Airstrikes in Iraq up

Knight Ridder reports that the infamous "aerial occupation" of Iraq is proceeding as feared:

American forces have dramatically increased airstrikes in Iraq during the past five months, a change of tactics that may foreshadow how the United States plans to battle a still-strong insurgency while reducing the number of U.S. ground troops serving here.

A review of military data shows that daily bombing runs and jet-missile launches have increased by more than 50 percent in the past five months, compared with the same period last year. Knight Ridder's statistical findings were reviewed and confirmed by American Air Force officials in the region.

Pro warriors go into convulsions if you dare to draw comparisons between Iraq and Vietnam. But with this sort of news, it's hard to avoid doing so.

The US strategy at the moment -- relying ever more on local (Iraqi) forces and aerial bombing to deal with the insurgency -- is precisely what Nixon ushered in with "Vietnamization" back in the early '70s. Today Bush just uses a less elegant label, "The National Strategy for Victory in Iraq."