No Casualties in Operation Swarmer? Think Again

Posted at DailyKos, refuting claims by this administration that Operation Swarmer has caused not a single casualty or problem:

Operation Swarmer has been billed by the government as the "largest air assault" since the invasion of Iraq.

On March 17th, the military said there was "no resistance," and no casualties. So far, only less than 80 "insurgents" have been nabbed, and many of them were immediately released. (Though the Department of Defense in its release refers to the Iraqis as "terrorists" not "insurgents.")

Today, we learn that eight civilians, including a child, were killed in clashes between U.S. troops and gunmen in Duluiyah, part of the area targeted in the air assault campaign. It's unclear what exactly is transpiring; there is a media blackout. However, what little information is trickling out from the operation reveals the true cost of this PR campaign.

Operation Swarmer has caused the displacement of 700 Iraqi families. Most fled the Samara area with nothing but the clothes on their back:

"When they started to hit our city I didn't take anything. I just took my family and ran like hell. We don't have anything to eat or wear," urged Barakat Muhammad, a resident and father of five in Samarra.

The displaced families have taken refuge in abandoned buildings in the outskirts of the city. The situation, as described by the Red Crecent, is a humanitarian crisis:

"We have sent volunteers from the disaster department to monitor the situation and we are preparing ourselves for an emergency," said Ferdous al-Abadi, spokesperson for the Iraqi Red Crescent Society (IRCS) in Baghdad. [...]

"They need urgent help and we call on all organisations to offer them supplies and medical support as soon as possible," Tikrit stressed.

Those supplies include medical supplies. While the U.S. military maintains there have not been any casualties, local doctors tell a different story:

[L]ocal doctors say that at least 35 civilians including women and children have been treated at the local hospital with injuries caused by the air-strikes. In addition, 18 bodies had been taken to the hospital since 17 March.

"We have run out of supplies and if the operation continues we need urgent surgical materials and pain killers to offer treatment to the innocent victims," Dr Ibraheem Mahmoud, of the emergency department at the local hospital in Samarra, said.