The U.S. dropped the “mother of all bombs” in Afghanistan on Thursday, and Americans have taken to Twitter to react to the news.
The 21,600-pound GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb — the most powerful non-nuclear bomb in the U.S. arsenal — was dropped on a suspected ISIS target at 7 p.m. local time Thursday. First developed during the Iraq War, the bomb has never before been used in combat.
“I’ve studied the #MOAB for yrs. It’s a disgusting device, designed to inflict maximum casualties. It’s a carpet bomb. Should be illegal,” tweeted “Gasland” director Josh Fox. The bombing comes just days after a major U.S. airstrike in Syria.
White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said during a press briefing on Thursday that the U.S. “took all precautions necessary to prevent civilian casualties and collateral damage” as a result of the bombing. “The United States takes the fight against ISIS very seriously,” he said.
Some users applauded President Trump for making good on his campaign promise to “bomb the s— out of” ISIS. Others accused him of using military force to improve his numbers.
“The lower Trump’s approval ratings get, the more bombs he’ll drop. He wants to bomb himself out of a slump,” tweeted activist Shaun King.
The MOAB was delivered by an MC-130 aircraft operated by Air Force Special Operations Command. CNN reported that Gen. John Nicholson, commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, signed off on the deployment of the MOAB with approval from Gen. Joseph Votel, commander of U.S. Central Command.
See more reactions below:
Donald Trump should've just sent Kendall Jenner into Afghanistan w/ the mother of all Pepsi cans instead of dropping the #MOAB. Way cheaper.
— NUFF (@nuffsaidny) April 13, 2017
The #MOAB explosion is equivalent to 11 tons of TNT and the blast radius is a mile wide. How many innocent children were in that mile?
— Josh Fox (@joshfoxfilm) April 13, 2017
I've studied the #MOAB for yrs. It's a disgusting device, designed to inflict maximum casualties. It's a carpet bomb. Should be illegal.
— Josh Fox (@joshfoxfilm) April 13, 2017
https://twitter.com/cuIturee/status/852579686316113920
https://twitter.com/iamMIKEAIR/status/852579712878600192
https://twitter.com/TheRealBeatBoss/status/852582922125275142
https://twitter.com/Aliens_exsit/status/852585334542151680
https://twitter.com/ShaunKing/status/852586460595335171
?Lookups for 'nonnuclear' are spiking. We're guessing that people are checking how it's spelled. https://t.co/WzuzX7zL24
— Merriam-Webster (@MerriamWebster) April 13, 2017
odd how the media magically knows the bomb only hit "ISIS" pic.twitter.com/a3v7kUIFEu
— Adam H. Johnson (@adamjohnsonNYC) April 13, 2017
https://twitter.com/Lexialex/status/852585851410235392
https://twitter.com/ira/status/852586507684552704
https://twitter.com/Rambobiggs/status/852585849090969600
https://twitter.com/jason_howerton/status/852585780199510018
We can't bomb our way to victory.
We can't bomb our way to victory.
We can't bomb our way to victory.
We can't bomb our way to victory.— igorvolsky (@igorvolsky) April 13, 2017
We just dropped the largest non-nuclear bomb we have in Afghanistan. And Sean Spicer won't even say if Trump knew about/approved of its use.
— Caroline Orr Bueno, Ph.D (@RVAwonk) April 13, 2017
https://twitter.com/wilw/status/852575037433405440
Overheard in the newsroom: Did we just drop a bomb on Afghanistan?
Someone else: We're not even at war there?Sums it up.
— Asma Khalid (@asmamk) April 13, 2017