At 10:17 PM 8/12/2001 -0700, Doug wrote:
>Dan Minette wrote:
>
> > One interesting point regarding air power. It is assumed that the US
> > airpower can stop any talk assault. IIRC, the war in the Balkans was the
> > first war ever won with air power alone. Since the problem in Korea is not
> > winning a long term war but stopping an assault within 30 miles, it
> does not
> > seem unreasonable that a combination of anti-personnel and tank mines
> at the
> > border would be a major help.
>
>While it's true that the Gulf War was not won with air power alone, from what
>I understand, the ground war was little more than mopping up after the utter
>devastation from the air war. The point being that air warfare against a
>technologically inferior enemy can possibly be effective enough to neutralize
>them.
<snipped>
You should emphasize "possibly". Air power did not defeat the North
Vietnamese during the Vietnam War, who were "technologically inferior".
And, while many may remember the video of an Iraqi patrol surrendering to a
helicopter during the Gulf War, it was the Allied Coalition ground forces
that re-took Kuwait, admittedly the purpose of the war. The problem is not
the use of land mines during a war, it is what happens to the land mines
once the war is over.
john
