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Trump Is Dropping Bombs at Unprecedented Levels
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Pelle Svanslös
Aug 9, 2017, 5:08:50 PM8/9/17
to
Throughout the 2016 campaign, many people opposed to Donald Trump’s
candidacy were nonetheless reluctant to endorse Hillary Clinton, in part
because of her relative hawkishness. Candidate Trump had a decades-long
career in the public eye that demonstrated plenty of reason to worry he
would be a disastrous president, but he lacked the long career in public
service that fueled worries about Clinton’s approach to the use of
force, and her alleged desire to expand executive war-making powers past
what she inherited from her predecessor.
Six months into Trump’s presidency, we now have enough data to assess
his own approach. The results are clear: Judging from Trump’s embrace of
the use of air power — the signature tactic of U.S. military
intervention — he is the most hawkish president in modern history. Under
Trump, the United States has dropped about 20,650 bombs through July 31,
or 80 percent the number dropped under Obama for the entirety of 2016.
At this rate, Trump will exceed Obama’s last-year total by Labor Day.
In Iraq and Syria, data shows that the United States is dropping bombs
at unprecedented levels. In July, the coalition to defeat the Islamic
State (read: the United States) dropped 4,313 bombs, 77 percent more
than it dropped last July. In June, the number was 4,848 — 1,600 more
bombs than were dropped in any one month under President Barack Obama
since the anti-ISIS campaign started three years ago.
In Afghanistan, the number of weapons released has also shot up since
Trump took office. April saw more bombs dropped in the country since the
height of Obama’s troop surge in 2012. That was also the month that the
United States bombed Afghanistan’s Mamand Valley with the largest
non-nuclear bomb ever dropped in combat.In Iraq and Syria, data shows
that the United States is dropping bombs at unprecedented levels. In
July, the coalition to defeat the Islamic State (read: the United
States) dropped 4,313 bombs, 77 percent more than it dropped last July.
In June, the number was 4,848 — 1,600 more bombs than were dropped in
any one month under President Barack Obama since the anti-ISIS campaign
started three years ago.
Trump has also escalated U.S. military involvement in non-battlefield
settings — namely Yemen, Somalia, and Pakistan. In the last 193 days of
the Obama presidency, there were 21 lethal counterterrorism operations
across these three countries. Trump has quintupled that number,
conducting at least 92 such operations in Yemen, seven in Somalia, and
four in Pakistan.
Hand in hand with Trump’s enthusiasm for air power comes a
demonstrated tolerance for civilian casualties.
Increased air power in Iraq and Syria has resulted in
unprecedented levels of civilian deaths.
Even by the military’s own count, civilian casualties have soared since
Trump took office, though independent monitors tally the deaths as many
as ten times higher. In Afghanistan, Trump’s tolerance for killing
civilians has led to 67 percent more civilian casualties in his first
six months than in the first half of 2016, according to the United Nations.
The expansion of air power and acceptance of civilian harm are together
a problem, but they are made worse by the fact that they are occurring
without any diplomatic strategy to wind down the wars.
The counter-Islamic State strategy review that Trump ordered in January
has twice missed deadlines the president set for himself and remains
incomplete. Secretary of Defense James Mattis promised Sen. John McCain
(R-Ariz.) that he would have a strategy for the war in Afghanistan by
mid-July, yet that review is still ongoing. Even while Mattis has called
for a diplomatic solution to the conflict in Yemen, the approach is
incoherent with Trump’s doubling-down on airstrikes and support for the
Saudi-led coalition conducting its own indiscriminate bombing campaign.
The connection between increased air power and a reduction in
hostilities is made even more tenuous by the gutting of the State
Department, which Trump has proposed cutting funding by around 30
percent and for which dozens of critical senior posts remain vacant.
Without the expertise and resources of a fully staffed diplomatic corps,
it’s implausible that there will ever be a U.S.-led or U.S.-supported
negotiated political settlement between combatants. In the absence of
any coordinated approach to ending these conflicts, Trump is resorting
to the default tactic that policymakers have become addicted to over the
past nine years: low-cost, low-risk (to U.S. service members) standoff
strikes. Under Trump, that military addiction has deepened, demonstrably so.
http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/08/09/donald-trump-is-dropping-bombs-at-unprecedented-levels/
So much for the peace dividend bob was hoping for. bob wanted US
involvement in the ME conflicts to end, not happening. And the moneys
that spent on arms to be put in education and healthcare. Isn't
happening. Betsy DeVos is a neutron bomb to public schooling in ther US
and military spending just keeps rising.
Poor bob.
candidacy were nonetheless reluctant to endorse Hillary Clinton, in part
because of her relative hawkishness. Candidate Trump had a decades-long
career in the public eye that demonstrated plenty of reason to worry he
would be a disastrous president, but he lacked the long career in public
service that fueled worries about Clinton’s approach to the use of
force, and her alleged desire to expand executive war-making powers past
what she inherited from her predecessor.
Six months into Trump’s presidency, we now have enough data to assess
his own approach. The results are clear: Judging from Trump’s embrace of
the use of air power — the signature tactic of U.S. military
intervention — he is the most hawkish president in modern history. Under
Trump, the United States has dropped about 20,650 bombs through July 31,
or 80 percent the number dropped under Obama for the entirety of 2016.
