MELISSA BLOCK, Host:
From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Melissa Block.
MICHELE NORRIS, Host:
In this part of the program, we're going to learn about one American weapon that troops are using in Iraq, a weapon that some say is too powerful for the situation there. Before we hear about the AC-130 gunship, a quick rundown of the day's developments.
BLOCK: A bomb blast in a government office in Baghdad left six people dead and at least 18 wounded. Among those hurt in the blast was Iraq's Vice President Adel Abdul-Mahdi, and the minister for public works. Both of them are Shiites. The bombing occurred in a predominantly Sunni district of the capital.
NORRIS: Iraq's cabinet approved a draft oil law that will now be sent to parliament. The law was drafted after months of talks involving representatives of the Shiite, Sunni, and Kurdish communities. It's aimed at regulating contracts for oil exploration and extraction, and ensuring that revenues are split equitably among the different sectarian communities. The Iraqi government praised the new draft law, but it's expected to provoke heated debate when parliament returns from recess later this month.
BLOCK: From Baghdad, NPR's Tom Bowman reports.
TOM BOWMAN: It's late at night, a time when many are calling it quits. The air crew pile on board a bus, 12 men and two women, tossing aside bags that hold helmets, survival vests, sandwiches. They have a few minutes to relax before their all-night mission, providing covering fire for American Green Berets and Iraqi troops, on a raid in southern Baghdad.
(SOUNDBITE OF CREW)
BOWMAN: Moments earlier, they were sitting on folding metal chairs. All the men and women in this room are members of the Special Forces. Military rules dictate we not use their full names. Their navigator, Captain Dan of Corvallis, Oregon, briefs them on the mission.
DAN: We'll be working with them to make sure that the objective area is clear of insurgent activity, and our primary job is just we're their big flying insurance policy. If they get into trouble we take our business.
(SOUNDBITE OF CREW)
BOWMAN: Back on the bus they stopped at a darkened airfield. Looming in front of them is the gunship, a four-engine propeller plane. Three large guns poke out of a left side like tree limbs. On one side of this charcoal gray cargo plane is painted a pale apparition with fierce eyes. It is a symbol of the ghost riders, the 4th Special Operation Squadron.
(SOUNDBITE OF PROPELLERS)
BOWMAN: The gunship is among the most formidable in the American arsenal. Air Force officers say it's accurate and deadly. Several nights earlier, it flew it in long slow circles above the city of Ramadi. Marines were under fire from insurgents. The gunship spotted the fighters against the cover of a wall. Within seconds, the insurgents disappeared in puffs of smoke. Colonel Steve Clark is commander of all special operations aircraft in the region. He says Iraqi detainees have a name for this high-flying weapon. They call it the spitting witch.
STEVE CLARK: What the gunship's able to do is sit over top of a target for an extended period of time, and through a combination of multiple sensors, radios, weapons, and a large ammo load, really be able to dominate the battle space.
BOWMAN: Colonel Clark disagrees. He says the plane's weapons are accurate and the smaller rounds do not have explosive power like, say, a large bomb. The tough part is for the crew to determine which weapon to use to stop the enemy while protecting innocent life.
CLARK: So they're very discriminating in the amount of munitions they use, which is why we'll tend to go down to the smaller ones, and try to break contact rather than killing the enemies. It's just to break contact. So we'll shoot in the middle of the road and try to chase them away, if you will.
BOWMAN: But even the military's own counterinsurgency manual, co-authored by General David Petraeus, now the top American commander in Iraq, says in fighting insurgents airpower should be used with exceptional care. Air attacks are more likely to lead to civilian casualties, the manual says, mistakes that can enrage the very people the military is trying to separate from the insurgency. Still, the Air Force is bringing more warplanes to Iraq. The tank killing A-10 is heading to Anbar Province. F-15 attack aircraft recently strafed the buildings along Haifa Street in Baghdad. And the B1 Bomber started flying missions last month, the first time since the start of the war.
(SOUNDBITE OF GUNS)
BOWMAN: That metallic chunk is the sound of a 105-millimeter Howitzer, an onboard cannon that fire shells a size of a log in your fireplace. The AC-130 arrives over the southern Baghdad neighborhood. The computer screens show a honeycomb of houses. Suddenly a long line of Humvees rolls down the main road. Soldiers spill out. Ghostly white forms surge into a house. Inside the plane's cramped quarters, Major Chris of Houston, Texas watches it all on her computer screen. She's a fire control officer. She decides which guns will be used in a fight.
(SOUNDBITE OF HOWITZER)
(SOUNDBITE OF CREW)
BOWMAN: They check the live picture with several maps stamped secret. The targets are circled in red and each contains a number. On the ground, an Air Force combat controller is equipped with the backpack radio. He keeps in constant touch with the AC-130, just in case. Over the next two hours, the plane's sensors and cameras zero in on each house. The white forms knocked down gates or doors. One person, then others, can be seen pulled from houses and placed in Humvees.
(SOUNDBITE OF CREW)
BOWMAN: But on this night, there is no confusion, and no shooting. No one flees from a house. No one targets the American or Iraqi forces. The plane lumbers toward its base. On this night, the witch did not spit. The plane lands as the sun peaks over the horizon. They once again board the bus. Major Chris says it was an unusually quiet night for the crew, but the ground troops completed their mission.
(SOUNDBITE OF SHREDDER)
BOWMAN: Tom Bowman, NPR News, Baghdad.
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