Fighting Terrorism with Airpower 101

[unhappycamper]

Fighting Terrorism with Airpower 101
Air Force Print News | November 14, 2007

MAXWELL AIR FORCE BASE, Ala. -- Airpower is a valuable weapon in the fight against terrorism but only if it is applied with discrimination and care, according to a new study of the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah War published by Air University officials.

Widespread criticism of Israel for relying on its air force to attack Hezbollah terrorists in neighboring Lebanon and free Israeli soldiers captured by the militant group is misguided, said William M. Arkin, the author of the study.

"The 'failure' of airpower in the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah War was not that it promised too much or that it did not deliver," wrote Mr. Arkin, an independent journalist, author and longtime NBC News military analyst. "It was instead a grand strategic failure in the application of force against terrorism."

Israel took a far too conventional approach to combating a non-state terrorist organization hiding within a sovereign nation, applying traditional military methods at the expense of its strategic goals, he wrote.

By not explaining its military actions to the international community and focusing on destruction rather than effects, Mr. Arkin argued that Israel inadvertently bolstered support for Hezbollah and strengthened the terrorist group.

"Israeli leaders argue that they are fighting a 'new' and different kind of enemy ... yet when the time for action came in 2006, the (Israeli defense force) designed the most conventional of wars," Mr. Arkin wrote.


Rest of article at: http://www.military.com/features/0,15240,156218,00.html

[DCKit]

1. They USED to fight terrorism with "intelligence"

Are they (and US) afraid of the implications of the word "intelligence"?

Collateral damage doesn't seem to mean much anymore: Bombing with planes allows complete control with as little dissent as possible.

[Captain Hilts]

2. Kind of like subs "fighting terrorism." Silly. nt