Islamic State Versus Air Power

No war was ever won by air power alone.  With no professional ground forces to root out ISIS street by street, the U.S. led coalition is finding it more difficult to target effective air strikes.  One defense analyst put it this way:  "ISIS is not really structured in such a way as to be vulnerable to airstrikes.  They don't have a lot of static targets.  We can bomb a building here, a building there, a tank here, a truck there.  But ISIS fighters are very good at intermingling with the civilian population".  Since strikes began in Syria 2 weeks ago, the terrorists are using cellphones and radios far less to avoid detection.  They camouflage humvees, trucks and tanks;  they relocate training camps;  they move at night in small groups and use many other evasive tactics.

Choosing and training Coalition "boots on the ground"  forces will be very complex.  They must arm and advise the Iraqi military as well as Kurdish soldiers, who view each other with suspicion.  In Syria, they will have to organize thousands of anti-regime rebels who are more interested in toppling Bashar Assad than fighting ISIS.  The Coalition will also have to aid tribal militias in both Syria and Iraq, some of whom have known links to terrorist groups.

Then there is Turkey.  Ah, Turkey - NATO member, candidate to join the European Union - sitting on a hill on the Turkish/Syrian border in their tanks and armoured personnel carriers - watching the action a few kilometres away in Kobani, a key Kurdish town.  ISIS black flags fly from Kobani buildings while Kurd warriors fight these  barbarians street by street, house by house - outgunned, outnumbered.  On social media, jihadists post photos of severed heads - Kurdish women - trophies of their victory over the infidels.  The Turkish army watches - and watches.  There is no lovelost between Turks and Kurds.  Kurds want their freedom, their own country - Turkey doesn't.  Why?  The answer lies in hundreds of years of history.

And again, history repeats itself. Flash back to Warsaw, 1944.  World War 2 is coming to an end.  Russian forces stand on the Vistula River facing Warsaw.  The Poles, sensing victory, rise up against the German occupiers, expecting Russian tanks to cross the river and join the fight.  But nothing happens.  Like the Turks today, Russian soldiers wait and watch the slaughter.  Communist leader - Josef Stalin has other plans for the Poles.  Adolf Hitler orders Warsaw destroyed - every building, every house.  Then the Russians advance through the rubble and march on to Berlin.

Flash forward to Oct. 7, 2014.  Very complex, very confusing and very draining on the public purse and public will-power to stay the course.  A few days ago, Vice President Joe Biden noted:  "This is going to require a lot of time and patience.... strife across the region will take a generation or more to work itself out".

Amen brother.  Tighten your seat belts, boys and girls.  It's going to be a long, bumpy flight.