Tuesday, September 23, 2014

On Hurling Tomahawk Missiles at ISIS



It won't be very effective. The U.S. should stop meddling in the Middle East, but the crazed neocons are correct when they say airstrikes won't wipe out ISIS.

As the bombs and missiles fall, ISIS will just scatter.

The Daily Beast writes:
American airpower will be the centerpiece of U.S. direct action against the so-called Islamic State. That much, at least, the U.S. government made clear Monday night with the launch of U.S. airstrikes on Syria. American bombers, sea-launched Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles, F-15s, F-16s, F/A-18s, unmanned aircraft, and Arab allies from bases throughout the Persian Gulf region attacked an initial set of roughly 20 primarily fixed targets—logistical hubs, headquarters, training camps, and other ISIS infrastructure—in Raqqa and other areas in Syria...

Early strikes in Raqqa appear so far to focus on fixed infrastructure and other static targets, but given ISIS's insurgent experience at operating underground, seeking out these fixed targets will yield diminishing returns. Although leadership strikes modeled on U.S. counterterrorism operations against al Qaeda and its affiliates could have high political and psychological value, these types of decapitation campaigns are often lengthy, intensive efforts with uncertain results. The significant autonomy enjoyed by ISIS's ground commanders makes them critically important to their military operations but also potentially resilient to U.S. decapitation efforts,

-RW

3 comments:

  1. The only losers in this will be the American taxpayer at $1 million a lob.

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  2. Ill take Einstein's definition of insanity for $1000 please.

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  3. Im not sure if these numbers are correct, as I heard them on 'Democracy Now' (great way to get the blood boiling on the way to work), but they reported that the US fired 46 tomahawk missiles and killed only 20 ISIS fighters, along with some civilians (3 of the children).

    ReplyDelete