The Bridge Twofer
ISIS. Dam. Toxic. By Jeremy Renken, The Bridge
Army friends, Land Power advocates, people participating in the jibe-fest of President Obama’s doctrine on ISIS, lend me your ear.
I have heard quite a bit of talk about the proposal of using airpower to disrupt and destroy ISIL and it usually points out how airpower has failed to meet ambitious policy goals in the past. So has landpower. I’ve read articles with people coming out of the woodwork to say what the “limits of airpower” are and I would ask them to consider that they’re really talking about the limits of war. Especially war as we like to think of it…
“Clausewitz Turned on his Head” by Martin Skold, The Bridge
War, we are told by a wise elder, is the “pursuit of policy by other means.” In fact, this famous statement was perhaps more an aspiration on Carl Von Clausewitz’ part than a statement of metaphysical truth. It is often observed that German generals in the succeeding generations completely forgot this famous dictum, which demoted them relative to civilian leaders they often held in contempt. But American generals do not seem to be immune, either…