Since January 1, 2015, the US has dropped around 23,144 bombs on Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia, according to an official from the American think-tank the Council on Foreign Relations.
Micah Zenko worked out that the US has dropped 22,110 on Iraq and Syria, 947 on Afghanistan, 58 on Yemen, 18 on Somalia and 11 on Pakistan.
The sources for his data were the Combined Forces Air Component Commander 2010-2015 Airpower Statistics; information requested from the CJTF-Operation Inherent Resolve Public Affairs Office; the New America Foundation; the Long War Journal; and The Bureau of Investigative Journalism.
The US has entered its 16th year of war in Afghanistan despite several promises by the Obama administration to withdraw. In October of last year, President Obama reversed his position and decided to keep American troops in Afghanistan until the end of 2017.
The last four US presidents have bombed Iraq, and that includes the current one since airstrikes were launched on Aug. 7, 2014.
The war against ISIS was originally framed as a “limited,” “humanitarian” intervention. Since then, former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has insisted it will be a “30-year war” and the White House has spoken vaguely of a “long-term effort” in both Iraq and Syria.
Another red flag Zenko noted was the complete lack of civilian deaths being tallied as a result of those 23,144 bombs.
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Meanwhile, Zenko also says that President Barack Obama has “institutionalized and normalized the use of drones to target various militant and terrorist suspects.”
According to statistics he complied about post-9/11 non-battlefield drone strikes, there have been approximately 550 strikes – 50 under George Bush and 500 under Obama – which have cumulatively killed an estimated 3,405 militants and 470 civilians.
