Operation Swarmer—Just Another Photo Op

Yesterday, Time mag’s online edition posted an article by Brian Bennett and Al Jallam called, “How Operation Swarmer Fizzled”. It chronicled how four Black Hawk helicopters had flown members of the press to a wheat field near Baghdad so that the reporters and cameramen could witness Operation Swarmer, a military maneuver that had been hyped by Iraqi flacks and US Army spokesmen as the "largest air assault since 2003" in Iraq. But the whole thing was another Bush administration staged performance. Time said “contrary to what many television networks erroneously reported, the operation was by no means the largest use of airpower since the start of the war. (‘Air Assault’ is a military term that refers specifically to transporting troops into an area.) In fact, there were no airstrikes and no leading insurgents were nabbed in an operation that some skeptical military analysts described as little more than a photo op. What’s more, there were no shots fired at all and the units had met no resistance, said the U.S. and Iraqi commander.” By now, no one is surprised when the White House presents a phony filmed drama complete with costumes and props as though it were a real event. And reprehensible as it is, no one is surprised when the White House gives our soldiers prepared lines to speak and uses them as extras in extravaganzas that have been staged to make George W. Bush look, if not good, then at least, adequate. It also has become an infuriating practice of the Bush administration to compare the puny sycophantic toadying commanders of its war of choice in Iraq to the great generals of the WWII. And the White House even goes so far as to liken its decision to attack Iraq to the US having to enter WWII. And now, by calling the White House movie-of-the-week “Operation Swarmer”, the White House and its cadre of propaganda-spewing Iraq war commanders have once again denigrated a proud and brave group of men who served during WWII and in the Korean conflict (which was never officially called a war). Following are snippets from “Unit History of the 187th”, by Col. William Weber who wrote about the original Operation Swarmer. “The 187th Infantry Regiment was constituted on 12 November 1942 at Camp Mackall, North Carolina... “In May 1944, the Regiment deployed with the Division to the southwest Pacific debarking at Lae, New Guinea... “While serving as occupation forces, the 187th received the title "Rakkasan" from the Japanese which literally translated means ‘Falling Down Umbrella'... “In May, the Regiment moved into Lipa to refit, rebuild, and prepare for the Invasion of Japan. At this time, the 3rd Battalion was formed and the Regiment was redesigned as a para-glider regiment... “In early 1950, the Rakkasans participated in the largest peacetime airborne maneuver in history,'Operation Swarmer'. The performance of the Regiment during this maneuver was instrumental in the Regiment being selected to form an airborne regimental combat team to enter the Korean conflict.” That the Bush administration would have the crass impudence to call their little fake air show Operation Swarmer is another indication of the contempt the White House feels for our soldiers, for us and for the innocent people in Iraq.