NP? Flaws in U.S. Air War Left Hundreds of Civilians Dead

[Doug Millison]

...apparent confirmation of those "alternative media" reports that
triggered such suspicion among the war cheerleaders not so very long ago in
this forum:

Flaws in U.S. Air War Left Hundreds of Civilians Dead
By DEXTER FILKINS

KABUL, Afghanistan - The American air campaign in Afghanistan, based on a
high-tech, out-of-harm's-way strategy, has produced a pattern of mistakes
that have killed hundreds of Afghan civilians.

On-site reviews of 11 locations where airstrikes killed as many as 400
civilians suggest that American commanders have sometimes relied on
mistaken information from local Afghans. Also, the Americans' preference
for airstrikes instead of riskier ground operations has cut off a way of
checking the accuracy of the intelligence.

The reviews, over a six-month period, found that the Pentagon's use of
overwhelming force meant that even when truly military targets were
located, civilians were sometimes killed. The 11 sites visited accounted
for many of the principal places where Afghans and human rights groups
claim that civilians have been killed. [...]  The war in Afghanistan is not
the first time that differences have risen between what pilots thought they
hit and what was found on the ground later. Nor is it the first time that
questions have risen about civilian casualties from American airstrikes.

After 78 days of airstrikes over Serbia in 1999, American military
officials conceded that damage to the Yugoslav Army was far less extensive
than originally thought. In those raids, Human Rights Watch, an American
organization, said at least 500 civilians had been killed.

American commanders say they have not kept track of civilian deaths in
Afghanistan, but they say their strategy has succeeded. Earlier this year,
Gen. Tommy R. Franks, the head of Central Command, called the Afghan
campaign "the most accurate war ever fought in this nation's history." The
military also takes solace in relatively low American casualties, including
37 soldiers killed. [...]

Field workers with Global Exchange, an American organization that has sent
survey teams into Afghan villages, say they have compiled a list of 812
Afghan civilians who were killed by American airstrikes. They say they
expect that number to grow as their survey teams reach more remote
villages. [...]


http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/21/international/asia/21CIVI.html







http://www.nandotimes.com/special_reports/terrorism/economics/story/467363p-3736
531c.html

Production up at U.S. weapons makers

Copyright © 2002 AP Online

By MATT KELLEY, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (July 16, 2002 12:52 a.m. EDT) - U.S. weapons makers have
doubled the production rate of laser-guided bombs, added a shift to
assemble satellite-guided bomb tailkits and boosted output at one
ammunition factory to its highest level in 15 years. [...]

"One thing they need to do is bring the stockpiles up, particularly of the
laser-guided bombs and JDAMs and Tomahawk missiles."

JDAM stands for Joint Direct Attack Munition, the satellite-guided bomb
that has been a favorite U.S. weapon in the war in Afghanistan. Military
planners love the JDAM for its pinpoint accuracy and relatively low cost of
less than $25,000 each.

About 9,000 new JDAMs have been built this year, compared with about 10,000
total by the end of last year. Analysts have estimated that more than half
of the first 10,000 JDAMs were used in Afghanistan and even more would be
needed for an attack on Iraq.

The military still has only a fraction of the 40,000 to 50,000 JDAMs it
wants, said analyst John Pike of GlobalSecurity.org. [...]

Pike said one Navy admiral has credited the JDAM with increasing the
lethality of an aircraft carrier fivefold. [...]

A Boeing Co. factory in St. Charles, Mo., assembles the JDAM kits, which
fit over the tail of 1,000-pound or 2,000-pound "dumb" bombs to turn them
into satellite-guided weapons.

Earlier this year, the factory added a second shift of workers to increase
production from about 1,000 kits per month to 1,500, said Boeing spokesman
Robert Algarotti. The company plans to boost production even further, to
2,000 per month by the end of the year and 2,800 per month by the middle of
2003.

Those rates would add another 20,000 or more JDAMs to the U.S. arsenal
within a year and about 37,000 by the end of 2003. At the highest rate,
Boeing could make enough JDAMs to fill out the 40,000 stockpile in about 14
months.

Raytheon Co. makes laser-guided bombs at a factory in Tucson, Ariz. That
factory has added a partial third shift, doubled its production rate and is
delivering the laser-guided bombs five months ahead of schedule, Raytheon
spokeswoman Sara Hammond said.

Citing competitive reasons, Hammond declined to discuss the precise number
and rates of laser-guided bombs being made. [...]


While Raytheon does not have a contract to make more Tomahawks, it has sped
up the process of upgrading older missiles, Hammond said. The company
recently finished upgrading 644 of the missiles six months ahead of
schedule, she said.

At the Lake City Army Ammunition Plant in Independence, Mo., production is
at its highest rate in 15 years - higher than during the Gulf War. The
plant recently got a $92 million contract to make 265 million rounds of
small-caliber ammunition for the Army. [...]



"Don't forget the real business of the War is buying and selling. The
murdering and the violence are self-policing, and can be entrusted to
non-professionals. The mass nature of wartime death is useful in many ways.
It serves as spectacle, as diversion from the real movements of the War. It
provides raw material to be recorded into History, so that children may be
taught History as sequences of violence, battle after battle, and be more
prepared for the adult world. Best of all, mass death's a stimulus to just
ordinary folks, little fellows, to try 'n' grab a piece of that Pie while
they're still here to gobble it up. The true war is a celebration of
markets." (GR 105)