Bombing (in the Hollywood sense, too)

Largest Iraq Air Assault Since '03 Begins - Yahoo! News

The United States on Thursday launched what was termed the largest air assault since the U.S.-led invasion, targeting insurgent strongholds north of the capital, the military said.

The U.S. military said Iraqi troops also were involved in the operation aimed at clearing a "suspected insurgent operating area northeast of Samarra."

"More than 1,500 Iraqi and Coalition troops, over 200 tactical vehicles, and more than 50 aircraft participated in the operation," the military statement said.

The military said the operation was expected to continue over several days against insurgent targets in Salahuddin province.

First, recall that Sy Hersh predicted this back in December. Another one of those "no one could have anticipated" moments that the realists did, in fact, anticipate.

Think about what this turn of events means. Iraq is a country over which the U.S. and its puppets have claimed dominion for three years now. A place where a few dead-ender foreign elements have been in the last throes of desperation for most of that time. A place where, as it turns out, the light at the end of the tunnel is the blinding glare of our munitions targeting the purple fingers recently waved in those landmark elections.

And that is the larger point here. There is a massive disconnect between the claim that we are making progress in a democratic Iraq and the very idea that we are resorting to aerial bombardment. It is an unambiguous admission that we don't control the ground. You only drop bombs on your enemies. It is therefore hard to imagine a more visceral refutation of all the bullshit the Bushies have been blowing up our collective asses.

Will the media point out the admission of defeat implicit in this tactic? Yeah, sure. But we have to.