Thursday, March 16, 2006
Operation Swarmer: Air Strikes Near Samarra, Iraq
Let us hope that Operation Swarmer would succeed in curbing insurgency and the cycle of violence raging in Iraq. For civilians in the area it is a time of terror and anxiety. Deaths of innocent civilians are unavoidable. They receive very little attention. The term collateral damage has ceased to be meaningful. Think of the hapless men, women and children caught in the maelstrom. "U.S. and Iraqi forces today launched a sizeable helicopter and ground attack on a suspected insurgent stronghold northeast of Samarra, the city where a mosque bombing last month triggered a wave of deadly sectarian violence across the country, the U.S. military said. More than 1,500 U.S. and Iraqi troops, more than 200 tactical vehicles and more than 50 aircraft participated in the operation, dubbed "Operation Swarmer," according to a statement released by the U.S. military command in Baghdad."
