq security forces (our Iraqis) sent to battle against the anti- U.S. militias without U.S. cannon fodder nearby to get caught up in all the collateral damage from our “air support”. U.S. troops getting creamed by U.S. bombs would be politically disastrous for the Decider but how many Americans know or care about Iraqi deaths? The USAF can take out anyone and everyone south of Baghdad now that Bush, oops, I mean Maliki, has issued the ultimatum.
Good practice for Iran too.
PROCLAMATION
“Our military operations have as their object the defeat of the enemy…. In order to complete this task I am charged with the… supreme control of all regions in which British troops operate.. but our armies do no come into your cities and lands as conquerors or enemies, but as liberators.
…And you, people of Iraq, are not to understand that it is the wish of the British government to impose upon you alien institutions. It is the hope of our government that the Iraqi people shall flourish and shall enjoy their wealth and substance under institutions which are in consonance with their sacred laws and their racial ideals.
It is the hope and desire of the British people.. that the Arab race may rise once more to greatness and renown amongst the people of the earth…Therefore I am commanded to invite you to participate in the management of your civil affairs in collaboration with the political representative of Great Britain.. so that you may unite….in realizing the aspirations of your race.”
Lieutenant General F.S.Maude, Commander of the British Forces in Iraq, March 1917 (cited by Robert Fisk in The Great War for Civilization, p. 172)
When the Iraqis made it clear (through an uprising in 1920)that they preferred to run their own affairs (without the aid of British “advisers” and a British “facade of an Arab government”), that they would not exchange (even chaotic)independence for a little “Western civilization” the great “liberators” responded with the carpet bombing of Arab villages and Churchill even recommended the use of mustard gas against the rebellious Shias in the south…. The view of the British government was that “outside forces” were fuelling the uprising and that withdrawal was no option as this would mean “to abandon Iraq to anarchy and confusion…”
Sounds familiar?
The famous “Lawrence of Arabia” wrote in a letter to THE TIMES: “The Arabs rebelled against the Turks not because their government was bad but because they wanted independence. (My comment: which the British promised them in return for fighting against the Ottoman army)
“They did not risk their lives to change masters.. but to win a show of their own. Whether they are fit for independence remains to be seen.
Merit is no qualification for freedom.”
Bombing from the air is a new avenue for mankind that started with WW1 - during all of mankind before that, the air above the ground was safe– now no more. This change regarding air unsafety caused the antiwar movement of WW1 called Dada art movement and intellectual movement.
We need to elect a president who is NOT quick to drop bombs on people indiscriminately. Mccain flew over 20 missions of bombs over Vietnam territory. That was another war that many Americans disagreed with and would NOT have flown bombing missions.
Yet another “turning point” in the conquest… oops! …the “liberation” of Iraq.
And another “delay” in the withdrawal of troops, proving that the “surge” was a fraud. Until the troop levels come back down to pre-surge levels, it has to be called an escalation.
The timing of this action is a bit of a mystery. Maybe it’s to set the stage for the next performance by Crock & Betrayus up on Capital Hill?
They lie to me
They lie to you
They lie to our troops
jjohnjj: could be many reasons for the timing. The arrival of spring there, the arming of Sunni militia by U.S. forces, one too many attacks by Maliki and the “coalition” forces on Mhadi militia. It all does seem to play quite well into Chaney’s hand though, doesn’t it?
Remember that it took some time for Americans to become aware that we were bombing Cambodia and Laos because we were fighting the Vietnamese.
Hopefully, the Mehdi Army will inflict serious damage against the real enemies in all of this.
There’s nothing like winning hearts and minds.
I traveled through Midland, Texas on the way from Dallas to El Paso this week. Made the mistake of trying to get a room in Midland- home of the Bushes and George W grew up. Also the site of the oil rich Permian Basis.
My point? Midland is crawling with oil workers and there are no hotel rooms from Monday through to Thursday. I talked to the local TV news and they said it was an oil boom the likes of the 80s and that the whole place has Haliburton and other oil companies, like EXXON scrambling to get out as much oil as they can.
