U.S. BOMBING KILLS 30 IN SADR CITY, REPORTS OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN AMONG DEAD

Once again, we see the U.S. military claiming to kill so many "militants" in Iraq, only to learn afterwards that many of the killed were women and children.

The BBC describes the results of a U.S. air raid on Sadr City yesterday :

"US-led forces have killed 30 militants in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, the US military has said. They said most had died in an air strike following a raid in the Shia district of Sadr City. Twelve people were also detained in the operation.

"The US military said the dead were part of a network that was smuggling weapons from Iran, but witnesses said women and children were among those killed."

First, why is the U.S. command and David Petraeus ordering air strikes of residential areas such as crowded Sadr City? As I have opined here before, air strikes are notoriously imprecise and can be expected to kill many innocent bystanders, residents and civilians. Air planes are instruments of war atrocities, right from the beginning of the use of the air plane in war fare.

Furthermore, killing women and children will never gain "hearts and minds." Imagine if your wife or husband, your child or your mother was the victim of a U.S. bombing raid. How would you feel towards the U.S.? How would you treat the U.S. soldier on the ground patrolling your neighborhood?

Those of us who protested going to war against Iraq could foresee all of these atrocities. This is why Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice and Powell and all the rest who supported or enabled the war are all implicated in war crimes and should be held to account.