A CNN article in December incorrectly stated that the 2,000-pound bombs (also known as one-ton bombs) that Israel had used in Gaza were “four times heavier than the largest bombs the United States dropped on ISIS in Mosul, Iraq, during the war against the extremist group there.” (“‘Not seen since Vietnam’: Israel dropped hundreds of 2,000-pound bombs on Gaza, analysis shows,” December 22, 2023, by Tamara Qiblawi, Allegra Goodwin, Gianluca Mezzofiore and Nima Elbagir). The article also claimed, “the US dropped a 2,000-pound bomb only once during its fight against ISIS – the most recent Western war on a militant group in the Middle East. It fell on the so-called caliphate’s self-declared capital of Raqqa in Syria.”
But when asked about that reporting on June 19 on “The Lead with Jake Tapper,” military expert John Spencer replied, “that reporting is not factual, and it has led to some type of vilification of a very commonly used tool, like the 2,000 pound bomb, that we did use in Mosul. And we used tens of thousands in Iraq, to include in the invasion that I took part in where we dropped over 5000, four on one building where we thought Saddam might be staying and he wasn’t, in urban areas. … What most people don’t report on the 2,000 pound bomb is that one of the reasons you need a bigger bomb is to penetrate the ground to an enemy who is in bunkers and tunnels, which is very well known of where Hamas has protected itself underneath its civilians.”
Subsequent to John Spencer’s comments, CAMERA contacted editors at CNN to be sure they were aware of his comments about the December reporting and to ask them to correct the record.
The article now states, the 2,000-pound bombs “are four times heavier than the vast majority of the largest bombs the United States dropped on ISIS during the war against the extremist group in Syria and Iraq.” Though the new language is not clearer but instead is more vague, an undated note at the bottom of the article reads, “Clarification: A previous version of this story stated that only one 2,000-pound bomb had been used by the US in the war on ISIS. This has been corrected.” (This appears to have been added on June 28 or 29.) CNN deleted the claim that the 2,000-pound bomb was used only once against ISIS.
But, by focusing only on the fight against ISIS, and excluding other wars in the region, CNN’s article is still misleading. In a subsequent interview Spencer stated, “the United States used over 15,000 [2,000-pound bombs] in the first Gulf War, [and] over 5000 in the invasion of Iraq in less than a month, because it’s a very standard military munition to hit an enemy in a bunker underground.” While the fight against ISIS may be more recent, another commentary in Foreign Policy that discussed this issue pointed out that ISIS did not have the type of underground assets that Hamas has in Gaza. “Though they certainly dug tunnels, a complex subterranean network like that built by Hamas fighters was unavailable to the Islamic State defenders of Mosul and Raqqa, creating vast new problems for the IDF beyond those experienced by the U.S.-led counterterrorism coalition,” Barry R. Posen wrote in February. Posen also wrote, “we cannot know exactly how the IDF chooses which portions of Hamas’s tunnel system to attack from the air, but any sustained attack would depend on bombs of great penetration capability and explosive power.” Thus, this particular weapon is needed in Gaza in way that it wasn’t in the fight against ISIS.
The December CNN article, as CAMERA noted previously, relied on such “experts” as Nazi memorabilia collector Marc Garlasco. Consistent with CNN’s advocacy journalism, it seems to have been an attempt to stop the US from sending Israel more 2,000-pound bombs. The apparent attempt so far has been successful, with the US putting a “pause” on such shipments in early May, a hold which is still continuing.