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U.S. warplanes bombed two Iraqi military bases, near Mosul, in self defense. The low key, eight month bombing campaign has been so successful because it has managed to put 1,100 bombs and missiles on 359 Iraqi targets without raising any unfavorable media attention. "Stealth Campaign,:" as it were. This was done using only 200 aircraft, plus 19 warships in the Persian Gulf and a total of 22,00 U.S. troops in the region. Three times as many targets have been hit during these eight months as were targeted during the high profile four day air campaign last December. The air campaign against Serbia flew 50 percent more missions, but did less damage. The leisurely Stealth Campaign has allowed the U.S. to carefully target Iraqi weapons and military bases. Because of this success, some in the Pentagon have suggested picking up the pace a bit, for at the rate things are going, another year of this and Iraqi armed forces were be substantially weaker than they are now. The low key campaign has become just another bit of background noise, with hardly anyone, even in the Arab world, paying much attention to Iraqi protests. The U.S. has denied any plans to escalate this campaign.