the military was lying about accuracy
I don't want to get into a statistical discussion of BDA with you Carl. It would make my head hurt. :^) My reading shows that the Air Force tries to get accurate numbers on BDA. They really do. They want to know what is really going on, and if they are being effective. It has proven to be very difficult to do in "Real Time." Only after the conflict do the real numbers appear. And they are usually much lower. Not due to lies, just "Fog of War."
This has happened since WWII, and the numbers reported have become more accurate with each conflict. Do numbers get "Puffed?" Of course. They want to look good. But they now know that the true numbers will come out.
The bombing that was done in Afghanistan in the first few weeks was run by remote control from AF HQ, with some CIA input on the ground, and was not too accurate. No good numbers will ever be known on that period, IMO. Rumsfeld was very unhappy with results and the A Teams, along with some specialized AF spotters, were put on the ground. The A team with the NA were using laser sights, and radio control to the B-52's. They had clear weather. The Afghans could not believe what was going on. It took the bombs about 2 1/2 minutes to hit from drop. Our guys would let the Afghans look through the laser sight during the last few seconds. They would hear the sight "Chirp" and then see the target disappear. They were sure we had a "Death Ray" and our guys did not correct the impression.
It got to the point that in one incident the Afghans on our side phoned the opposition to surrender or they would have the Americans hit them with a "Death Ray". The Taliban promptly dropped their weapons and surrendered.
In another incident, they called in a B-52 drop on trenches full of Taliban, and counted about 3000 dead from the drop. "Clive Took India" with 700 men. We took the Taliban with 200 men on the ground and the best bombing job ever done. Was it perfect? Of course not. Are we getting better and better at this? Hell, Yes!
Do I believe these stories? I watched them told on "Frontline" by the A-Team members, and then read the transcript. Yes I believe them.
The Laser guidance systems used in Gulf One had problems with clouds and smoke. That is why they went to the JDAMS using the Global Positioning Satellites. We will, of course have mistakes and problems with it in Iraq. My attitude is that the Air Force is getting good at this in spite of themselves. They would much rather be doing "Air Superiority" and "Strategic Bombing" than ground support. They have always hated to do ground support. It is like the Navy hates to Convoy. They both consider it beneath them. |
