The New Dark Age

8 April 2011 — FAIR Blog

Afraid of NATO killing civilians in Libya? The New York Times editorial page (4/8/11) sees the way forward by ramping up the war:

There is a much better option: the American A-10 and AC-130 aircraft used earlier in the Libya fighting and still on standby status….

But no other country has aircraft comparable to America’s A-10, which is known as the Warthog, designed to attack tanks and other armored vehicles, or to the AC-130 ground-attack gunship, which is ideally suited for carefully sorting out targets in populated areas.

AC-130s were used frequently in the Iraq War, particularly in the bloody fight in the city of Fallujah–which was not often characterized by the careful sorting of targets. The Times established a record of downplaying the civilian deaths there, which might help explain why their editorial page has such faith in the careful sorting properties of these aircraft.