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

Chapter 5
<strong>the</strong> Marine campaign “aerial terrorism”. 180 There are some o<strong>the</strong>r historians, such as Wray
Johnson, who vigorously disagree with this allegation. However, those who suggest
that this campaign was humane <strong>and</strong> constrained, especially when compared to similar
European wars, are looking from <strong>the</strong> wrong perspective. The peasants living in <strong>the</strong>
Segovias felt that <strong>the</strong>y suffered an unprecedented wave of death <strong>and</strong> devastation. While
Marines, as Colonel Dening in <strong>the</strong> quote above, felt that <strong>the</strong> destruction of <strong>the</strong> peasants’
huts was not serious, as <strong>the</strong>y could easily be rebuilt, for <strong>the</strong> individuals involved <strong>the</strong>ir
homes <strong>and</strong> all <strong>the</strong>ir meagre possessions were destroyed. They were left homeless <strong>and</strong>
hungry. While dropping a bomb near a house or individual to “see what might develop”
may seem restrained, for those on <strong>the</strong> ground it was terrifying. Most horrific to <strong>the</strong>
Segovians were <strong>the</strong>ir relatives, friends <strong>and</strong> neighbours who had been killed or wounded
by <strong>the</strong> Marines.
To some <strong>the</strong> attacks might seem “restrained” since only one or two houses were strafed at
a time. However, it is important to emphasise <strong>the</strong> relatively small number of people that
actually lived in <strong>the</strong> Segovias. For example, in <strong>the</strong> towns discussed above, Murra had about
fifty houses <strong>and</strong> Concordia was a little larger. Most of <strong>the</strong> communities were much smaller
than <strong>the</strong>se two. The destruction of even one or two houses was a significant percentage of
<strong>the</strong> total. Thus, most Segovians were direct victims or witnesses to this devastation.
The <strong>Air</strong> Service reports described <strong>the</strong> bombings <strong>and</strong> attacks but not <strong>the</strong> effects on <strong>the</strong>
civilian population. Sometimes ground patrols reported on <strong>the</strong> aftermath an air attack.
One patrol visited a house that had been bombed. There it “found that three persons
had been wounded by <strong>the</strong> bomb fragments. … The wounded in this shack were Lorenzo
Mendoza, his wife <strong>and</strong> a small child named Toribia Bravo. The old man was slightly
scratched on <strong>the</strong> back. The old woman had a couple of small chunks of flesh torn from
her left leg near <strong>the</strong> knee. The child, which in my opinion was <strong>the</strong> worse wounded of <strong>the</strong>
three, had a piece of shrapnel in her right arm. … It is possible that <strong>the</strong> people were not
aware of <strong>the</strong> presence of a group of b<strong>and</strong>its in <strong>the</strong>ir vicinity, but I doubt it!” 191
The victims gained first aid, but <strong>the</strong>re is no mention of how this family was supposed to
survive. Their house was destroyed <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong>y were left in <strong>the</strong> mountains with no medicine
or access to doctors. No evidence is presented of <strong>the</strong>ir support for <strong>the</strong> “b<strong>and</strong>its”. Instead
<strong>the</strong> report blamed <strong>the</strong> victims for <strong>the</strong>ir plight since <strong>the</strong>y must have known of <strong>the</strong> supposed
S<strong>and</strong>inista presence. Thus, <strong>the</strong>y were guilty for being who <strong>the</strong>y were <strong>and</strong> living where
<strong>the</strong>y lived.
However, <strong>the</strong> policy of suspecting everyone was utterly counterproductive. Instead
of defeating <strong>the</strong> S<strong>and</strong>inistas, <strong>the</strong>se attacks helped convince many to join <strong>the</strong> fight <strong>and</strong>
<strong>Air</strong> <strong>Power</strong>, <strong>Insurgency</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> “War on Terror” 93