[Kzin]

Nice work creating new rebels, boys.

US air strike hits Iraqi family

Several members of the same family, including women and children, have been killed in a US air strike that destroyed their home in northern Iraq.

There was confusion over the number of casualties, but local authorities in the town of Beiji, north of Tikrit, have confirmed at least six dead.

US forces said they acted after seeing three men suspected of planting a roadside bomb enter the house.

The raid has prompted anger among some local political leaders.

US military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Barry Johnson said the men, who ran into the house after digging a hole, were assesed as a threat to civilians and military forces.

"An unmanned aerial vehicle... observed the would-be attackers as they dug a hole following the common pattern of roadside bomb emplacement," he told the AFP news agency.

"The individuals left the road site and were followed from the air to a nearby building. Coalition forces employed precision guided munitions on the structure."

But he did not confirm the number of casualties or whether a roadside bomb has been found.

Local police chief Colonel Sufyan Mustafa said he believed there were no anti-US insurgents present in the house.

"Even if there had been, why didn't they surround the area and detain the terrorists instead?," he told the Reuters news agency.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4577578.stm

[LimaBean]

The surge has worked right?

[Kzin]

Originally Posted by LimaBean

The surge has worked right?

If the goal was to shift the insurgency's focus to the north, yeah:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7213640.stm

If the goal was stopping sectarian violence, not so much:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7202465.stm

If the goal is getting below 130,000 troops in-country any time soon, no:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...013003951.html

... and of course, if the goal is affecting anything about global terrorism, no, we're not even in the right country.

I don't understand how that works... if there was a person within the united states who was suspected of planting a bomb... we wouldn't bomb his house. I understand using these tactics while engaged in a war, but this isn't supposed to be a war anymore. We're supposed to be rebuilding. Is the infrastructure so screwed up that they can't even conduct an investigation and make arrests rather than bombing everything?

[mrlaze]

Originally Posted by vonbraat

I don't understand how that works... if there was a person within the united states who was suspected of planting a bomb... we wouldn't bomb his house. I understand using these tactics while engaged in a war, but this isn't supposed to be a war anymore. We're supposed to be rebuilding. Is the infrastructure so screwed up that they can't even conduct an investigation and make arrests rather than bombing everything?

It really comes down to reduceing the amount of bombs we have, so that the bomb manufacturers can stay emplyoed in these rough economic times.