Pembentukan Tentera Laut
Amerika Syarikat F-18E Super Hornets meninggalkan selepas menerima bahan api
dari KC-135 Stratotanker lebih utara Iraq pada September 23, 2014 (A formation
of U.S. Navy F-18E Super Hornets leaves after receiving fuel from a KC-135
Stratotanker over northern Iraq on September 23, 2014 (Reuters/Shawn
Nickel/U.S. Air Force)
WANmahani - Risiko kematian orang awam daripada bom digugurkan
di Syria & Iraq boleh menjadi lebih tinggi daripada serangan drone di
Pakistan & Yaman, menurut pegawai2 Amerika Syarikat. Ini adalah kerana
kekurangan kepintaran di atas tanah dan perubahan dalam dasar pengeboman.
Tentera Amerika Syarikat telah mengakui bahawa ia
adalah bergantung kepada imej satelit, pesawat dan penerbangan pengawasan untuk
cuba mendapatkan gambaran yang lebih baik daripada apa yang berlaku di atas tanah
‘on the ground’. Ia mempunyai sangat sedikit sumber yang
boleh dipercayai atas alasan yang boleh gunakan untuk mendapatkan terkini dan
maklumat yang tepat. Data yang diperolehi daripada udara juga digunakan untuk menentukan
sasaran serangan udara di mana mungkin boleh dilakukan.
"Saya fikir ia mungkin bahawa serangan udara
tidak dapat tidak akan menye-babkan beberapa korban awam," kata Jennifer
Cafarella, yg merupakan seorang penganalisis Syria atas dgn Institut
Pengajian Perang di Washington, menurut AP.
Di Iraq, gabungan Amerika Syarikat mempunyai
beberapa laporan daripada tentera Iraq; namun mereka mempunyai idea sedikit
tentang apa yang berlaku di kawasan2 yang dikuasai oleh Negara Islam
(IS). Di Syria, tidak ada kerjasama dengan kerajaan atau pemberontak sederhana ‘moderate rebel forces’ tentera Bashar
Assad, yang Amerika Syarikat sedang membuat terhadap Presiden Syria.
"Kami mengambil sikap berhati-hati yang
melampau dan mengambil berat dalam menjalankan misi-misi ini," Laksamana
John Kirby, setiausaha akhbar Pentagon, kepada pemberita pada hari Selasa.
"Tetapi ada risiko dalam mana-mana operasi ketenteraan. Ada sejenis khas
risiko apabila anda melakukan operasi udara."
Walau bagaimanapun, maklumat yang diperolehi oleh
Amerika Syarikat tidak selalunya tepat. Penduduk tempatan telah menyatakan
bahawa Amerika Syarikat serangan udara sering melanda bangunan kosong yang IS
telah terbengkalai. Taktik kumpulan militan sejak pengeboman itu bermula telah
ke berbaur dengan penduduk tempatan dan bergerak jauh daripada bangunan
berskala besar dan kem-kem, yang akan menjadi sasaran mudah untuk kempen udara.
"Ia jauh lebih sukar untuk kita dapat
mengetahui dengan pasti apa yang kita memukul, apa yang kita membunuh dan apa
yang ia adalah kerosakan cagaran," kata Tom Lynch, kolonel dan bekas penasihat
bersara kepada Ketua Turus Turus, yang dilaporkan oleh AP.
Kumpulan hak asasi manusia telah pun dinyatakan
bahawa sebanyak dua belas orang awam terbunuh setakat ini dengan serangan udara
dari pakatan yang diketuai Amerika Syarikat. Sekurang-kurangnya 19 terbunuh
dalam lewat Sep-tember, apabila serangan udara Amerika Syarikat melanda bijirin silo
‘grain silos’ di Syria, menurut Balai Cerap Syria bagi
Hak Asasi Manusia, sebuah organisasi yang Cafarella dianggap boleh dipercayai.
Pergantungan BN kepada kuasa udara tidak kelihatan
seolah-olah ia akan berhenti bila2 masa tdk lama lagi, kata Jeff Mejar
Jeneral Harrigian, pembantu timbalan Tentera Udara ketua kakitangan untuk
operasi, rancangan dan keperluan. Beliau mengekalkan serangan udara semasa
adalah sebahagian daripada kempen "ber-terusan dan berkekalan"
terhadap kumpulan militan, walaupun dia mengakui IS adalah, "satu musuh
pintar."
"Tindakan kuasa Udara sasaran mengganggu
perintah dan kawalan Isil ini, logistik & infrastruktur mereka, & kebebasan
bergerak," Harrigian dipetik sebagai berkata di Jabatan Negara Amerika
Syarikat laman web Pertahanan ini. "Kami melihat kuasa udara sebagai salah
satu komponen asas dalam strategi menyeluruh.”
‘Lack of
intelligence’: US airstrikes in Syria, Iraq could lead to high civilian
casualties
The risk of civilian deaths from bombs dropped in
Syria and Iraq could be much higher than drone strikes in Pakistan and Yemen,
according to US officials. This is due to a lack of intelligence on the ground
and a change in bombing policy.
The US military has admitted that it is reliant on
satellite images, drones and surveillance flights to try and get a better
picture of what is happening on the ground. It has very few reliable sources on
the ground which it can use to get up to date and precise information.
The data gained from the air is also used to pinpoint possible targets where
airstrikes can be carried out.
"I think it is likely that airstrikes will
inevitably result in some civilian casualties," said Jennifer Cafarella,
who is a top Syrian analyst with the Institute for the Study of War in
Washington, according to AP.
In Iraq, the US coalition does have some reports
from the Iraqi military; however they have little idea about what is happening
in areas controlled by Islamic State (IS). In Syria, there is no cooperation
with Bashar
Assad’s government or moderate rebel forces, which the US is backing against
the Syrian president.
