11

This image is going viral on the web.

Dropped 26,171 bombs world wide in 2016 alone Wins Nobel Peace Prize and Pentagon's Public Service Medal

According to ZeroHedge,

Sounds about right for a president who bombed 7 nations and became the first in U.S. history to be at war every single day of his eight year administration.

Did Obama order 26 thousand bombs to be dropped in 2016? And were these actions public until now?

Improve this question
4
  • One every 30 seconds
    – user36356
    Jan 10, 2017 at 16:33
  • 1
    The original quote is from Dr. Ron Paul, a former member of the U.S. Congress, former U.S. Presidential candidate, and father of current U.S. Senator Rand Paul. Here is his official facebook post containing the claim.
    – reirab
    Jan 10, 2017 at 21:25
  • 1
    @KDog There were 31,622,401 seconds in 2016. This is one every 20 minutes, not every 30 seconds.
    – reirab
    Jan 10, 2017 at 21:28
  • Different source
    – user36356
    Jan 10, 2017 at 22:02

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
11

This is an estimate, reported by large media organizations:

From the Council on Foreign Relations:

In President Obama’s last year in office, the United States dropped 26,171 bombs in seven countries.

and

Most (24,287) were dropped in Iraq and Syria. This number is based on the percentage of total coalition airstrikes carried out in 2016 by the United States in Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR), the counter-Islamic State campaign. The Pentagon publishes a running count of bombs dropped by the United States and its partners, and we found data for 2016 using OIR public strike releases and this handy tool.* Using this data, we found that in 2016, the United States conducted about 79 percent (5,904) of the coalition airstrikes in Iraq and Syria, which together total 7,473. Of the total 30,743 bombs that the coalition dropped, then, the United States dropped 24,287 (79 percent of 30,743).

This statistic is still new, and it hasn't been disputed or accepted yet. It is possible that the methodology will have issues that are not immediately visible. But if the question is if this was made up just for Facebook, then no, it is not a made-up statistic. It has some basis in reality and has been accepted by real media organizations.

Note that

Sounds about right for a president who bombed 7 nations and became the first in U.S. history to be at war every single day of his eight year administration.

Is attributed to Ron Paul in the Zero Hedge post.

Improve this answer
3
  • 10
    Keep in mind, the President doesn't order the dropping of each and every single bomb. He sets out the National Security Objectives, and the rest is planned at lower levels (Centralized Control, decentralized execution). The meme almost makes it seem that he ordered each bombing run personally...
    – JasonR
    Jan 10, 2017 at 12:58
  • 2
    @JasonR Well, reality is somewhere in between. Many strikes are indeed personally approved by the President.
    – reirab
    Jan 10, 2017 at 21:49
  • 4
    @reirab Maybe not quite "in between". :) Those strikes are far and few between. The rate quoted in the meme is over 70 bombs a day versus the 473 over a 3 year period. But yes, your point is taken. :)
    – JasonR
    Jan 10, 2017 at 22:52

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .