Ish,
First of all, that is post hoc ergo propter hoc.... The retreat also occurred after I ate my breakfast every day for four weeks in a row. Did my persistently eating breakfast---uh, I like to call it my "carpet breakfasts"--- finally wear down the Taliban and cause their retreat? Temporal associations never imply causation.
IMHO the Taliban retreat is most consistent with my original point:
If the carpet bombing was effective, either there would have been no Taliban left to retreat, or the retreat would have begun in response to the bombing, or both. The bombing did not cause their retreat. All during the bombing, the Taliban did not move an inch backward, and as I recall they actually advanced some. As has always been the case historically, advancing troops did what carpet bombing could not. The main purpose of the bombing was to boost Northern Alliance and US confidence and resolve, and secondarily to buy time while things were positioned properly for an attack. Towards those ends and those only, I think it was successful. Confident, prepared, resolute troops always fight better than hesitant unprepared troops with a poorly thought-out plan.
Walkingshadow |
