Yesterday’s attack that killed at least 22 patients and staff at a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Afghanistan is only the latest in the AC-130’s record of indiscriminately blowing bystanders to smithereens (or “splashing the target” as they say in the Special Forces). Hand-outs from military-industrial sources always tout this converted cargo plane’s advanced avionics and “precision” strike capabilities, a perennial boondoggle.

Designed primarily to rake saturated fire with cannons and Gatling guns across massed battlefield troops, it has the alarming tendency nowadays to turn up on missions that are just the opposite: urban settings where insurgents may be among crowded populations of noncombatants. Air Force/Lockheed/Boeing AC-130 gunship–a descendant of the Vietnam War’s infamous “Puff the Magic Dragon” aircraft–which perpetually draws the furor of human rights groups around the world. History-minded readers with strong stomachs are invited to consider the 50-year saga of the U.S.

Ac130 puff the magic dragon