From the NY Times:
American
and allied warplanes are equipped with the most precise aerial arsenal
ever fielded. But American officials say they are not
striking
significant — and obvious — Islamic State targets out of fear that the
attacks will accidentally kill civilians. Killing such innocents could
hand the militants a major propaganda coup and alienate both the local
Sunni tribesmen, whose support is critical to ousting the militants, and
Sunni Arab countries that are part of the American-led coalition.
But
many Iraqi commanders, and even some American officers, argue that
exercising such prudence is harming the coalition’s larger effort to
destroy the Islamic State, also known as ISIS
or Daesh, and that it illustrates the limitations of American air power
in the Obama administration’s strategy. A persistent complaint of Iraqi
officials and security officers is that the United States has been too
cautious in its air campaign, frequently allowing columns of Islamic
State fighters essentially free movement on the battlefield.
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