Military Confirms Surge in Airstrikes

Military Confirms Surge in Airstrikes

By Bradley Graham
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, December 24, 2005; A14

U.S. airstrikes in Iraq have surged this fall, jumping to nearly five
times the average monthly rate earlier in the year, according to U.S.
military figures.
Until the end of August, U.S. warplanes were conducting about 25 strikes
a month. The number rose to 62 in September, then to 122 in October and
120 in November.
Several U.S. officers involved in operations in Iraq attributed much of
the increase to a series of ground offensives in western Anbar province.
Those offensives, conducted by U.S. Marines and Iraqi forces, were aimed
at clearing foreign fighters and other insurgents from the Euphrates
River Valley and establishing Iraqi control over the Syrian border area.
But Air Force Maj. Gen. Allen G. Peck, deputy commander of the U.S. air
operations center in the region, said the higher strike numbers also
reflected more aggressive military operations in other parts of Iraq that
were undertaken to improve security for last week's national elections.
"I'm hard-pressed to provide a single definitive explanation for the
increase," Peck said in a telephone interview.
For most airstrikes in Iraq, U.S. crews have been employing 500-pound,
precision-guided bombs rather than the 1,000- or 2,000-pound versions
used in past conflicts, Peck said. The smaller bombs are intended to
reduce the potential for collateral damage.
In limited cases, the 100-pound Hellfire missile is used. "It won't knock
down a house, but it can be effective in taking out a car," Peck said.
With the Pentagon preparing to reduce the level of U.S. ground forces in
Iraq next year, some defense experts have speculated that U.S. airpower
will be used more intensively to support operations by Iraq's fledgling
security forces and protect U.S. advisers embedded with them. Indeed,
American commanders have said that U.S. air forces in the region will not
be drawn down as quickly as ground forces.