Nukewatch Quarterly Winter 2015-2016
The US Air Force has fired more than 20,000 missiles and bombs in the air war against the Islamic State, depleting its stocks of munitions and prompting the service to scour depots around the world for more weapons and to find money to buy them. “We’re in the business of killing terrorists and business is good,” Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James said in statement. “We need to replenish our munitions stock. Weapons take years to produce from the day the contract is assigned until they roll off the production line.” The Air Force and the Navy carry out most of the bombing runs, using a variety of warplanes from single-prop Predator drones, F-18 and F-22 fighter bombers, A-10 Warthog gunships, and AC-130 gunships, to huge B-1 bombers. Source: Disarmament Digest, a compendium prepared daily by the UN’s Office of Disarmament Affairs, Dec. 4, 2015.
Meanwhile, although the Obama Administration promised in Paris to drastically cut US carbon emissions, the Air Force has deliberately expanded its bombardment of oil-producing infrastructure used by the so-called Islamic State in Syria and Iraq to raise funds. Intending to smash the IS revenue stream, US A-10s, which fire depleted uranium shells, and AC-130s have vastly stepped up their attacks on oil facilities and tanker trucks.
Source: New York Times, Nov. 17, 24 & 29, 2015.
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