Can you spell Quagmire?

U.S. Takes to Air to Move Cargo in Iraq
With the persistent peril of roadside attacks on trucks, more freight is traveling by plane.
By John Hendren, December 15, 2004, The Los Angeles Times

“WASHINGTON — U.S. commanders in Iraq have begun transporting more supplies to the country by aircraft in an effort to evade the roadside bomb attacks that have been killing or wounding about 100 American troops each month, the Air Force's top officer said Tuesday.” …

“In the last month, the Air Force has offered extra air freight capacity to take 180 American troops off the road each day, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. John P. Jumper said. Air freighters are now carrying 450 tons of cargo previously carried in convoys, a 30% increase, with a goal of taking on as much as 1,600 tons, Air Force officials said.” …

“[Jumper] acknowledged that increased air traffic had its own hazards. “ There'll be increased [surface-to-air missile] threats to C-130s, but we've also got 100 casualties a month in convoys."

Great, we can’t secure the 10-mile stretch from the Green Zone to Baghdad International Airport, so we now fly back and forth in choppers. Now we’re going to do a “Berlin Airlift” with heavy cargo in C130’s. As I recall, RPG’s are $25, and shoulder-fired surface to air missiles are something like $500.

Yup, Dear Leader’s war is going famously. I feel safer, how about you?