It came to my mind that they were getting ready for something more than high oil demand. The next day an Iraq oil pipeline is destroyed and there goes 5% of the world oil supply. Of course I am thinking this is the oil people getting ready for an attack on Iran when OIL Will go through the roof and they will be there to sell it.
Also of note is the the same thing was happening in Sweewater, Texas about 200 miles east, but here the workers are building wind mills. Someone is expecting an energy shortage and it is being planned.
It is no coincidence that two oil men are in the Black Gold House (formerly White House) and that oil is where it is today.
Yes these British and American military are not serving anyone in the USA or UK they are serving psychotic criminals, period. They are committing horrific war crimes including genocide and torture as is clearly displayed by the photograph of the blindfolded and hooded people of Iraq who are guilty of nothing but defending their country.
Under international law the so-called Iraqi government is, by definition, a front for the USA and Britain. The Iraqi government, as is made clear in international, is not independent and any and all actions it engages in are the responsibility of the USA and Britain — the occupiers. These offenses are truly unforgivable.
So Guys this sounds like a longterm boost for Al Sadr’s movement. Electoral partisan intervention by Badr militia (in national army uniforms) is seen locally for what it is. Badr supports the division of Iraq whereas Sadr supports a united Iraq. Badr co-operated with the invasion from planning stages, Sadr didn’t. Badr is close to Iran, Sadr is Iraqi nationalist ( although each have their factions in Iran).
Maliki is under pressure to show his government has control and the “Iraqi” troops can do things. Bush can boast this as evidence of progress. Yet Bush will also conveniently use the Iraq wide reaction this assault will spark as evidence that the U.S. can’t leave.
Maliki is a prisoner of the occupation forces. If he doesn’t do what he is told he loses his position. If or when Maliki is no longer PM he loses his protection…He knows he must do what he is told or lose his life.
.
these are not bombs - only terrorists bomb people - these are freedom poofs from the coalition of the willing
First arm them, then we bomb them. And the taxpayers foot the bill.
The military industrial complex at its best.
I think there will be a huge escalation of war over there…
Now…we wait for the false flag here, and the declaring of martial law, and cessation of elections…or the guaranteed election of GWB McCain III
Maliki may not be merely “a prisoner of the occupying army.”
He has been out of Iraq before. He could carefully seek protection in another nation and from there condemn the U.S. government for the devastation. He is a prisoner as long as he stays deluded in Iraq.
It is important to raise this point (that Maliki only “believes” he is a prisoner) because here in the USA most of our fellow citizens use their jobs, careers, financial “requirements,” future material gains and similar matters to justify not doing anything stop our nation’s imperialist/turned genocidal military grab for control of the oil and gas of the Middle East/ Central Asian areas.
Most Americans are afraid to act or take responsibility for much, much lesser and more hypocritical stakes or dangers than those that Maliki probably faces.
Risking the losing of a promotion, a job, some income, and such are not legitimate justifications equivalent to rationalizing one’s inaction to stop the holocaust we have brought to Iraq and parts of Afghanistan.
At age 76, I still remember how, during our nation’s Vietnam genocide, how many of us were jailed, fired, injured, blacklisted and otherwise punished for repeatedly committing non-violent protests or acts of civil disobedience.
Most people who acted to stop the killing have never regretted opposing it, are very proud of that, even though many of our intimidating pugilistic citizens still blame us activists for the outcome of the War.
As long as we let the terrorists in our own nation silence or de-activate us, these wars of addictive imperialism will take us all rolling down the road to self-destruction.
My psycho-analytic web:
psycho-imperialism.com
Major Tom Holloway tells AFP, “Particularly, we are providing them air power over the top of the city. The Iraqi air force does exist but doesn’t yet have fast jets.”
“over the top”
Please remind me what might be the real disadvantage of not having “fast jets” in the bombardment of a city that is not being defended by an air force.
Is the Iraqi air force flying Cessnas and Piper Cubs?
