Bombs Away

Council of Foreign Relations Micah Zenko recently tallied up how many bombs the United States has dropped on other countries Zenko figured that since Jan. 1, 2015, the U.S. has dropped around 23,144 bombs on Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia.

It does not appear to be working either. Despite the fact that the U.S. dropped 947 bombs in Afghanistan in 2015, a recent analysis in Foreign Policy magazine found that the Taliban control more territory in Afghanistan than at any point since 2001. The U.S. has entered its 16th year of war in Afghanistan.

The last four U.S. presidents have bombed Iraq, and that includes the current one since airstrikes were launched on Aug. 7, 2014. The war against ISIS was originally framed as a "limited," "humanitarian" intervention. Since then, former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has insisted it will be a "30-year war"

In Syria the Pentagon says it has conducted 8,300 airstrikes, destroyed more than 16,000 Islamic State targets and killed more than 20,000 suspected Islamic State fighters — including “one mid- to upper-level ISIL leader every two days” 20,000 suspected Islamic State fighters, with only two cases of collateral damage.