U.S. Dropped 23,144 Bombs on Muslim Countries in 2015

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U.S. Dropped 23,144 Bombs on Muslim Countries in 2015

Nobel Peace Prize-winner President Obama dropped a serious amount of ordnance last year.

Council of Foreign Relations resident skeptic Micah Zenko recently tallied up how many bombs the United States has dropped on other countries and the results are as depressing as one would think. Zenko figured that since Jan. 1, 2015, the U.S. has dropped around 23,144 bombs on Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia, all countries that are majority Muslim.

The chart, provided by the generally pro-State Department think tank, puts in stark terms how much destruction the U.S. has leveled on other countries. Whether or not one thinks such bombing is justified, it’s a blunt illustration of how much raw damage the United States inflicts on the Muslim world:

It does not appear to be working either. Despite the fact that the U.S. dropped 947 bombs in Afghanistan in 2015, a recent analysis in Foreign Policy magazine found that the Taliban control more territory in Afghanistan than at any point since 2001. The U.S. 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 U.S. 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.

Remarkably, they also claim that alongside the 25,000 fighters killed, only 6 civilians have “likely” been killed in the seventeen-month air campaign. At the same time, officials admit that the size of the group has remained wholly unchanged. In 2014, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) estimated the size of the Islamic State to be between 20,000 and 31,000 fighters, while on Wednesday, Warren again repeated the 30,000 estimate. To summarize the anti-Islamic State bombing calculus: 30,000 – 25,000 = 30,000.

So after more than 20,000 bombs, the U.S. Defense Department only cops to the deaths of six civilians. This is a position largely accepted by the media, which rarely asks who is actually being extinguished by the airstrikes in Syria and Iraq.

In October, 30 civilians died after the U.S. bombed a hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan. The incident is still being investigated, but it has already been revealed that many elements of the original story were either false or deliberately misleading.

House Adopts Anti-Palestinian Resolution, Sustains “Israel’s Right to commit the Highest Crimes”

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House Adopts Anti-Palestinian Resolution, Sustains “Israel’s Right to commit the Highest Crimes”

On Tuesday, a one-sided bipartisan non-binding House resolution with 71 co-sponsors was adopted by voice vote, no opposition registered.

The entire process on an issue this sensitive took 30 minutes, no debate needed. Rubber-stamp approval sufficed, more proof showing Palestinians are on their own, sustained resistance their only recourse. Changing the deplorable status quo is impossible any other way.

Neocon Republican House Foreign Affairs chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen introduced the measure.

AIPAC applauded the resolution, (e)xpressing concern over anti-Israel and anti-Semitic incitement within the Palestinian Authority.” Its statement “condemning the recent wave of Palestinian terrorism in Israel.”

Ros-Lehtinen’s hate-filled comments were quoted, saying “(t)he House has sent a clear message to Palestinian leadership that its anti-Israel incitement causing so much of the recent tension, violence, and terror will no longer be tolerated.”

There should be no doubt that the Palestinian Authority sets the tone with its incitement, resulting in the recent wave of attacks that we’re seeing against innocent Israeli civilians.

Other House members voiced similar sentiments – ignoring longstanding Israeli state terror, wars at its discretion, brutalizing occupation harshness, persecuting an entire population ruthlessly, holding it hostage, stealing its land, murdering its people.

Congress near unanimously supports Israel’s right to commit the highest of high crimes. When Palestinians defend their rights, they’re called “terrorists.”

According to AIPAC, “a wave of Palestinian incitement and terror (is ongoing) throughout the state of Israel. (A)t least a dozen Israelis have been killed and scores more wounded.”

Eight Jews were killed since October 1 in Occupied Palestine, not Israel, only two by stabbings. AIPAC’s silence was deafening, ignoring 75 Palestinians murdered by Israeli soldiers and police over the same time period, thousands injured, many hundreds arrested and brutalized in confinement.

Things aren’t entirely hopeless. Activist Josh Ruebner points out similar pro-Israeli resolutions usually get 200 – 300 co-sponsors.

This measure was first introduced in June. House members took months bringing it to the floor for a vote. Only two Democrats spoke in support of the measure.

When a voice vote was called, many members weren’t on the floor. Most pro-Israeli resolutions show recorded votes so representatives can show their allegiance on the public record.


Still it goes without saying. Virtually the entire Congress one-sidedly supports Israel. Palestinian rights don’t matter. Not a single profile in courage in Washington speaks out on their behalf. No one condemns decades of Israeli high crimes.