Iraq & Air Power The Commentator’s View Sir Timothy Garden Centre for Defence Studies King’s College London

Key Issues Nature of Media Coverage Personal Assessment of the Campaign Questions to Answer

Public Information Sources Television Terrestrial News rise of 84% to 315 min/w Cable/Sat News rise of 145% to 289 min/w Radio - only 8% increase Newspapers - no change Internet - only 6% rise

TV & Air Campaign Although television cameras captured the dramatic bombardment of downtown Baghdad, Moseley's aggressive prosecution of the broader air war -- a campaign that dropped 29,000 bombs and missiles on thousands of targets in Iraq -- played out largely behind the scenes. There were several reasons for this: Saudi Arabia and other Arab nations playing host to U.S. air crews refused to accept embedded reporters, who might have conveyed a greater sense of the air strategy to American audiences; many targets were out of sight of journalists on the battlefield; and senior military officials did not discuss their strategy in public. An Air War of Might, Co-ordination and Risks Washington Post 26 April 2003

Personal Information Sources in order of usefulness Embedded TV reporters Newspaper reporters Internet sources Pentagon Briefs CENTCOM briefs UK Government briefs

Points from the Air Campaign Where was Shock and Awe? Lack of Iraqi air defences Flexibility & the ATO Precision weapons Key targets Close Air Support Under assessment of importance?

Intelligence Strategic failings Tactical assessments Air Contribution 1000 sorties 42,000 images 2400 hours of SigInt flying

WMD Declared war aim “Attacks centred on Command & Control” Apparent low priority: Only 10.7% of air targets NBC protection shortfalls

PSY-Ops 158 missions 31,800,000 leaflets (120,254 TREs) Radio & TV broadcasts Effectiveness assessment?

Casualties 20 a/c lost - 7 to enemy action Friendly fire reporting Lack of Iraqi casualty numbers Cluster munition usage - Air or artillery Precision weapons effects

Technology Pre war hype JDAMs v Storm Shadow & TLAM UAVs Network Enabled Capability Sensor to Shooter times

Ten Questions Has the nature of warfare changed? Does technology replace troops? Can air power now destroy defending armies? Are logistics the constraining factor? What changes to weapon/platform balance? Are Special Forces more important? Was the media strategy right? Was the intelligence right? How important are allies? Should nation-building shape the combat phase?

Better Air Power Media Relations Prepare before operation Embed reporters with squadrons Give operators a freer hand Own up to mistakes Produce quick deep honest post conflict reports Carry out a full post op air power survey