Report: The U.S. Bombs Other Countries, On Average, 46 Times Daily

By Nicolas J S Davies and Medea Benjamin, The Progressive

The Pentagon has finally published its first Airpower Summary since President Joe Biden took office nearly one year ago. These monthly reports have been published since 2007 to document the number of bombs and missiles dropped by U.S.-led air forces in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria since 2004. But President Donald Trump stopped publishing them after February 2020, shrouding continued U.S. bombing in secrecy.

Over the past twenty years, as documented in the table below, U.S. and allied air forces have dropped more than 337,000 bombs and missiles on other countries—an average of forty-six strikes per day. This endless bombardment has not only been deadly and devastating for its victims, but is also broadly recognized as seriously undermining international peace and security, diminishing the United States’ standing in the world.

Now, even in the face of the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan, they are doubling down on their success at selling this counterfactual narrative to the public to reignite their old Cold War with Russia and China, dramatically and predictably increasing the risk of nuclear war.

The new Airpower Summary data reveal that the United States has dropped another 3,246 bombs and missiles on Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria (2,068 under Trump and 1,178 under Biden) since the end of February 2020.