US Resumes Operations in Iraq - Footage from USS George H.W. Bush

"I will not allow the United States to be dragged into another war in Iraq," President Barack Obama said, just hours before sending F/A-18 Hornets to drop bombs in Iraq. The US Department of Defense has publicly released limited footage so far, being the below two videos filmed from the desk of the USS George H W Bush Aircraft Carrier, showing launch and recovery operations of F/A-18 Super Hornets during the renewed strikes in Iraq. The US campaign began with the deployment of 500-pound laser-guided bombs at around 6:45 a.m. EST on Friday, August 8th, Pentagon officials confirmed. The effort is ostensibly to slow the spread of ISIS, otherwise known as "Islamic State in Iraq and Syria" or just "the Islamic State." The group's swift and recent emergence came following at least a decade of US military intervention in the region. Iraq's government under Saddam Hussein was, if nothing else, stable. Subsequent efforts to install a westernized government proved to be remarkably expensive, ineffectual, and short-lived. The effort to "install democracy" proved itself to be a quagmire that has enabled different sets of tyrants and terrorists to take over the region. The President explained that this campaign is humanitarian in nature, and not an act of war. U.S. Navy videos by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman David Lee. Arabian Gulf (Aug. 8, 2014)