"We do take extreme caution and care in the
conduct of these missions," Rear Admiral John Kirby, the Pentagon's press
secretary, told reporters on Tuesday. "But there's risk in any military
operation. There's a special kind of risk when you do air operations."
However, the information obtained by the US is not
always accurate. Locals have stated that US airstrikes have often hit empty
buildings which the IS has abandoned. The militant group’s tactics since the
bombardment started have been to blend in with the local populations and move
away from large-scale buildings and camps, which would be easy targets for air
campaigns.
"It's much harder for us to be able to know for
sure what it is we're hitting, what it is we're killing and what it is
collateral damage," said Tom Lynch, a retired colonel and former adviser
to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, which was reported by AP.
Human rights groups have already stated that as many
as two dozen civilians have been killed so far by airstrikes from the US-led
coalition. At least 19 were killed in late September, when US airstrikes hit grain
silos in Syria, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights,
an organization which Cafarella regards as reliable.
The coalition’s reliance on air power does not seem
as though it will stop any time soon, says Major General Jeff Harrigian, the
Air Force’s assistant deputy of chief of staff for operations, plans and
requirements. He maintains the current airstrikes are part of a “persistent and
sustained” campaign against the militant group, even though he does admit IS
are, “a smart adversary.”
“Air power’s targeted actions are disrupting ISIL’s
command and control, their logistics and infrastructure, and their freedom of
movement,” Harrigian was quoted as saying on the US Department of Defense’s
website. “We see air power as one of the fundamental components of the
comprehensive strategy.”
Imej Angkatan Udara
Amerika Syarikat Central Command dari video menunjukkan Tentera Udara Amerika Syarikat
B-1B Lancer selepas mengisi minyak di kawasan Perintah Pusat Amerika Syarikat tanggungjawab
sebelum menyerang operasi di Syria pada September 27, 2014 (This US Air Forces
Central Command image from video shows US Air Force B-1B Lancer after refueling
in the US Central Command area of responsibility prior to strike operations in
Syria on September 27, 2014 (AFP Photo/US Air Forces Central Command)
PERUBAHAN Dasar DALAM
Kempen Pakatan yang diketuai di Syria dan Iraq telah
menyaksikan sebuah anjakan daripada menyasarkan peraturan yang dikenakan bagi
serangan drone di Pakistan di Yemen.
Pada bulan Mei 2013, pada 1 ucapan ‘speech’
di Universiti Pertahanan Kebang-saan di Washington, Presiden Barack Obama
mengakui bahawa pentadbiran beliau bertanggungjawab untuk membunuh tidak kurang
daripada empat rakyat Amerika Syarikat dengan serangan-serangan ini, dan
berpotensi beribu-ribu orang awam, melalui penggunaan pesawat. Ini membawa
kepada drastik berfikir semula yang mengawal bagaimana serangan berdengung masa
depan akan dilakukan.
Peraturan baru ini menyatakan bahawa tiada mogok berdengung akan berlaku
tanpa "kepastian berhampiran" yang orang awam tidak akan dicederakan.
Sebelum undang-undang itu diperkenalkan, menurut
Biro Kewartawanan Siasatan laman web, 339 mogok berdengung telah berlaku di Pakistan
sejak Obama mula berkuasa, yang membawa kepada hampir 4,000 kematian, di mana
kira-kira satu perempat telah orang awam ‘civilians’.
Bagaimanapun kumpulan itu berkata, mereka telah
mendapati tiada bukti mangsa awam di negara ini sejak dasar baru telah diterima
pakai. Perang Long Journal juga melaporkan bahawa terdapat hanya sembilan mogok
tahun ini, berbanding 110 pada tahun 2010.
Walau bagaimanapun, menurut jurucakap White House
Caitlin Hayden, peraturan ini bertujuan untuk digunakan "hanya apabila
kita mengambil tindakan langsung di luar permusuhan aktif."
Gambar telah berubah dgn ketara di Syria &
Iraq, dengan Hayden mengatakan ini adalah konflik bersenjata. Beliau menyebut
bahawa penargetan dijalankan di bawah kaedah-kaedah undang2, yang
walaupun ia memerlukan tentera untuk mengambil amaran untuk mengelakkan korban
awam, ia tidak memegang mereka 'berhampiran kepastian' standard yang dikenakan
oleh Obama.
Change in policy
The US-led coalition’s campaign in Syria and Iraq has seen a shift away
from targeting rules which were imposed for drone strikes in Pakistan in Yemen.
In May 2013, at a speech at
the National Defense University in Washington, President Barack Obama
acknowledged that his administration was responsible for killing no fewer than
four US citizens with these attacks, and potentially thousands of civilians,
through the use of drones. This led to a drastic re-think governing how future
drone attacks would be carried out.
The new rules stated that no drone strike would occur without a
"near certainty" that civilians would not be harmed.
Before the legislation was introduced, according to
the Bureau of Investigative Journalism website, 339 drone strikes have taken
place in Pakistan since Obama came to power, which led to almost
4,000 deaths, of which around one-quarter have been civilians.
However the group said they have found no evidence
of civilian casualties in the country since the new policy was adopted. The
Long War Journal also reported that there have been only nine strikes this
year, in comparison to 110 in 2010.
However, according to White House spokeswoman
Caitlin Hayden, this rule is intended to be applied “only when we take direct
action outside of active hostilities.”
The picture has changed significantly in Syria and
Iraq, with Hayden saying this is an armed conflict. She mentioned that
targeting is undertaken under the rules of law, which although it does require
military’s to take cautions to avoid civilian casualties, it does not hold them
to the ‘near certainty’ standard that was imposed by Obama.
READ MORE: http://on.rt.com/lo92x9
