Counterterrorism Through Air Power
(RAF Photo)
Interesting early precedent for the recent drone campaign waged by US forces in South Asia from the Royal Air Force’s history:
March – May 1925- Outrages by Mahsud tribesmen in Waziristan, India, see the RAF involved in its first independent air action. Aircraft from Nos. 5, 27 and 60 Squadrons, commanded by Wing Commander RCM Pink, bomb and strafe mountain strongholds in a successful attempt to crush the rebellion. On 1 May, the rebel leaders seek an honourable peace, and the short campaign known as “Pink’s War” came to a close. A campaign in 1919 had proved inconclusive after causing 1,329 casualties; this latest action results in the loss of just 2 men.
We generally call them “Mehsud” tribesmen now, and notwithstanding the ’success’ the RAF had in putting down the rebellion it continues to be the case that the central governments of Pakistan and Afghanistan have little effective authrority over them. These days, though, the Pakistani military is working with one Mehsud faction (the Abdullah Mehsud group) against the faction led first by the late Baitullah Mehsud and now by Hakimullah Mehsud.
9 Responses to “Counterterrorism Through Air Power”
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October 22nd, 2009 at 10:21 am
We generally call them “Mehsud” tribesmen now, and notwithstanding the ’success’ the RAF had in putting down the rebellion it continues to be the case that the central governments of Pakistan and Afghanistan have little effective authrority over them.
Right, but that lack of authority is written into the Pakistani constitution.
I think one thing you’ve been missing on this topic is the extent to which our military invasion of Afghanistan has destabilized Pakistan by forcing the Pakistani government to make enemies with the people of the FATA.
October 22nd, 2009 at 10:22 am
I’m guessing a lot of the success of this 1925 bombing campaign has to do with the fact that people in Waziristan had probably never fought airplanes before and got freaked the hell out. Similar to the way the first tanks originally scared soldiers in the WWI trenches and made a lot of progress. Similar to the way the Belgians in the Congo dressed all their soldiers in paratrooper uniforms, because the locals thought that someone who fell out of the sky isn’t just anybody, and that magical aura made people less likely to fight back. I bet if we invented some sort of combat flying saucer we might scare the hell out of the locals and make a lot of progress against the Taliban as a result. For a time.
Thing is, with any novelty weapon eventually people get used to it and figure out how to fight back, and then you’re back to square one.
October 22nd, 2009 at 10:24 am
The most recent XKCD… not very funny, worryingly accurate.
October 22nd, 2009 at 11:28 am
[...] Yglesias digs through the archives of the Royal Air Force and emerges with a certain deja vu: March – May 1925-Outrages by Mahsud [...]
October 22nd, 2009 at 11:58 am
Just like now, I’ll bet killing these people from the air makes them love us even more than they did before.
Think about how traumatized we remain long after Pearl Harbor and 8 years after 9/11. And we’ve never suffered a generalized air attack upon our neighborhoods.
Obviously, it’s time for Dear Leader to fling some more drone missiles at some Pakistani villagers. That will solve our problems with these people. For sure.
October 22nd, 2009 at 1:00 pm
Yeah but the difference is that the 1925 operation results in the casualties of only 2 men. We’re using drones and yet our troops are still getting killed out there (not to mention that civilians continue to be killed because we’re there in the first place, but whatever).
Brilliant.
October 23rd, 2009 at 1:49 am
Why do the drones have to rocket anybody? Can’t they just fly around? That seems to be their primary purpose, fly around and keep a watchful eye on things from the sky -a presence. There’s no need for rockets.
Plus, the video feed coming from these things is not that good. There’s no way to be sure that Mohamed el-Blah-Blah, known to be then al-Qaeda Sub-Commander of Latrines and Toilet Paper, is the guy you are seeing. Even with ironclad intel. You can’t be sure.
Not only that, but it is hard to hit one dude with a rocket. Rockets have a tendency to fly right by soft flesh and explode against hard surfaces. I mean, you might get el-Blah-Blah while he is riding in a car or sitting in a room by a window. But el-Blah-Blahs of the world figure this shit out quick -don’t get lazy and make it easier for a rocket to blow you up. Stay alert -and avoid visible closed spaces.
From what I can gather we have no clue what our primary target kill ratios are. Our *PTKR’s. Is it 6 to 1, or 22 to 1? The rockets themselves are going 1 to 4, probably. That’s my guess: we are killing 4 people per rocket. But targets? Its impossible to acquire that data.
My conclusion: we are playing Russian Roulette from the sky with the Taliban and al-Qaeda in the Tribal Zone because we can. Because we are powerful. But I would point out, if you humiliate me by playing a twisted version of Russian Roulette with me; I will vow if I survive to kill you and all your family -if it takes me the rest of my life.
*PTKR’s. I made that acronym up. But you never know, do you, with the Pentagon, it’s almost guaranteed to be somewhere on their infinite acronym list.
October 23rd, 2009 at 1:59 am
Correction: Strike “almost” from the last sentence. The list is infinite. There can be no almost.
October 23rd, 2009 at 10:22 am
I think that spokeytown @2 is entirely correct
I also question just how successful the 1925 campaign really was, considering that the same people who were alive in 25 got to see British rule end in 47