Offer void in Muslim countries.

Because of the greatly increased accuracy of modern bombing methods, it must be assumed that, absent an effective air defense or a major retaliatory capability, practically any installation in the world can be struck at will with aerially-delivered high explosive. Consequently, it is not the accuracy but the target selection that is critical, as shown by the destruction of the Amiriyah bomb shelter on February 13, 1991, in which over 408 persons were incinerated, none of them combatants.

The bombing of Baghdad had begun on January 17, 1991. The Amiriyah shelter, also called the Al-Firdos shelter, had been built during the Iran-Iraq war which ran from 1980 to 1988. The designers of the structure were a Finnish firm which turned over the plans to the U.S. military.

Felicity Arbuthnot visited the Amiriyah shelter in 2007 and interviewed a number of people who had witnessed the aftermath of the bombing. She reports:



The breast high 'scum' on the walls, was the flesh of those who perished. On the upper floor is the seared 'shadow' of a mother, holding her baby.

* * * When the fire engines arrived, the rescuers could hear the screams, until they began to fade away - but the great metre thick steel door, with airline type handles to seal it from the inside for safety, was glowing like a furnace, then as it melted, re-sealed itself. Dante, revisited. To have poured water from gaping missile hole in the roof, would have subjected those inside to boiling steam.The fire Chief, the toughest of men, who had seen the unimaginable and directed rescues over many years, faltered as he said, of the remains they finally brought out: 'We thought we were bringing out only children and wondered why they were there alone - then we realised the (adult) bodies had (contracted) to child size with the intensity of the heat.'

Apparently Dick Cheney was out signing his name on bombs the day before.

Let's hear some of the wisdom of Herr Minister Rumsfeld on the Amiriyah attack, from his spew of of March 11, 2003:

For example, on February 13th, 1991, coalition forces fired precision guided bombs at the Amiriyah bunker in Baghdad. The bunker had originally been constructed as an air raid shelter during the Iran-Iraq war. But when -- the latter was converted into a military command and control center.

Unbeknownst to coalition forces, the Iraqi regime had told civilians that it was an air raid shelter, and admitted them to the top floors in the evening. Right beneath them was a military command and control center that was being used by senior Iraqi officials for military communications. We later learned that Saddam Hussein had decreed that all Iraqi military bunkers would also house civilians.

In short, according to Minister Rumsfeld, it wasn't the fault of the bombing community that all those people were burned to death -- no indeed, rather, it was a crime against humanity for Saddam to allow civilians to use air raid shelters in Baghdad, a city then under aerial bombardment.

The truth of the Amiriyah crime (yes, I think I shall call it that) has been shown in the twenty years since. No comparable target has been selected for destruction in any of the numerous wars our nation has been involved in since. That the Amiriyah crime was still on the minds of Rumsfeld and the other conspirators 12 years later, as they prepared their lies for another war against Iraq, shows their very great concern that this had been indeed a crime against humanity.





Afghani children wounded by U.S. bomb

attack, October 2001 (source)

But crime against humanity or no, measured by the standards of World War Two, the Amiriyah bombing was a resounding success. Statistically, under WW2 standards, to kill 400 civilians would have meant lost of 200 aircraft crew, 50 aircraft, and would have required 3,600 tons of bombs. Here, only two bombs of one ton each were necessary, and there were no aircraft or crew losses.

The logical extension of this costless and therefore desirable (for the bombing power) war are robot drone attacks. Using this method, the loss of personnel of the bombing power is reduced almost, but not quite, to zero.

Consider the drone attacks on Pakistan. According to Wikipedia, between 1,667 and 2,614 people have been killed by the 273 drone attacks, or a minimum of 6 people per attack. There are no reliable figures on how many of these people are "militants" and how many not. But since the carrying of arms is almost universal among the men of the Pakistani tribal regions where the Drone Wars are being waged, practically every time a man is killed one could say he was a "militant." "Civilians" which in this context means anyone other than an able-bodied adult male, are also killed, precisely how many is a matter of debate, but the number appears to be significant.

If you trust Wikipedia, there have been a total of 9 CIA operatives and ground targeting personnel killed in the course of the campaign. Again, as with the Amiriyah bombing, the drone campaign is a resounding success for the bombing power. To kill the 1,667 minimum number of people claimed for the drone war would, by WW2 standards, have required the loss of over 800 air crew, making this drone war about 90 times less deadly for the bombing power (that's us) than the air war over Germany.



Destroyed and abandoned aircraft in failed

Iranian hostage rescue, April 1980.

Another great advantage of the Predator drone is avoidance of a potential hostage problem from lost aircrews. Ever since the Iran hostage crisis of 1979-1981, the prime goal of every American presidency has been to prevent anything like a repeat. The domestic consequences of a disaster like the failed hostage rescue were driven home when the Carter re-election was essentially doomed from that point forward.

Conclusion: Bombs away!

The so-called "precision bombs" are valued not for their "humanitarian" targeting, but rather because the the bombing power can use them at a much lower level of risk to its own personnel.

Hence one sees the real attraction of "precision" bombing. One can kill quite a lot more people per bomb dropped, with a much lower rate of loss of air crews and aircraft. This creates the impression, which is basically accurate as far as the bombing power is concerned, that bombing is a bloodless business, and hence, highly desirable as a form of warfare.

The temptation to use this method of warfare, which necessarily focuses on civilian areas, almost ensures that large numbers of civilians will be killed. Check out the Air Strike Tracker at ourbombs.com if you need any confirmation of this. Hence the myth that more accurate bombing will reduce civilian loss of life.