Post-Modern Warfare: Tweets Attempt to Influence Centcom Airstrikes by Howard Altman, Tampa Tribune
As a fierce battle rages between Kurds and the Islamic State in the Syrian town of Kobane, the fight has another front, aimed at U.S. Central Command headquarters at MacDill Air Force Base.
Kurds, and those supporting them, have been sending hundreds of urgent Twitter messages calling for Centcom, which controls military operations in the region, to start bombing the jihadis who are attacking the town on the Turkish border.
Centcom officials say while they are aware of social media traffic, it does not drive targeting decisions.
“We get a lot of suggestions for targets on social media,” said Army Maj. Curt Kellogg, a Centcom spokesman. “We monitor social media and see comments about all kinds of things, but that does not mean it is driving what Centcom is doing in our area of responsibility.”…