At this rate, Trump will exceed Obama’s last-year total by Labor Day.
In Iraq and Syria, data shows that the United States is dropping bombs
at unprecedented levels. In July, the coalition to defeat the Islamic
State (read: the United States) dropped 4,313 bombs, 77 percent more
than it dropped last July. In June, the number was 4,848 — 1,600 more
bombs than were dropped in any one month under President Barack Obama
since the anti-ISIS campaign started three years ago.
In Afghanistan, the number of weapons released has also shot up since
Trump took office. April saw more bombs dropped in the country since the
height of Obama’s troop surge in 2012. That was also the month that the
United States bombed Afghanistan’s Mamand Valley with the largest
non-nuclear bomb ever dropped in combat.In Iraq and Syria, data shows
that the United States is dropping bombs at unprecedented levels. In
July, the coalition to defeat the Islamic State (read: the United
States) dropped 4,313 bombs, 77 percent more than it dropped last July.
In June, the number was 4,848 — 1,600 more bombs than were dropped in
any one month under President Barack Obama since the anti-ISIS campaign
started three years ago.
Trump has also escalated U.S. military involvement in non-battlefield
settings — namely Yemen, Somalia, and Pakistan. In the last 193 days of
the Obama presidency, there were 21 lethal counterterrorism operations
across these three countries. Trump has quintupled that number,
conducting at least 92 such operations in Yemen, seven in Somalia, and
four in Pakistan.
Hand in hand with Trump’s enthusiasm for air power comes a
demonstrated tolerance for civilian casualties.
Increased air power in Iraq and Syria has resulted in
unprecedented levels of civilian deaths.
Even by the military’s own count, civilian casualties have soared since
Trump took office, though independent monitors tally the deaths as many
as ten times higher. In Afghanistan, Trump’s tolerance for killing
civilians has led to 67 percent more civilian casualties in his first
six months than in the first half of 2016, according to the United Nations.
The expansion of air power and acceptance of civilian harm are together
a problem, but they are made worse by the fact that they are occurring
without any diplomatic strategy to wind down the wars.
The counter-Islamic State strategy review that Trump ordered in January
has twice missed deadlines the president set for himself and remains
incomplete. Secretary of Defense James Mattis promised Sen. John McCain
(R-Ariz.) that he would have a strategy for the war in Afghanistan by
mid-July, yet that review is still ongoing. Even while Mattis has called
for a diplomatic solution to the conflict in Yemen, the approach is
incoherent with Trump’s doubling-down on airstrikes and support for the
Saudi-led coalition conducting its own indiscriminate bombing campaign.
The connection between increased air power and a reduction in
hostilities is made even more tenuous by the gutting of the State
Department, which Trump has proposed cutting funding by around 30
percent and for which dozens of critical senior posts remain vacant.
Without the expertise and resources of a fully staffed diplomatic corps,
it’s implausible that there will ever be a U.S.-led or U.S.-supported
negotiated political settlement between combatants. In the absence of
any coordinated approach to ending these conflicts, Trump is resorting
to the default tactic that policymakers have become addicted to over the
past nine years: low-cost, low-risk (to U.S. service members) standoff
strikes. Under Trump, that military addiction has deepened, demonstrably so.
http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/08/09/donald-trump-is-dropping-bombs-at-unprecedented-levels/
So much for the peace dividend bob was hoping for. bob wanted US
involvement in the ME conflicts to end, not happening. And the moneys
that spent on arms to be put in education and healthcare. Isn't
happening. Betsy DeVos is a neutron bomb to public schooling in ther US
and military spending just keeps rising.
Poor bob.
calim...@gmx.de
Aug 9, 2017, 5:13:45 PM8/9/17
to
Max
TT
Aug 9, 2017, 5:28:58 PM8/9/17
to
bossed around by the generals. And Putin.
calim...@gmx.de
Aug 9, 2017, 5:30:28 PM8/9/17
to
Which is a good thing.
No more whimping around like Obama.
Max
TT
Aug 9, 2017, 5:36:30 PM8/9/17
to
Besides, things are better handled with treaties than wars. Iran would
be a prime example, a treaty which Trump has tried to fuck up to best of
his ability.
TT
Aug 9, 2017, 5:38:52 PM8/9/17
to
Maybe Scaradouche was even worse.
bob
Aug 9, 2017, 6:08:52 PM8/9/17
to
On Thu, 10 Aug 2017 00:08:47 +0300, Pelle Svanslös <pe...@svans.los>
wrote:
our involvement in ME wars do need to end. our CAUSING things in the
ME needs to end.
if this the means to that end, hopefully, so be it. from what i've
read even from democrats, ISIS is reeling, lost their capital, and is
downgraded quite a bit from a year ago.
bob
wrote:
ME needs to end.
if this the means to that end, hopefully, so be it. from what i've
read even from democrats, ISIS is reeling, lost their capital, and is
downgraded quite a bit from a year ago.
bob
bob
Aug 9, 2017, 6:10:31 PM8/9/17
to
him like a rock star. lol
bob
undecided
Aug 9, 2017, 7:41:58 PM8/9/17
to
The Iceberg
Aug 10, 2017, 5:21:46 PM8/10/17
to
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