Holloway continues, “And also they have been providing air support in terms of dropping munitions on identified militia targets in the city.”
“And also”? What is providing air support if it isn’t “dropping munitions on identified . . .”?
AH!!! “identified” . . . instead of just simply random wholesale destruction from the air.
For a minute there I thought Holloway was just feeding me some crap explanation.
the whole freakin’ thing is “over the top”
We don’t need the smarts of an Orwell or a Lakoff to perceive the degree of verbal nonsense. Carlan will do!
godhelpus
I do wish some aliens would land a space ship on the White House lawn and a King come forth and take over.
With all of the bullshit there in Washington, he’d probably slip on a turd and come in fifth though.
We lost this war and occupation, when we invaded Iraq. It will continue to get worse until we pull out, totally pull out ___ and leave that monstrosity Green Zone and the Halliburton built embassy, which is not needed and never was.
If I could blame ONE person, other than the Cheney cartel, I’d blame Pelosi for insuring the legal impeachment process was never put on the table.
Who sings for the Iraqi citizens?
Joe Strummer remembered the Spanish some forty years after the fact and the people of Central America while some of us were mesmerized by Ronnie’s “Morning in America.”
“I’m hearing music from another time.”: same song, different verse
“Spanish songs in Andalucia,
the shooting sites in the days of ’39.
Oh, please leave, the VENTANA open.
Federico Lorca is dead and gone:
bullet holes in the cemetery walls,
the black cars of the Guardia Civil.
Spanish bombs on the Costa Rica -
I’m flying on in a DC-10 tonight.”
The Clash: “Spanish Bombs”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-qcy0-7ngw&feature=related
bomb the sunni, and arm the shia…then later bomb the shia and arm the sunni..
it makes sense if you are trying to stir up trouble to justify a 100 year occupation.
The Iraqi government’s attempt to take over Basra has already failed and Maliki has been forced to offer a ten day extension on his ultimatum for the Mahdi army to lay down its arms. Now the only question is who was the author of this disastrous joke? Certainly not Maliki. He has no more authority than a sock puppet. Ah yes, didn’t Dick Cheney just wind up his little tour of the area?
~CANUCKCHUCK~, you often make more sense in a sentence than almost anyone else. You nailed it there.
BAGHDAD (AP) — A U.S. warplane strafed a house in the southern town of Basra, killing eight civilians, including two women and a child, Iraqi police said Saturday.
It’s getting to look like not only the Bush/Chenay cabal and congress but also those childkilling thugs that call themselves ‘Christians’ that have earned their place on the Warcrimes Gallows.
Here is a related interview with Al Sadr from Al Jazeera:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1a4s458mDMs
Sounds like another one of those “Operation-God-Bless-Only-America-and-Innocent-Casualties-be-Damned”.
You are either with us or agin us or just downright silly enough to be where we’re coming.
Well if we bomb more stuff there’ll be more contracts to fix it and this is good for the economy…..SO!
R. K. MacDonald has got it right. For those of us who marched, got clubbed, and went on to make the first dramatic anti-Vietnam feature film (black listed which is why you don’t know about it), Bush’s War has a creepy deja vu feeling about it.
Marching in the streets is just one way to protest. How about we make every governmnet internet site collapse under a blizzard of emails protesting the nation’s continuing holocaust in the Middle East.
Everywhere you look over there we are on the wrong side — Iraq, Lebanon, Israel/Palestine, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan — of history. As the cliche goes, because as a nation we are ignorant of history we are doomed to repeat it. We lost in Vietnam. The French lost in Algeria. The British lost in Iraq. The list of colonial powers that have collapsed is endless. The USA, by being completely ignorant of Asia and the Middle East, is about to join that list.
Dumbya and Dickhead are doing their damndest to suck us into attacking Iran and Pakistant. Then we will truly have WW III and a canceled election in November. If you think that is a paranoid overstatement of reality — do nothing and prove me right.
I fear you are right ~BILL~. ___ We’ll see.