More on the 'Air Wars'

A couple of new critical sources including Tom Engelhardt's "Carnage from the Air and the Washington Consensus," and some analysis from IPS news' Khody Akhavi in "IRAQ-AFGHANISTAN: Overlooking the Air War."

Arguing for the need for an "honest discussion of air power," while providing some useful context from the Vietnam era, Engelhardt notes how bombings have "become so commonplace that, in the news, they begin to blur into what looks, more and more, like a single, ongoing airborne slaughter of civilians."Akhavi concludes that "Reliance on airpower and the cumulative effect of errant bombs portends an ominous future for U.S. [and, we should add, Canadian, NATO...] political goals in the region."

We would be remiss if we didn't add that NDP leader Jack Layton issued a statement last week wherein he called for an end to the destructive air campaign:

"Today I am calling on the Prime Minister to take a leadership role and add Canada’s voice in telling both the Bush administration and the North Atlantic Council of NATO that the level of Afghan civilian deaths is unacceptable and that indiscriminate and deadly airstrikes be stopped. Airstrikes which are only adding to the escalation to a war that shows no signs of ending."

Reportedly, Layton conveyed his demands in person to Harper yesterday.