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Democrats and Republicans agree that the Islamic State must be stopped!

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Obama prepares to address the nation about the terrorist group

The Pentagon has revealed that as of September 8 it has conducted 148 airstrikes against Islamic State militants who are rampaging across Iraq and Syria.

Highlights

By Catholic Online (NEWS CONSORTIUM)
Catholic Online (https://www.catholic.org)
9/9/2014 (9 years ago)

Published in Middle East

Keywords: Iraq, Syria, Islamic State, Obama, Airstrikes

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - That number may actually be much higher, as a Pentagon official familiar with the ongoing operations in Iraq reported that fighter jets and drones "have hit or destroyed well over 500 [targets] now."

The genocide of Christians in the Middle East must be stopped NOW!

"The problem is that no one outside the [Department of Defense] knows what an airstrike is," he said. "Everybody thinks it's a single bomb."

"But think of a B-17 [bomber] during World War II. Those planes could carry lots of 500-pound bombs - 15 or 16 of 'em - on a single mission," he continued.

"Today we strap 11 missiles and bombs to the underside of a single F-18 Hornet jet, fire all of that hardware at ISIS, and we call it a single airstrike."

The official is a career U.S. Army officer who spoke on a condition of anonymity, and said that a typical Predator drone can carry four Hellfire guided missiles at a time.

The Pentagon has been transparent about its airstrikes so far, as well as what the airstrikes are destroying, but airstrikes and target numbers don't line up neatly in press releases from the military.

On September 7, the Pentagon announced that four airstrikes had destroyed six Islamic State vehicles, an Islamic State checkpoint and damaged a bunker. Another strike near the Mosul Dam "damaged an [Islamic State] Humvee."

A U.S. military spokesman, Major Curtis Kellogg said "we aren't going into detail about specific numbers and types of aircraft platforms or the types and numbers of ordinance [sic] used in airstrikes."

"An airstrike may include one or more platforms engaging multiple targets," he said.

President Barack Obama is preparing to deliver a speech today, in which he will outline his strategy for dealing with the Islamic State, something long-awaited by both Democrats and Republicans, who want him to take a tougher stance against the potent terrorist group.

Some have criticized what they see as weak or ineffective inaction.

"The president is a failure in this area," said Senator Orrin Hatch (Utah, R). "I feel sad about it - and we will pay a heavy price in the end because he failed to act."

Even California's incredibly liberal Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein wrote that Obama "must lead an aggressive, international effort to confront and eliminate ISIS, including sustained airstrikes in Iraq and Syria."

"We either confront ISIS now or we'll have to confront it later - when it will be a much stronger enemy," she said.

Obama has apparently taken these words to heart, talking about the Islamic State during a September 7 appearance on "Meet The Press."

"The next phase is now to start going on some offense," he said.

However, he did say that his goals do not include "U.S. ground troops. This is not the equivalent of the Iraq war."

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Deacon Keith Fournier Hi readers, it seems you use Catholic Online a lot; that's great! It's a little awkward to ask, but we need your help. If you have already donated, we sincerely thank you. We're not salespeople, but we depend on donations averaging $14.76 and fewer than 1% of readers give. If you donate just $5.00, the price of your coffee, Catholic Online School could keep thriving. Thank you. Help Now >

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