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UP FRONTSaturday 6 June 2015
General: Criticism of air war against IS based on fiction
Thick smoke from an airstrike by the US-led coalition rises in Kobani, Syria, as seen from a hilltop bic acronym for the Islamic Hesterman said “a fairly
on the outskirts of Suruc, at the Turkey-Syria border. In an emphatic defense of the air war in Iraq State, which has defied small weapon” was used
and Syria, a senior American general fired back Friday at critics who call the campaign timid and nearly a year of daily U.S. against the target, which
ineffective. airstrikes to maintain a hold he described as a known
on large swaths of northern bomb factory in an indus-
(AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis) and western Iraq and east- trial area. If civilians were
ern Syria. killed the blame rests with
ROBERT BURNS In a news conference he made territorial gains in “We kill them wherever we the Islamic State, he said,
AP National Security Writer said was called to coun- Anbar province, including find them,” the general for having stored “a mas-
WASHINGTON (AP) — In an ter misconceptions about the capital Ramadi, critics said. sive amount” of high ex-
emphatic defense of the the use of air power in an have accused U.S. com- Hesterman leads U.S. Cen- plosives that were ignited
air war in Iraq and Syria, a unconventional war, Air manders of being too cau- tral Command’s air forces by the airstrike.
senior American general Force Lt. Gen. John W. tious, missing opportunities and the coalition air cam- He said the U.S. will look
fired back Friday at critics Hesterman III asserted that to kill the militants and dis- paign. He spoke by tele- into the reports of large
who call the campaign pilots are killing more than rupt their supply lines. phone to reporters at the numbers of civilian deaths.
timid and ineffective, say- 1,000 militants a month “The thought that we’re Pentagon from his head- One of four such reports al-
ing bombs have tied down while avoiding civilian ca- observing large numbers of quarters at al-Udeid air ready conducted showed
Islamic State fighters with- sualties and Iraqi govern- Daesh terrorists and not kill- base in Qatar. His remarks two civilian deaths in Syria
out killing large numbers of ment forces. ing them, anywhere, is fic- followed a wave of skepti- by coalition aircraft. The
civilians. As the Islamic State has tion,” he said, using an Ara- cism about repeated U.S. other three have not yet
assertions that Islamic State been released.
fighters are on the defen- “Let’s be clear. What did
sive in Iraq and Syria, de- the damage was the huge
spite evidence to the con- amount of high explosives
trary. that Daesh intended to
On Friday, Hesterman was turn into murderous weap-
on the defensive. ons to kill Iraqi forces and
He pushed back, for exam- innocent civilians,” Hester-
ple, on reports that a U.S. man said. “If there were
airstrike earlier this week unintended injuries that
in Hawija, an Islamic State responsibility rests squarely
stronghold west of Kirkuk, on Daesh.”
killed dozens of Iraqi civil- He more broadly defend-
ians. The U.S. military has ed the U.S. approach to
acknowledged that it at- using air power in Iraq and
tacked what it said was a Syria as the main compo-
facility used to build vehi- nent of the military cam-
cle-borne suicide bombs paign.
but has not confirmed ca- He mentioned no critics
sualties. by name, but Sen. John
McCain, the Republican
US: Giant hack may be just the beginning chairman of the Senate
Armed Services Commit-
Continued from Front because you don’t have while the case was under tigated as a national se- tee, has complained loud-
access to classified infor- investigation. Still, he not- curity matter, suggesting ly that the bombing cam-
Often, Chinese cyberat- mation,” he said. “You are ed that investigators “are authorities believe a nation paign lacks vigor. McCain
tacks have identifiable was behind it rather than and others in Congress, as
signatures, including the A gate leading to the Homeland Security Department head- a more loosely organized well as some retired military
types of malware used. The quarters in northwest Washington, Friday, June 5, 2015. China- gang of cybercriminals. The officers, have argued that
NSA also uses its more tra- based hackers are suspected once again of breaking into U.S. official was not authorized the campaign could be
ditional intelligence gath- government computer networks, and the entire federal work- to discuss an ongoing in- strengthened by deploy-
ering methods to trace force could be at risk this time. vestigation and spoke only ing American troops as
the origins of cyberattacks on condition of anonymity. spotters for airstrikes. In line
including intercepting the (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) The break-in is an embar- with a White House policy
phone calls and emails of rassing showing for the U.S. of not placing American
the hackers. mistaken.” aware of the threat that is government’s vaunted troops in combat danger
Federal employees were White House spokes- emanating from China.” computer-defense system in Iraq, the Pentagon thus
told in a video to change man Josh Earnest said he One U.S. official said the for civilian agencies — far has avoided putting
all their passwords, put couldn’t divulge much breach was being inves- dubbed “Einstein” — which those “tactical air control-
fraud alerts on their credit is costing $376 million this lers” in the field with Iraqi
reports and watch for at- year alone. It’s supposed ground forces.
tempts by foreign intelli- to detect unusual Internet Hesterman said such spot-
gence services to exploit traffic that might reflect ters are “always value-
them. That message came hacking attempts or sto- added” and are being
from Dan Payne, a senior len data being transmitted used away from the front
counterintelligence official outside the government. lines.
for the Director of National This latest breach occurred “Would it be helpful” to
Intelligence. in December but wasn’t have them on the front
“Some of you may think discovered until April, offi- lines with Iraqi forces?
that you are not of interest cials say. It was made pub- “Probably,” Hesterman
lic Thursday. q said. “Is it necessary? Not
so far.”q
