"Technology And The Future Of War" Topic

"Over the past half century, American political and military leaders have attempted to make war less costly in human terms. As far as lowering American casualties in combat, that is a wholly worthwhile endeavor. But that effort has carried over into the creation of unrealistic rules of engagement governing the use of weapons and representing efforts to reduce civilian casualties. To a certain extent, this has driven the revolution in precision munitions. In the Gulf War of 1991, extensive interviews with Iraqi prisoners of war indicated that the coalition aircraft they most feared was the ancient—even at that time—B-52. Above all, they emphasized the terrifying shock that strikes carried out miles away had on their perspective of the war and morale.

Ironically, because the B-52 computers were misaligned, the heavy bombers never hit their targets at which they were aiming. It did not matter, because the impact of the B-52 strikes was largely on the morale of Iraqi soldiers hunkered down in the deserts of Kuwait and southern Iraq. The horrendous noise and shaking of the earth from strikes even a dozen miles distant affected them deeply. Ironically, in the bombing of ISIS, including its military forces and encampments in the desert, US military and political leaders have not been willing to use the B-52. The reason behind this unwillingness lies in a belief among the political leadership in Washington that precision strikes prevent all collateral damage, which they do not. Such beliefs entirely miss the purpose of the use of military force and air power in particular, which is to wreck the enemy's morale as much as to achieve physical damage and kill his soldiers…"
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Amicalement
Armand

which is to wreck the enemy's morale as much as to achieve physical damage and kill his soldiers…"

I've mentioned that many times here.

The reason behind this unwillingness lies in a belief among the political leadership in Washington that precision strikes prevent all collateral damage

Collateral Damage(CD) is something that is to be avoided if at all possible. For a number of reasons. But if too often … you are not really fighting a war. And the conflict lasts longer, etc. However, as usual, everything is based on terrain and situation as always. So WWII type "carpet bombings", etc., were a waste and ineffective for many reasons. And No I'm not advocating not avoiding CD … Obviously …

But … e.g. places like Iraq, Syria and A'stan the conflicts will never be over. For a number of reason … as we see daily in the media.