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

Chapter 12
With little hard evidence, <strong>the</strong> International Commission repeatedly accused <strong>the</strong> Israeli <strong>Air</strong>
Force of violating international law in <strong>the</strong> conflict in Lebanon. For example, <strong>the</strong> Israeli
bombing of PLO targets in Beirut was referred to as “terror bombing” <strong>and</strong> “indiscriminate
bombing of Muslim civilians.” The reported figure of hundreds of civilian casualties after
thous<strong>and</strong>s of Israeli air sorties gives lie to <strong>the</strong> charges. If <strong>the</strong> Israelis wanted to slaughter
civilians from <strong>the</strong> air, <strong>the</strong>y could have easily done it with more than 600 combat aircraft
in <strong>the</strong> IAF inventory.
In 2006 <strong>the</strong> Israelis faced an even more sophisticated media campaign against <strong>the</strong>ir use of
air power against <strong>the</strong> Hezbollah irregulars. Hezbollah, tacitly supported by <strong>the</strong> Lebanese
government, carefully controlled <strong>the</strong> media coverage of <strong>the</strong> conflict. What <strong>the</strong> world saw
was evidence of a massive attack by Israeli forces against <strong>the</strong> civilians of Lebanon. The
media dutifully repeated unverified claims of massive civilian casualties <strong>and</strong> damage to
civilian homes – 15,000 homes destroyed was one figure b<strong>and</strong>ied about. The reporting
was accompanied by dramatic images – many of <strong>the</strong>m doctored by reporters sympa<strong>the</strong>tic
to Hezbollah – that promoted <strong>the</strong> image of Israeli targeting of civilians. That many civilian
casualties were <strong>the</strong> result of Hezbollah’s practice of firing rockets from heavily populated
areas was less reported.
In contrast, <strong>the</strong> Israeli government <strong>and</strong> military did a poor job of presenting <strong>the</strong>ir case
to <strong>the</strong> world. Early in <strong>the</strong> campaign, Israeli ground forces captured Hezbollah rocket
firing cards that proved that Israeli civilians were <strong>the</strong> targets of <strong>the</strong> massive Hezbollah
rocket barrage. That many Israeli civilian targets were hit, <strong>and</strong> Israeli civilians were killed
by rockets fired from Lebanon was hardly noted by <strong>the</strong> international media. In short,
Hezbollah came out of <strong>the</strong> conflict as <strong>the</strong> big winner in <strong>the</strong> opinion war, while Israeli was
generally characterised as <strong>the</strong> aggressor.
In <strong>the</strong> aftermath of <strong>the</strong> Israeli campaign Lebanon, western human rights groups <strong>and</strong> even
some western governments are now pushing for an international ban of <strong>the</strong> use of cluster
bombs, which are very useful munitions in fighting both insurgents <strong>and</strong> conventional
forces. 506 But <strong>the</strong> case of Israel is not unique. Insurgents have also used this win/win
media strategy in Iraq. In Fallujah in 2004 insurgents placed munitions <strong>and</strong> weapons
in twenty mosques, <strong>and</strong> used mosques as fighting positions. Targeting a mosque that is
being used as a military installation is a perfectly acceptable act under <strong>the</strong> laws of war.
Still, this common insurgent practice works well for <strong>the</strong> insurgents. Although <strong>the</strong> US
employs precision weapons, <strong>and</strong> tries to keep damage to mosques to a minimum, <strong>the</strong>re
was just enough damage in Fallujah to ensure that insurgents could portray <strong>the</strong> conflict
as Americans attacking Islam; a <strong>the</strong>me that resonates throughout <strong>the</strong> Arab nations <strong>and</strong>
helps fur<strong>the</strong>r radicalise <strong>the</strong> Islamic opinion.
<strong>Air</strong> <strong>Power</strong>, <strong>Insurgency</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> “War on Terror” 217