The Prairie Pooch Hole
Warning... possibly biased non-bipartisan comments below. Suggestion... read article and skip my sarcasm dripping off the end of this post!
The article starts...
When Air Force types talk about how much they can contribute to counterinsurgencies, they usually brag about how easy it is, to take out militants from the sky. So-called "soft power" -- building schools, discrediting insurgent propaganda, strengthening local economies -- that's for the guys on the ground. In the air, it's all about hard power, and the ability "to put a bomb within feet of any point on earth." But one Air Force officer says his service needs to "look beyond lethality." Airpower "is truly much more than putting bombs on target," Major John Bellflower argues over at Small Wars Journal. The Air Force can play a big role in supplying soft power. Intriguing. Too bad Bellflower doesn't offer all that many examples of how soft airpower could work.
Read the article here...
Of course, building schools and drilling wells and teaching people how to grow better crops and finding them homes and moving them out of refugee camps is effective. Of course, we need our military and need to use it. But, it goes without saying that we need to aggressively use "soft power."
Possibly, I am reading too much into the last sentence above... "Too bad Bellflower doesn't offer all that many examples of how soft airpower could work." But, it sounds like more of the same old refrain from our political and military leaders in recent times. They understand the sword, but not the plowshare.
Pooch Doggy Dog
The article starts...
When Air Force types talk about how much they can contribute to counterinsurgencies, they usually brag about how easy it is, to take out militants from the sky. So-called "soft power" -- building schools, discrediting insurgent propaganda, strengthening local economies -- that's for the guys on the ground. In the air, it's all about hard power, and the ability "to put a bomb within feet of any point on earth." But one Air Force officer says his service needs to "look beyond lethality." Airpower "is truly much more than putting bombs on target," Major John Bellflower argues over at Small Wars Journal. The Air Force can play a big role in supplying soft power. Intriguing. Too bad Bellflower doesn't offer all that many examples of how soft airpower could work.
Read the article here...
Of course, building schools and drilling wells and teaching people how to grow better crops and finding them homes and moving them out of refugee camps is effective. Of course, we need our military and need to use it. But, it goes without saying that we need to aggressively use "soft power."
Possibly, I am reading too much into the last sentence above... "Too bad Bellflower doesn't offer all that many examples of how soft airpower could work." But, it sounds like more of the same old refrain from our political and military leaders in recent times. They understand the sword, but not the plowshare.
Pooch Doggy Dog
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