US general says carpet bombing against 'our values'

inn ^ | 2/1/16 | Gil Ronen

[Nachum]

Army Lt. Gen. Sean MacFarland, the US commander in charge of the coalition fighting Islamic State (ISIS) in Iraq and Syria, said Monday that carpet bombing the terrorists would be "inconsistent with our values."

The remark is seen as being aimed at Republican presidential candidate Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX).

In December, Cruz pledged to "utterly destroy ISIS," and vowed: "We will carpet-bomb them into oblivion." He even hinted at the use of nuclear weapons, saying: "I don't know if sand can glow in the dark, but we're going to find out."

After being asked to explain why carpet bombing would not be an effective strategy against ISIS, MacFarland told reporters the US was "bound by the laws of armed conflict."

"We're the United States of America. We have a set of guiding principles," he said. "Indiscriminate bombing, where we don't care if we're killing innocents or combatants, is just inconsistent with our values."

MacFarland said that carpet bombing is precisely what Russia is accused of doing in its own air campaign in Syria, in support of Bashar al-Assad.

He added: "Right now we have the moral high ground, and I think that's where we need to stay."

MacFarland claimed the anti-ISIS campaign is making progress in both Iraq and Syria, and that the jihadists had lost about 40% of the territory they had held.

[Bobalu]

Gen. Sean MacFarland is a pussy!

Find another Lemay!

[MrB]

Wars are not won by precision bombing.

To win a war, you kill enough people and break enough things that the enemy stops fighting rather than take any more.

[oh8eleven]

Am I glad this pencil-neck, MF wasn't around during WWII ... we'd all be speaking Japanese or German.
He's the type that gets other people killed.

[jpsb]

Fire that general!

[faithhopecharity]

Dresden, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Tokyo, Hamburg, Belgrade...

tough, yes.

worked? yes.

this general guy needs to go back to Officer Training School

[Robert A Cook PE]

Yeah. And this is one of the guys Obola promoted, right?

So, how come the Russians are winning?

[oh8eleven]

We should bomb Vietnam back into the stone age.- Curtis LeMay.
If you kill enough of them, they stop fighting. - Curtis LeMay

[Gene Eric]

Trump is correct when he argues that military officials must not publicly describe their desires and intentions.

[notdownwidems]

MacFarland claimed the anti-ISIS campaign is making progress in both Iraq and Syria, and that the jihadists had lost about 40% of the territory they had held.

Yes, as a result of the Russians' 'carpet bombing'!

[Lurkinanloomin]

That’s why we haven’t won a war since 1945....when we did carpet bomb.

[Keen-Minded]

I Agree!

[sparklite2]

Roberta Flack’s “Killing Me Softly” was just a song,
not a blueprint for kinder, gentler warfare.

[Pollster1]

Killing terrorist thugs is against Obama's values, but it's an American tradition and a good one!

The great questions of the day will not be settled by means of speeches and majority decisions but by iron and blood.
- Otto von Bismarck (okay, he's German, but he was a man)

The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.
- George S. Patton

[DuncanWaring]

Tokyo, May 1945 (one of several similar attacks):

[Opinionated Blowhard]

Values are a funny thing. When you are living in luxury and in a safe little cocoon, you have a lot of values. When you are fighting for your survival, values go out the window. This general doesn’t realize that we are fighting for our survival, just like our politicians don’t realize that we are fighting for our survival when then arrogantly say that controlling our borders is against our values.

[Timocrat]

Indiscriminate bombing, where we don't care if we're killing innocents or combatants, is just inconsistent with our values."

So Tokyo, Hiroshima, Nagasaki in 1945, Dresden in 1944/45, Berlin 1944/45, Hanoi in 1972 were inconsistent with our values ?

[TexasFreeper2009]

So basically current panzy ass general says to WW2 generals, you guys are mean! and your actions during the WW2 didn’t display our American values!

lol

[Night Hides Not]

I checked this guy out: he's responsible for the "Sunni Awakening" in Ramadi. That really worked out well, didn't it?

Given the choice, I'll take Sam Damon (Jay Garner) over Courtney Massengale every time. LTG MacFarland is treading very closely to Court's side of the fence.

[Rebelbase]

Exactly. The military needs to keep it’s mouth shut.

[The Sons of Liberty]

US general says carpet bombing against 'our values'

The 0bamunist Butt Kisser is just echoing his master's words - "that's not who we are". We need to get a REAL Commander in Chief to restore the military!