carpet bombing with food.

[J. Paul Everett]

Well, this is one thing we could try in our warrior state.  It would so shock
the people that they might stop and listen.

Paul

September 20, 2001

Eli Berniker


Guerilla Warfare: Carpet Bombing with Food


We are preparing for war. We will send our cruise missiles into useless

targets in Taliban territory where the best we can do is kill a few

innocent standbys. The action, whatever it's costs and no matter how

powerfully executed, will be entirely symbolic.  Moreover, it is self

evident that its effects will be exactly what Bin Laden wants. It will

solidify Islamic support against us.


This will not be a war against terrorism.  Anti-terrorism is what we do

here or in Europe.  In Afghanistan, we will be faced with guerilla warfare.

Guerilla warfare has a long history going back, at least, to the Maccabees

who drove out the Greeks, the Romans who only reconquered Israel at

prohibitive cost. They did so by destroying all of the people. There was no

other way.


The British tried to conquer Afghanistan twice and lost as did the Soviets

after them. The Germans never did succeed in stamping out guerilla forces

in Yugoslavia, Poland, and Norway for all their efforts. We faced similar

challenges unsuccessfully in Viet Nam.  Given two thousand years of

experience, it is clear we could not have "won" in Viet Nam without killing

off most of the population.


The grand master of guerilla warfare was Mao. During WW2, the communist

underground pinned down vast Japanese armies trying to control northern

China. Mao identifies two key principles for guerilla success. First, they

can pick their battles. They pick the ones they can win. Standing armies

are forced to respond. So, we will go to Afghanistan fighting according to

Bin l;aden's rules, not ours.  Second, guerillas have the advantage of

being invisible. They are of the people, among the people, and hidden by

the people.  That was amply demonstrated in Viet Nam.


If we are to destroy Afghanistan as a base for terrorism, we must impose

different rules on the guerillas and undermine their ability to remain hidden.


How?  Some years ago, in a simulation of crisis management, one "president"

player decided to bomb the enemy with food with all kinds of positive

results. Let us contemplate such a strategy as a means of destabilizing the

Taliban.  Suppose we carpet bomb Afghanistan's villages with food and

medical supplies.


First, we should note that this is a cheap offensive.  A colleague asked,"

How much food could you buy for one cruise missile?"  Far more than you

could carry in many 747's.  Suppose, our initial symbolic action will only

cost one billion dollars.  We could lease many aircraft being grounded by

our airlines, take out the seats, and hire them to airdrop the food and

supplies. The food won't cost much. We have mountains stored at great

cost.  We are talking about bags of flour, wheat, beans, and maybe cooking

oil. They do not eat supermarket food over there.


Second, it will be hard for anyone to oppose such an action. We could use

bases in the old Islamic Soviet republics. Food bombing does not represent

a threat to the Russians. It will be easier to do from Pakistan. Even the

Iranians might prove helpful if they see this as a way to turn back the

thousands of refugees clamoring to cross their borders.


Most critical, will the impact be on the Taliban.  Will they forbid, in the

name of Allah, their people the right to eat this food in the face of

starvation?  If they allow them to eat this food, how do they explain its

origin to their people? The rationality of their Islamic fanaticism will be

confounded, confused, and challenged in the hearts and minds of those who

eat our food. That is destabilizing and a serious threat to their ability

to govern.  The very intractability of the Afghani countryside that enabled

them to win makes it extremely difficult to govern.  Peopl will simply opt

out which is exactly what we want them to do.


If Bin Laden's rules make only symbolic responses possible at this time, we

should aim our actions to destroy the symbols that sustain the Taliban and

his terrorist activities.


As food and medical supplies are dropped into Afghani villages and

circulate among the people to be hidden, the anomaly of the terrorists will

become apparent.  As Afghanis eat our food, the logic of terrorism will

make less and less sense.  And when that logic fails, hiding terrorists

becomes increasingly problematic. Given that the Taliban and the terrorists

have brought little joy to the people of Afghanistan, it should take very

little to make more visible.


Most important, carpet bombing with food can be done rapidly.  While we are

busy softening the enemy's hinterland with food, we can take our time to

select and execute those military battles we can win just like guerillas do.

*
*
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