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The Independent: Biden called off second Syria strike after last minute warning of woman and children at target site

Aaron

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This was apparently scheduled to happen at the same time as the first strike that was reported earlier:

Joe Biden called off an airstrike on a second target in Syria at the last minute after intelligence reported the presence of a woman and children at the site.

Following 10 days of deliberations, Mr Biden had ordered the Pentagon to proceed with strikes on two Iranian-backed militia targets in Syria on 26 February. The strikes were in response to the rocket attack against US forces in northern Iraq in mid-February.

The president received an urgent warning from an aide just 30 minutes before the bombs were set to fall, according to reporting by The Wall Street Journal.

Battlefield reconnaissance reported a woman with children in a courtyard at one site, and the president cancelled the order to strike that target with F-15E aircraft already in the air for the mission.
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Source

Say what you will about Biden, Trump (and if we're being realistic, probably Obama) would have carried out the strike without a moment's hesitation.
 
vixolus

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I'm pretty sure this was reported around the same time of the first strike (even though the Wall Street Journal source The Independent is sourcing was today).

Edit: I can't seem to find a source for my claim very quickly, I just recall seeing either tweets from reporters or whatever about a second one being called off after intelligence of potential civilians in the strike zone.
 
Richiek

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Interesting to see how many responses this thread will get.
 
Sulik2

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Maybe, just maybe we shouldn't be bombing people in the middle east still, because it doesn't seem like the past 30 years of bombing everyone in the middle east has accomplished much. How about a change of plans? You know just saying.
 

Radd Redd

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Oct 27, 2017
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Better than his predecessor. Glad he won. This country is better with Biden as President.
 

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Aaron said:
This was apparently scheduled to happen at the same time as the first strike that was reported earlier:


Source

Say what you will about Biden, Trump (and if we're being realistic, probably Obama) would have carried out the strike without a moment's hesitation.
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I wonder about that, actually. Not to shit on Biden doing an objectively good thing, of course.

I just wonder if both Trump and Obama avoided air strikes in situations with a certain number of civilians, but we'll hear about it more here. As I doubt we hear about every air strike opportunity.

Again, this isn't trashing Biden or defending Trump/Obama. This is a good thing thst happened regardless.
 
mael

mael

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Nov 3, 2017
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The difference with the predecessor!
That orange would have asked for doubling the number of bombs being dropped.
 
Slash

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Very good, and this post from yesterday has me optimistic that the new administration is treating this stuff a lot different from Obama's shit.

www.resetera.com

Biden limits operational eligibility for drone strikes

Posted by discotheque https://twitter.com/charlie_savage/status/1367263913709043716 https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/03/us/politics/biden-drones.html
www.resetera.com www.resetera.com
 
Chopchop

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Oct 25, 2017
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That's good. It's too easy for a country to just drop bombs and pretend they didn't see any innocents there.
 
mutantmagnet

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Richiek said:
Interesting to see how many responses this thread will get.
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I would guess the same amount as the last two. I just wonder how many will continue to equivocate Biden and Trump/Obama as the same.

I'm glad he's trying to avoid civilian casualties but he needs to go a step beyond this and have a strategy that deescalates better than this.

ElectricBlanketFire said:
Why would a thread where something didn't happen get more replies than if it did?

We can't do this for 4 years.
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I'm guessing you missed the zero civilian casualties thread.
 
Huncho_Houdini

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Good for him but I am not applauding what I consider to be basic decency, and I don't plan to compare everything to Trump for the rest of my life with regards to politics. The overarching problem remains.

It's easy to say things will be different but we have decades of evidence of the USAs actions in the Middle East. One action such as this, though mildly encouraging, doesn't change that. This action did likely spare the lives of a few people and I'm sure they are happy about this, whether they know it or not, and that is indeed important.
 

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Xando

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I don't know if hailing someone for not killing kids or woman is a good standard. Stop bombing anyone.
 
