JINSA Report #320
March 21, 2003

Shock and Awe

Asked if "Operation Shock and Awe" had begun in Iraq, the Pentagon official
said, "If you have to ask, it hasn't started."

If "awe" is defined as "an overwhelming feeling of wonder or admiration," we
respectfully disagree.

We are awed by the size and scope of the American military deployment, by
the fact that the US has enough military power massed there to crater Iraq,
and by the fact that we have chosen not to use it yet, preferring to allow
the Iraqi military an opportunity for an honorable surrender.  We are awed
by the clearly sincere concern expressed repeatedly by American military and
civilian leaders for Iraqi civilians and protecting the infrastructure that
will allow us to do the reconstruction after the war.  We are awed by their
ability to worry about how to help civilians "after the war" even as the war
begins.

We are awed by the sight of the American Defense Secretary telling Iraqi
civilians to look for instructions on how to stay safe, and Iraqi soldiers
to look for instructions on how to surrender -- and the fact that Iraqi
soldiers appear to have believed him.

Twenty years after Israel pioneered precision urban bombing (Beirut, 1982),
we are awed by the skill of long-range American missiles that hit a single
house in Baghdad. We are awed by the intelligence information that allowed
us to hit the right house at the right time. And, speaking of intelligence,
we are awed by the ability of the Pentagon to be engaged in e-mail
negotiations with senior members of Iraq's military leadership, and their
willingness to do it.

We are awed by the pictures of Patriot Pac III hitting SCUD missiles aimed
at our troops in Kuwait, and by the knowledge that Israel breathes more
easily this time than the last.  We are awed by the skill of the scientists
and engineers who provide the quality equipment and materiel to our troops.

We are awed by the quiet confidence of American troops and their leadership,
by the orders they received regarding respect for enemy combatants and
respect for the civilians they will encounter, by their evident love of
family and country, and their determination to do this job and do it well.

What about "shock" to accompany the awe?  It would be overstatement to say
we were "shocked" by France's protection of Saddam's ambassadorial envoy to
Paris.  And we weren't "shocked" by Hans Blix when he said that "if" Saddam
had SCUD missiles (after they were shot down by Patriots) "it would be a
violation of the rules."

But shock will come.  We fully expect Dr. Blix and the French, and surely
the Germans, to raise their eyebrows and be "shocked, shocked, I tell you,"
at the coming discovery of Saddam's arsenal and their complicity in it.


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Dr. Yigal Levin
Dept. of Philosophy and Religion
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
615 McCallie Avenue
Chattanooga TN 37403-2598
U.S.A.