I don't want to get burnt because of crappy reporting but the numbers in the Sunday Times article that everyone is writing about do not compute.
Michael Smith's "
RAF bombing raids tried to goad Saddam into war" from the Sunday Times:
The new information, obtained by the Liberal Democrats, shows that the allies dropped twice as many bombs on Iraq in the second half of 2002 as they did during the whole of 2001, and that the RAF increased their attacks even more quickly than the Americans did.
During 2000, RAF aircraft patrolling the southern no-fly zone over Iraq dropped 20.5 tons of bombs from a total of 155 tons dropped by the coalition, a mere 13%. During 2001 that figure rose slightly to 25 tons out of 107, or 23%.
However, between May 2002 and the second week in November, when the UN Security Council passed resolution 1441, which Goldsmith said made the war legal, British aircraft dropped 46 tons of bombs a month out of a total of 126.1 tons, or 36%.
The problem with this article is that the numbers don't seem to add up.
- 20.5 tons, 155 tons (per ?)
- 25 tons, 107 tons (per ?}
May 2002 - Mid November 2002: 46 tons, 126.1 tons (per month)
For the 2002 period, the article specifies that the numbers reflect per month but it also states that the allies dropped twice as many bombs in this period than they did for all of 2001. But if 126.1 tons of bombs were dropped per month in 2002 that would mean over 700 tons of bombs were dropped for that six month period which is far more than double 2001's total of 107 tons dropped.
So it's safe to assume that the figures for 2000 and 2001 were per month. And if 155 tons of bombs were dropped per month in 2000, that would be a higher rate than what occurred in the second half of 2002.
It seems to me that this article is purely about the escalation of bombs dropped by the RAF, who dropped a higher percentage than the rest of the allies.
The best I could find was this article by Tariq Ali from October of 2000 in which he remarks on a statement by British Defence Minister Geoff Hoon which reads "Between 20 December 1998 and 17 May 2000, UK aircraft released 78 tons of ordnance over the southern no-fly zone, at an average of 5 tons per month."
Tariq notes "In other words, over the past eighteen months the United States and United Kingdom have rained down some 400 tons of bombs and missiles on Iraq."
But that is inaccurate, as well. The statement only referred to the southern no-fly zone: Operation Southern Watch. So if one assumes that the same amount of bombs were dropped in the northern no-fly zone, Operation Northern Watch, that would mean 800 tons of bombs were dropped in that 18 month period.
Any way you figure it...there's no doubt that the number of bombings increased at the end of 2002, but I think it's wrong to run with this Sunday Times story since it's not very specific.
Now...I'm perfectly willing to delete this diary if someone can dig up official figures for bombs dropped in 2000 and 2001...or otherwise prove me wrong.
Don't get me wrong. I don't support the bombings in any year. But the fact of the matter is that the bombings were going on for years...and that President Clinton did more than his share of bombing.
I think this article is important in regards to Britain's escalation...but not ours.