The Common Ills: A conscious, a downing and a skeptical public

Wednesday, October 08, 2014

A conscious, a downing and a skeptical public

What is wrong with Australia?

All Iraq News reports:

Australian jet fighters pulled out of a potential strike on a moving Islamic State (IS) target in Iraq because of concerns of killing civilians, senior defense personnel said on Wednesday.
Defense chiefs revealed in a media briefing on Wednesday, that the Super Hornet pilots and their commanders stopped pursuing their IS target when it moved into a populated urban area.

You can't have kill-kill-kill if some start growing a conscious.

And possibly that's why this story which was 'trending' for a few hours this morning is now disappearing from a number of sites?

The Hindu was probably one of the largest (in terms of traffic) websites carrying the story and now it's been pulled: "The article you are looking for is no longer available in this website."

Maybe they can vanish the URL as well?

http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/world/australia-cancels-airstrike-on-islamic-state-fearing-collateral-damage/article6481549.ece

How sad that a story about an ethical decision must be hidden from the public lest anyone start asking why others don't share the same concern? It might even lead to a debate on these bombings which might lead to not merely questioning the legal basis for them but exploring the highly illegal nature of them and invoking Geneva.

Clearly, that can't happen while the press is still trying to sell warfare.

In other reality-based news, All Iraq News notes an Iraqi helicopter went down in Baiji. IANS adds:

Technical malfunctioning during landing apparently caused the chopper to crash while it was flying over al-Seiniyah area, just west of the refinery city of Baiji, some 200 km north of Iraq's capital Baghdad, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
The crashed chopper was one of the three carrying food and ammunition to an army force stationed at the besieged oil refinery outside Baiji. The besieged troops have been fighting the Sunni militant groups, including the Islamic State (IS), inside the vast refinery area for months.

Iraqi Spring MC notes rebels are saying they downed the helicopter -- and they were in the area bombing a Baiji refinery.

Downed by mechanical failure or by an attack, it's a possible outcome that really hasn't been addressed. Last Friday an Iraqi helicopter was shot down. If that happens to a US helicopter, I guess the media will finally be interested in exploring possible outcomes. Until then . . .

All Iraq News notes that "two Dutch f-15 fighters carried out the first Dutch bombardments against ISIS in Iraq on Tuesday." With all the foreign planes and helicopters flying over Iraq -- and Canada's vote to join in -- it's little surprise that the prime minister of Iraq issued a statement today. Iraq Times notes that Haider al-Abadi declared in written statement that all nations respect Iraq's sovereignty. No word on whether al-Abadi will be offering other bedtime stories in the near future.

Justin Sink (The Hill) reveals the fairy tales are losing their luster with the American people:

Some 51 percent of respondents in the CBS News poll released Wednesday said they disapprove of the job the president is doing with the radical jihadist group, while just four in 10 approved. Those numbers are slightly worse than a month ago, when 48 percent disapproved of how Obama was approaching the situation.

Among those disapproving? Former US President Jimmy Carter. Cheryl K. Chumley (Washington Times) explains, "Former president Jimmy Carter took a harsh jab at President Obama this week, telling the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that the commander-in-chief dragged his feet on confronting Islamic State terrorism."

Jesse Byrnes covers the same story for The Hill.

The following community sites -- plus FPIF, The NewsHour and Antiwar.com -- updated: