Showing posts with label iraq war. Show all posts
Showing posts with label iraq war. Show all posts

Intelligence Wars: Lessons from Baghdad Review

Intelligence Wars: Lessons from Baghdad
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Intelligence Wars: Lessons from Baghdad ReviewAsymmetric warfare is the term used to describe any war in which the weaker side chooses to avoid set piece battles and conventional tactics in favor of guerilla tactics usually supported by terrorism. Counter-insurgency operations (COIN) and counter-terrorism (CT) are both responses to these tactics. It has been widely argued that the key to successful COIN and CT operations is effective tactical intelligence. This book supports this argument and provides an unprecedented account of how effective law enforcement training and techniques can be used against both. Its author spent 2005 in Iraq as director of something called the "Strategic Counter- Intelligence Directorate" (SCID) which in spite of its title was charged with developing intelligence in support of military COIN. The SCID was composed of military and civilian investigators and analysts from the Navy, Air Force and Army criminal investigation organizations. In describing the operations of the SCID, O'Hern implies that law enforcement methodology including use of informants, operational intelligence, and basic investigative techniques can be very effective against insurgents and by extrapolation terrorists. He has two issues that he presses with particular passion: the need for more effective Human Intelligence (HUMINT) in Iraq; and the increasing influence of Iran on Iraq's Shia majority.
The good news is that after this book was written the U.S. Army actually developed effective counter-insurgency techniques that incorporated more effective tactical intelligence. The bad news is that it took them almost four years to do this and the blundering and waste in the U.S. Intelligence System that O'Hern records remains uncorrected.
Intelligence Wars: Lessons from Baghdad OverviewSince the first heady months of the war in Iraq when President Bush celebrated aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln under a "mission accomplished" sign, US forces have been bogged down in a frustrating war of attrition against a largely unseen insurgency that attacks with ambushes and roadside bombs. In this revealing insider's look at the US intelligence community's efforts to fight the insurgency, author Steven K. O'Hern, who served in Iraq in 2005 as a senior intelligence officer, offers a critical assessment of our intelligence failures and suggests ways of improving our ability to fight an often elusive enemy. O'Hern criticizes America's military leaders for being enamored with high-technology solutions for all situations, including intelligence operations. Essentially, we are still relying on an intelligence system that was designed to beat the Soviet army. But with no troop formations or supply depots to spot by satellite and no radio signals to intercept, insurgent tactics significantly reduce the US military's technological advantage. Using examples from human source operations conducted in Iraq, this book explains why human intelligence--not technology--is the key to defeating an insurgency and why the US is so poor at using what the military calls "HUMINT." O'Hern also cites internal structural problems that work against effective intelligence operations. The "intelligence community" is actually a collection of organizations usually more interested in protecting turf than sharing information. The author gives examples of missed opportunities that resulted from information being caught in "stovepipes" and red tape. He shows how front-line units and intelligence officers developed ways to work around the intelligence bureaucracy in order to succeed. Due to these problems and others, O'Hern notes that US intelligence has failed to spot emerging threats, such as Iran's involvement in Iraq. In conclusion, he cautions that these unresolved problems will continue to affect the United States in any future conflict against an insurgency.

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Predator: The Remote-Control Air War over Iraq and Afghanistan: A Pilot's Story Review

Predator: The Remote-Control Air War over Iraq and Afghanistan: A Pilot's Story
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Predator: The Remote-Control Air War over Iraq and Afghanistan: A Pilot's Story ReviewUnmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), also known as Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPAs), have played an increasingly influential role in air warfare. Initially used only for photo recce, UAVs have evolved into armed sentinels, endlessly circling over battlefields until their pilots, usually located half a world away, unleash deadly Hellfire missiles, JDAMs or other munitions. Lieutenant Colonel Matt Martin, a UAV veteran, and Charles Sasser describe the THE REMOTE-CONTROL AIR WAR OVER IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN in this fascinating Zenith Press release.
Martin, a USAF RC-135 navigator longing to be a pilot, volunteered for UAV training, learning to fly the Predator in 2004. Martin subsequently logged Predator combat missions, helping Coalition forces locate - and terminate - al Qaeda and Taliban bad guys, supported Special Ops missions, etc.. He later commanded the Predator-equipped 46th Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron stationed in Iraq.
While other books on UAVs are out there, Martin's book provides an insider's view of how the Predator was developed and transformed over the years and its use in combat along with the mindset and experiences of a Predator pilot. As borne out in Martin's book, Predator missions are not bloodless video games; UAV operators can see quite clearly their targets and what happens to them when a Hellfire hits. Martin presents his experiences against the backdrop of the Gulf Wars, providing some insightful analysis into events past and present in those troubled countries.
In short, PREDATOR 'draws back the drapes' on what was a highly classified part of the Iraq/Afghanistan air war and provides the reader with a glimpse into how air wars will be fought in the future. Recommended.
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FYI. Last-minute text changes due to security concerns have produced typos running throughout the book. Headquarters, for instance, is scrambled into HeadBobbys!?! Zenith has offered to replace defective copies with corrected editions.Predator: The Remote-Control Air War over Iraq and Afghanistan: A Pilot's Story Overview
The Nintendo generation has taken to the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan where remotely controlled aircraft are killing America¹s enemies and saving American lives.

Matt J. Martin is considered a "top gun" in the world of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). For nearly four years, he has flown hundreds of missions on two warfronts in a new kind of combat that, until recently, was largely classified Top Secret. He and his fellow Predator pilots have been actively involved in virtually every facet of the War on Terror in Iraq and Afghanistan: tracking Osama bin Laden; capturing top al-Qaeda leader al-Zarqawi; fighting with the U.S. Marines in Fallujah; and rescuing aid workers kidnapped in Afghanistan by the Taliban.

This is Matt J. Martin's story and that of his aircraft, the 27-foot long Predator.


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