Slash

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Xando said:
I don't know if hailing someone for not killing kids or woman is a good standard
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Sure, but I remember a lot of posts here last year basically saying that Biden would be a return to Obama's policies of drone strikes on civilians, so I think it's important to point out that he's clearly using a different approach.
 
vixolus

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Kain-Nosgoth said:
Basically this... Also what would have happened if it was only men?
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They'd have been targeted. It's not exactly news that men are more expendable than women and children in combat scenarios. And it's not like I can say with certainty, but it's likely men at a targeted site are all soldiers (aka targets).
 
Mar Tuuk

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Wonder how Obama would feel? He specifically defended his position on drones in his memoirs
 
Trey

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he would've smoked their boots if he didn't get intelligence that there was a woman and child on site, which is consistent with their current drone strike policies. Can't really look at it as "good" if you think when they do drone strike someone under these same parameters it's a bad thing.
 
construct

construct

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why isnt my "biden made it to work on time" thread as long as the murder thread 😭
 
Xando

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Slash said:
Sure, but I remember a lot of posts here last year basically saying that Biden would be a return to Obama's policies of drone strikes on civilians, so I think it's important to point out that he's clearly using a different approach.
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We'll see how different his approach will be when they have actual HVTs to bomb at a wedding instead of retaliating against some low rank officers like this.
 
OP
OP
Aaron

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Trey said:
he would've smoked their boots if he didn't get intelligence that there was a woman and child on site, which is consistent with their current drone strike policies. Can't really look at it as "good" if you think when they do drone strike someone it's a bad thing.
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What drone strikes tho

Biden hasn't launched a single drone since taking office.
 
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NyMartin90 said:
Wonder how Obama would feel? He specifically defended his position on drones in his memoirs
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Obama, I think, very much held the position that he hated the whole drone strike thing but saw it as a necessary evil. It's no excuse for what he did but I don't think he was ever really the bloodthirsty mass murderer people made him out to be, so I expect he'd actually be really glad to hear that the new president is far more restrained in how and when he orders drone strikes.

I tend to agree with what was said earlier about just not doing it at all any more. Surely it's still not a thing they need to keep doing? I don't see how it benefits anyone or achieves anything and I'm sure America wouldn't be too pleased if another country kept sending drones into their airspace to blow up buildings and shit.
 
hjort

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Approaching the lowest of bars. Nevertheless, good that some people were spared, obviously.
 

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I'm not sure what to do with this, given Western media doesn't really pay attention or report on drone strikes from the ground. We're just getting this info straight from the WH, so of course the WH is going to curate the info we hear on military actions, or reports on... Military inactions?

This is just PR, spin, propaganda, or whatever you want to call it. I'm sure the WH considers and then declines to take actions every minute of every day, the newsworthiness of any such story is dependent on how much they want to let people know, which is related to wanting to get wins in the news cycle.
 
1.21Gigawatts

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Are we supposed to praise him for it?
Slash said:
Sure, but I remember a lot of posts here last year basically saying that Biden would be a return to Obama's policies of drone strikes on civilians, so I think it's important to point out that he's clearly using a different approach.
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There is no humane approach to bombing other countries. Especially when you have no other reason for it than a trillion-dollar war industry thirsting for targets.
If Biden had balls he would explain to his people that in order to get out of this vicious cycle they will have to take a national recession while they shrink their defense industry to a reasonable level. Because there is no way around it.
Millions of US jobs, billions of US GDP depend on the US bombing other countries. If you want to stop bombing other countries you will lose those jobs and that GDP contribution.
The US is killing people for profit, plain and simple. If Biden is now more reluctant to also kill women and children for profit that is obviously a step up from Trump and Obama, but he is still killing people for profit.

The US had moral reasons for its military actions once, like 80 years ago. Those days are long gone. Today the US fights for profit. Not morally justifiable at all.
 
kyle mechlachlan

kyle mechlachlan

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Oct 27, 2017
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oh wow he didn't kill innocent people, such a valiant and honorable dude????

like am I supposed to praise someone because he killed some people but not other people?
 
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