U.S. Conducts “Largest Airstrike in the History of the World” (Sort Of)

President Harry S Truman authorized the first nuclear attack in the history of the world on Hiroshima Japan in Around people nearly all of them civilians were vaporized crushed burned or irradiated to death almost directly Another perhaps died soon after The bomb exploded with the force of more than tons of TNT But the aircraft carrier USS Harry S Truman and its supporting strike group launched the largest airstrike in the history of the world from an aircraft carrier on Somalia in February explained Adm James Kilby the Navy s acting chief of naval operations while speaking at the Council on Foreign Relations Robert B McKeon Endowed Series on Military Strategy and Leadership on Monday F A- Super Hornets on the deck of the USS Harry S Truman on February the day of the largest airstrike in the history of the world Photo Petty Officer nd Class Logan Mcguire U S Navy DVIDS The strike involved F A- Super Hornets that launched from the Truman as the carrier strike group operated in the Red Sea a Navy official communicated The Intercept on condition of anonymity When it was over Somalia had been pummeled by around pounds of munitions according to Kilby Those tons of bombs killed just people according to Africa Command or AFRICOM A Navy official clarified that Kilby s off the cuff remarks did not mean the airstrike was comparable to the atomic attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II or even other massive bombing raids like President Richard Nixon s Linebacker II raids in North Vietnam also known as the Christmas bombings This was a time span of minutes it was everything hitting and all of it coming from one aircraft carrier That s historically considerable Other strikes from aircraft carriers have been larger in terms of bomb tonnage dropped during a single day including during Operation Desert Storm in and during the Afghan War according to the official It s the effort from a single carrier in such a short time span he announced noting that the Hornets each struck their target in rapid succession This was a time span of minutes it was everything hitting and all of it coming from one aircraft carrier That s historically essential The official refused to offer further information which he explained would constitute tactical details At the time of the mega-strike in the Horn of Africa AFRICOM downplayed the scale of the attack using boilerplate language In coordination with the Federal Regime of Somalia U S Africa Command conducted airstrikes against ISIS-Somalia on Feb reads the press release The command s initial assessment is that multiple ISIS-Somalia operatives were killed in the airstrikes and no civilians were harmed Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth also offered a similarly blas assessment of the mammoth bombing at the time AFRICOM did not respond to requests for clarification about why it took tons of bombs to kill less than militants but it was likely the type and location of the target a series of cave complexes in the rugged terrain of the Golis Mountains in the north of Somalia The USS Harry S Truman arrives at the NATO Marathi Pier Complex in Souda Bay Greece during a scheduled port visit on Feb carrying F A- Super Hornets Photo Mass Communication Specialist nd Class Andrew Eder U S Navy DVIDS In the months since the strike two F A- jets have fallen off the deck of the USS Harry S Truman In both incidents personnel were injured in the discipline of the accident and the approximately million warplanes were lost to the sea Since taking office President Donald Trump has ramped up the conflict in Somalia despite running as an anti-war candidate and pitching himself as a peacemaker Related Civilian Deaths in U S Wars Are Skyrocketing Under Trump It May Not Be Impeachable but It s a Crime After Trump relaxed targeting principles during his first term attacks in Somalia tripled Counts of civilian casualties published by the U S military and independent organizations across U S war zones including Afghanistan Iraq Syria and Yemen increased Since taking office a second time Trump has again rolled back constraints on American commanders to authorize airstrikes outside conventional war zones During his first overseas trip as defense secretary Hegseth met with senior AFRICOM leaders and signed a directive easing strategy constraints and executive oversight on air attacks The president and the secretary of defense have given me expanded functionaries Gen Michael Langley the chief of AFRICOM advised the Senate Armed Services Committee last month We re hitting them hard I now have the capability to hit them harder The Trump administration even boasted about its growing body count in Somalia on Monday WWFY WWKY We will find you and we will kill you We haven t forgotten the threat posed by Jihadis more were permanently removed from the battlefield in Somalia the last day the White House posted on X above black-and-white footage that shows a bomb dropped on men innocuously walking in a rural area That brings the total to over bloodthirsty terrorists killed since President Trump was sworn in The administration added WWFY WWKY We will find you and we will kill you A U S Navy F A- E Super Hornet assigned to the USS Harry S Truman Carrier Strike Group flies a mission over the U S Central Command area of responsibility on Feb Photo Staff Sgt Jackson Manske United States Air Forces Central Command DVIDS The White House did not respond to requests for additional information about the strike or civilian casualties resulting from the attacks that have killed more than people in Somalia since January AFRICOM of late stopped providing civilian casualty assessments in its press releases announcing U S attacks in Somalia As the new administration settles in we re refraining from reporting estimated battle damage assessments and providing initial assessments on civilian harm probability as a matter of discipline AFRICOM spokesperson Lt Col Doug Halleaux stated Antiwar com last week A scrutiny by The Intercept determined that an April drone attack in Somalia killed at least three and possibly five civilians including -year-old Luul Dahir Mohamed and her -year-old daughter Mariam Shilow Muse At the time AFRICOM communicated it had killed five terrorists and that no civilians were killed in this airstrike The Intercept s inspection revealed that the strike was conducted under loosened rules of engagement sought by the Pentagon and approved by the Trump White House and that no one was ever held accountable for the civilian deaths For more than six years Luul and Mariam s family has tried to contact the U S authorities including through an online civilian casualty reporting portal run by AFRICOM but has not received a response U S Navy F A- Super Hornets assigned to the Harry S Truman Carrier Strike Group fly a mission over the U S Central Command area of responsibility March Photo Staff Sgt Jackson Manske United States Air Forces Central Command DVIDS The United States has been conducting attacks in Somalia since at least with airstrikes skyrocketing during Trump s first term From to under the administrations of George W Bush and Barack Obama the U S military carried out declared airstrikes in Somalia During Trump s first term AFRICOM conducted more than air attacks against members of al-Shabab and the Islamic State group The Biden administration conducted declared strikes in Somalia over four years The U S has carried out almost airstrikes in Somalia during Trump s second term according to AFRICOM and White House announcements At this pace AFRICOM is poised to equal or exceed the highest number of strikes in Somalia in the command s history in AFRICOM did not reply to detailed questions regarding attacks in Somalia prior to publication Related Who Could Have Predicted the U S War in Somalia Would Fail The Pentagon The U S war in Somalia has ground on since the opening days of the war on terror Special Operations forces were dispatched there in followed by conventional forces helicopters surveillance aircraft outposts and drones By the Pentagon recognized that there were fundamental flaws with U S military operations in the Horn of Africa and Somalia became another forever war stalemate By the end of his first term Trump was ready to call it quits on the sputtering war in Somalia ordering almost all U S troops out of the country in late The withdrawal was reversed by President Joe Biden but the tiny ISIS-Somalia faction remains a considerable threat to peace and guard in Somalia while the larger militant group al-Shabab continues to carry out complex attacks against the Leadership African Union Transition Mission in Somalia and international forces as well as civilians and the business population including inside protected areas in Mogadishu according to a panel of experts document on Somalia issued late last year for the U N Prevention Council The White House did not respond to questions about Trump s about-face on the war from the end of his first term to the beginning of his second and the goal of the strikes on Somalia The White House also declined to respond to the question of whether if Trump was committed to winning the nearly quarter-century-old war in Somalia and if so when The post U S Conducts Largest Airstrike in the History of the World Sort Of appeared first on The Intercept