Airpower in the Battle of An Najaf

USAF planes helped turned the tide. From DefenceTalk:

BALAD AIR BASE, Iraq: More than 200 enemy insurgents were killed and 100 gunmen captured near An Najaf Jan. 28 with 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing providing close-air support in the joint, combined effort to route the enemy in battle.
After insurgents attacked ground forces with small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades, 332nd F-16 Fighting Falcons and A-10 Thunderbolt IIs answered the call for support dropping more than 3.5 tons of precision munitions and expending 2,300 rounds of 20mm and 30mm cannon fire in an area of about five square miles.
F-16 from the 510th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron, 14th EFS and 332nd EFS, based here, as well as A-10 from the geographically separated 74th EFS at Al Asad Air Base, all participated.
The 36-hour action was the first time all the wing's fighter aircraft have simultaneously employed ordnance in a single operation. Two of the squadrons, the 14th and 74th, joined the wing's ranks just last month.

Victory through airpower! Despite spending billions of dollars a year to develop high-tech aircraft like the F-22 Raptor, the Reagan era F-16s and A-10s have held the line throughout the War on Terror, and will continue to do so for some time.