Posted on 04/16/2015 7:22:21 PM PDT by BenLurkin
Pentagon officials, who pride themselves on the care they take to avoid civilian casualties, have watched with growing alarm as Saudi airstrikes have hit what the U.N. this week called "dozens of public buildings," including hospitals, schools, residential areas and mosques. The U.N. said at least 364 civilians have been killed in the campaign.
Although U.S. personnel don't pick the bombing targets, Americans are working beside Saudi military officials to check the accuracy of target lists in a joint operations center in Riyadh, defense officials said. The Pentagon has expedited delivery of GPS-guided "smart" bomb kits to the Saudi air force to replenish supplies.
The U.S. role was quietly stepped up last week after the civilian death toll rose sharply. The number of U.S. personnel was increased from 12 to 20 in the operations center to help vet targets and to perform more precise calculations of bomb blast areas to help avoid civilian casualties. U.S. reconnaissance drones now send live video feeds of potential targets and of damage after the bombs hit. The Air Force also began daily refueling flights last week to top off Saudi and United Arab Emirates fighter jets in midair, outside Yemen's borders, so they can quickly return to the war.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
was the US rate of civilian deaths any different??
The rest of the world doesn’t play with silly ROE like the Americans.
They play to win.
And they do target mosques.
Another resounding Obama foreign policy success...
The Saudis would be well advised to tell the Obama administration that since one of his goals as president is to reduce US influence around the world, now would be a good time to start.
An administration without the fortitude or conviction for the cost and prosecution of war. Totally embarrassing and disgusting.
We should not be advising the Saudis on any of this.
Let them do the deeds and get the blame.
Yes, we played nice, allowing our enemies to determine where and when we could "attach combatants," while they hit innocents left and right.
When you go to war, you must go to war to win, not to come to a draw.
I truly believe that, in some perverted way, Obama considers the Iranians his ally.
Well, they are only the “Lesser Shiite Muslims” which are less than Jews, Christians or dogs .... at this point, what difference does it make?
The DiC is a wuss....so is his SOS
It’s called war! You wage war to win, you don’t pamper your enemies.
Yes civilians get hurt and killed in wars, that is part of the cost.
War should and must be so horrible, so terrifying, that your enemies never desire to resort to it again.
If you expect to win, you have to kill until your enemies surrender unconditionally.
Well, they were pushed. Thanks, Obama.
The great generation of Americans during WWII fought to win. Allies being led by Americans destroyed entire cities in Germany and Japan. Fire-bombing of Dresden and Tokyo killed many hundreds of thousands of civilians, for each city in one day. That's not including the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The rest of the world is wondering what happened to American resolve to win wars. We used to play to win.
Wars are not won with gloves on.
That’s what it takes
There are no civilians in a war zone.
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