Warning Pamphlets Dropped on Islamic State ‘to Minimize the Risks to Civilians’

In an earlier post Pilots confirm that Obama blocks 75 percent of ISIS strikes, the absurd seemed to know no limits. But apparently not so. We now drop leaflets 45 minutes ahead of bombing sorties in order to “to minimize the risks to civilians.” Are we at war or not? Dresden, the bombing of Japan and turning their cities into glass apparently are remnants of a once great world power who was willing to protect its people at all costs.

“The bottom line is that we will not stoop to the level of our enemy and put civilians more in harm’s way than absolutely necessary,”

A U.S. Central Command official confirmed to the Washington Free Beacon on Monday that warning pamphlets were dropped on Islamic State targets 45 minutes before bombing sorties in order “to minimize the risks to civilians.”

The confirmation comes on the heels of disclosures that U.S. military pilots were blocked from dropping 75 percent of their ordinance on likely targets due to concerns about harming civilians.

“You went 12 full months while ISIS was on the march without the U.S. using that air power and now as the pilots come back to talk to us they say three-quarters of our ordinance we can’t drop, we can’t get clearance even when we have a clear target in front of us,” Royce said at the time. “I don’t understand this strategy at all because this is what has allowed ISIS the advantage and ability to recruit.”

When asked to address Royce’s statement last week, a Pentagon official defended the Obama administration’s policy and said that the military is working to prevent civilian casualties.

“The bottom line is that we will not stoop to the level of our enemy and put civilians more in harm’s way than absolutely necessary,” the official told the Free Beacon, explaining that the military often conducts flights “and don’t strike anything.”

More at Free Beacaon

Filed under: War on Terror Tagged: ISIL, ISIS, Military, Pentagon, Syria