The US is currently dropping bombs on Baghdad

[Robbien]

They say it is a security measure to get rid of the "insurgents". We are bombing the heck out of the poorer section of Baghdad.

Just wanted to emphasize what this new widely advertised "security offensive" is all about. Bombing a city full of civilians.

[democrank]

1. I`m just going to bawl.

What a sickening mess.

[katinmn]

2. US and Israel share identical policies. Kill everyone and

they might just hit a real insurgent with a weapon some day.

I wonder how the Iraqis feel about their "liberators" today.

[hootinholler]

13. I thought you were going to say kill everyone and

Let God sort 'em out.

As to feelings, I think they feel about the same towards us. We can settle down the situation quickly by turning on the electricity and water.

-Hoot

[marylanddem]

3. I am ashamed of my country, so ashamed, so angry

[Toots]

4. As Condi says "Time well spent"

Killing Arabs is the Bush* Administration's idea of "Time well spent"

[ananda]

12. Time well spent...

... like his misspent youth blowing up frogs?

[theHandpuppet]

5. Any new links, Robbien?

Is this just the latest war crime being flown beneath the radar of the MSM?

[Robbien]

11. I saw it on late night CNNI and articles reference "air support"

such as:

Just yesterday, for instance, as part of the new American operation to -- somehow -- seize control of the situation in civil-war wracked Baghdad, American forces launched an attack on Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi militia in the capital's heavily populated Shiite slum, Sadr City. As a Bloomberg News Service piece put headlined its piece: "Iraq, U.S. Forces Raid Sadr City to Calm Baghdad." Aha. "Calm," it seems, was to be imposed not just by ground troops but from the air by helicopter assault (though even the best accounts of the operation offer few details on just what those helicopters did). We do know that this calming raid managed to kill three people, including a woman and a child, wound others, and destroy three homes. It also left the Iraqi Prime Minister a good deal less than calm. Simply firing into urban areas this way should be considered inconceivable rather than, as now, a problem-solving approach to the disaster that is Baghdad.
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=22&ItemID=10730

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said he had not authorised what he called Sunday’s "unjustified" night time assault by Iraqi troops and US advisers on a target in the impoverished east Baghdad suburb of Sadr City.

The raid, which the defence ministry and US-led coalition said had targeted a death squad, triggered a clash with Shia gunmen loyal to radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, whose movement is part of Maliki’s coalition.

Coalition aircraft were called into action after the Iraqi army snatch squad came under fire, and at least three civilians were killed.

Speaking on state television, Maliki said such raids "should not happen again in order to protect the reconciliation process.
http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=101639&version=1&template_id=42&parent_id=18

[leftchick]

20. Here is an airstrike from north east of Baghdad

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=1859954&mesg_id=1859954

:(

[emald]

6. guess they are just going to sanitize the area

just like isunreal is doing in lebanon. clear hole hectares of ground by pulverizing with 1k lb bombs. impersonal. unfortunately for the Iraqi's in the way, it's not going to be a good day.

[malaise]

7. Bushco doesn't care

Human life only matters if it's in a test tube.
Just wanted to emphasize what this new widely advertised "security offensive" is all about. Bombing a city full of civilians.

[Double T]

8. 'Monkey' See (Bombing Innocent Civilians Throughout Lebananon).........

'Monkey' Do (Restart Bombing Of Innocent Civilians In Baghdad)

[PA Democrat]

9. Even if the disgusting disregard for the lives of innocents does not

trouble the warmongers, I would still like to know how the inevitable killing of civilians makes us any safer?

[elehhhhna]

10. Didn't you hear? Insurgents = Voters/Citizens. Ask Joe.

[mmonk]

14. Yes

I think this operation has been in planning as things began deteriorating. This empire shit has come apart at the seams and will just get bloodier unless we begin to redeploy.

[mmonk]

15. Important because it affects us all

and our loved ones.:kick:

[Philosoraptor]

16. gosh, i hope we didn't forget to drop leaflets.

you know, to be fair.

[redqueen]

17. Well that's one way to stop any news of the civil war...

just bomb both sides all to hell and gone.

Frickin pure evil...

[theHandpuppet]

18. I think this thread deserves a lot more recommendations

Just to give some of our own war crimes some of the spotlight today.

[glitch]

24. I think you are right. K & R nt

[Justice Is Comin]

19. bush you are a left over communist prick.

[soothsayer]

21. They're feeling real pressure (election-wise) to get the war under

control. Rotsa ruck!

[bigtree]

22. Maliki is pissed

August 9, 2006

Maliki's anger exposes growing rift with US and Iraqi military

Mr Maliki's criticism followed a predawn air and ground attack in Sadr City, the stronghold of the radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and his Mahdi Army. Police said three people, including a woman and a child, were killed in the raid, which the US command said was aimed at "individuals involved in punishment and torture cell activities".

Mr Maliki, a Shiite, said he was "very angered and pained" by the operation, warning that it could undermine his efforts towards national reconciliation.

"Reconciliation cannot go hand in hand with operations that violate the rights of citizens this way," Mr Maliki said."This operation used weapons that are unreasonable to detain someone - like using planes."

He apologised to the Iraqi people for the operation and said "this won't happen again".

The President, Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, also met the top US commander in Iraq, George Casey, to discuss security. "It is in no one's interest to have a confrontation" with Mr Sadr's movement, Mr Talabani was said to have told General Casey.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/malikis-anger-exposes-growing-rift-with-us-and-iraqi-military/2006/08/08/1154802890470.html#

[burythehatchet]

23. Kabuki Theater

[ChairmanAgnostic]

25. from whom do you think israel learned how?

bastards, blood-thirsty bastards.

If we weren't there, there would be more peace.
maybe not a "permanent, sustainable peace {FUCK YOU, CONDI)", but a peace nevertheless.

[long_green]

26. As a poster indicates above, we are attacking Shia-controlled

areas. The Shia strongholds are in the eastern part of Baghdad generally. One of the few things keeping a lid on Iraq was the belief on the part of the Shia that they will control the country when we inevitably leave. Take that away and our overmatched forces will find themselves outnumbered 150 to 1 instead of just 30 to 1. This sort of myopia is starting to remind me of MacArthur's ignorance in pressing north towards China in 1950 despite accumulating intelligence indicating imminent Chinese entry into the war.

[AntiFascist]

27. Could this be a form of ethnic cleansing?

Anything is possible under Bush.

[Comadreja]

28. In exterminator lingo guess what "calming" an ant nest means?

You guessed it...."Bug Bombing" it to extermination.