Air Power, Insurgency and the “War on Terror” - Prof. Joel Hayward's ...

Starting with a Blank Sheet: Principles of War for a New Century
PGMs, in a very real sense, have negated <strong>the</strong> old principle of “mass.” Quite simply, targets
today are no longer “massive,” so <strong>the</strong> weapons used against <strong>the</strong>m need not be ei<strong>the</strong>r.
Moreover, new weapons employing more finely-tuned radar or GPS guidance systems
will give greater accuracy, thus allowing smaller warheads <strong>and</strong> lowering <strong>the</strong> degree of
physical damage even more.
The concept that precision is <strong>the</strong> anti<strong>the</strong>sis of mass bears resemblance to <strong>the</strong> old principle
of “economy of force.” It is interesting that J.F.C. Fuller, a decade after first articulating
his principles of war, mused about raising economy of force to <strong>the</strong> status of a law. To
his mind, <strong>the</strong> old ways of slaughter were almost never justified, simply because <strong>the</strong>
political, economic, <strong>and</strong> social problems created by such a Clausewitzian strategy of
annihilation were too great. The cure was far worse than <strong>the</strong> disease. In o<strong>the</strong>r words,
although this principle was generally viewed mostly as a tactical concept, Fuller realised
that such economy was essential at <strong>the</strong> strategic <strong>and</strong> gr<strong>and</strong> strategic levels as well. 495 His
concern was an appropriate one, especially in this day <strong>and</strong> age. In my view, <strong>the</strong> revolution
occasioned by precision weapons has effectively addressed this quite valid concern.
10. Media Awareness <strong>and</strong> Initiative. I do not wish to be mistaken, so let me state
unambiguously that I am not advocating that <strong>the</strong> military devise ways to manipulate
or deceive <strong>the</strong> news media. The “embedded media” concept introduced in 1990 was an
excellent idea that ensured <strong>the</strong> military’s story was presented factually without <strong>the</strong> taint
of manipulation. Ra<strong>the</strong>r, my point is that global communications make it inevitable that
virtually everything we do will now be scrutinised by a sceptical news media over which
we have no control.
In a sense, every bomb, missile, or bullet fired by an American airman, soldier, or sailor
is a political act. When a bomb goes astray <strong>and</strong> hits a residential area, when a Tomahawk
missile crashes into a hotel lobby, or an edgy soldier on patrol kills a civilian at a roadblock,
US foreign policy – not just military policy – suffers a setback. We can no longer afford to
miss. More than that, even when we hit <strong>the</strong> target, we have to do so almost softly <strong>and</strong>
with minimal impact. One is reminded of TV westerns many years back: <strong>the</strong> good guy –
<strong>the</strong> one in <strong>the</strong> white hat – never killed <strong>the</strong> bad guy; he shot <strong>the</strong> gun out of his h<strong>and</strong> <strong>and</strong>
arrested him. That is our new st<strong>and</strong>ard.
In a very real sense, photographic images determine <strong>and</strong> shape our memory of past
events. There are, no doubt, photos that spring to mind when one considers <strong>the</strong> Vietnam
War, but I would venture that most of us would recall three images in particular: a Viet
Cong terrorist being executed with a shot to <strong>the</strong> head by a South Vietnamese general on
a Saigon street; a young girl, naked, running away in terror from a napalm strike; <strong>and</strong> an
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<strong>Air</strong> <strong>Power</strong>, <strong>Insurgency</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> “War on Terror”