[A-List] Iraq Airstrikes -- Interviews Available

["Yoshie Furuhashi" <critical.montages@xxxxxxxxx>]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Institute for Public Accuracy <dcinstitute@xxxxxxx>
Date: Jan 10, 2008 3:51 PM
Subject: Iraq Airstrikes -- Interviews Available
To: Institute for Public Accuracy <dcinstitute@xxxxxxx>


Institute for Public Accuracy
915 National Press Building, Washington, D.C. 20045
(202) 347-0020 * http://www.accuracy.org * ipa@xxxxxxxxxxxx
___________________________________________________

        PM Thursday, January 10, 2008

        Iraq Airstrikes

        Interviews Available

    AP reports: "U.S. bombers and jet fighters unleashed 40,000 pounds
of explosives on the southern outskirts of Baghdad within 10 minutes
Thursday in one of the biggest airstrikes of the war, flattening what
the military called safe havens for al-Qaida in Iraq."
    Al Jazeera reports that "a local Sunni tribal leader told Al Jazeera
that many civilians were feared dead and 300 families had fled after the
offensive began earlier in the week."
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/34FF8497-B1B6-4739-BB4F-7C500D389CE0.htm

DAHR JAMAIL, cell: (206) 384-6601, mail@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx,
http://dahrjamailiraq.com
    An independent American journalist who has covered Iraq extensively
and now works with Iraqi journalists, Jamail is author of the new book
"Beyond the Green Zone: Dispatches from an Unembedded Journalist in
Occupied Iraq." He said today: "The recent bombing campaign conducted by
the U.S. military highlights the fact that despite Bush administration
claims of 'progress' in Iraq, the situation on the ground remains
largely out of occupation forces' control. With nine U.S. soldiers
killed in two days, B-1 bombers and F-16 fighter jets dropping 20 tons
of bombs in 10 minutes, and the U.S. military once again claiming 'We
certainly have our opponents on the ropes,' we are once again repeating
a scenario we've witnessed countless times in Iraq."

ADAM KOKESH, [in D.C] cell: (505) 470-1917, adam@xxxxxxxx,
http://www.ivaw.org, http://kokesh.blogspot.com
    Kokesh was a sergeant in a Marine Corps Civil Affairs Team in Iraq.
Now co-chair of Iraq Veterans Against the War, Kokesh said today: "This
underscores how inappropriate traditional military tactics are in what
should be a police action, and how an increase in bombing goes against
what we are told the 'surge' is supposed to accomplish, namely creating
space for political reconciliation.
    "We're hearing from our active duty members that there's an increase
in 'search and avoid' missions -- it's a parody of 'search and destroy.'
Instead of engaging the enemy, you call in fake situation reports. And
rather than patrolling and attacking, you just sit under a bridge and
use kids as a go-between to send messages to the local resistance that
we won't mess with you and you don't mess with us. And that's fine with
the resistance. They respect the U.S. troops that don't want to mess
with the Iraqi people, who just want to come back home in one piece.
    "But another thing some troops do is if they're approaching a town
and they get a pot shot, instead of going after whoever did that, they
call in a false report of heavy incoming fire so an airstrike is called.
That might keep down U.S. casualties in the short term, but it increases
the number of killed Iraqi civilians -- and fuels resentment which will
come back to bite you."

For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020, (202) 421-6858; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167
-- 
Yoshie
<http://montages.blogspot.com/>