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Rabbit on the Run?
This Newsweek article does a nice job of summarizing what is known of current efforts to track down our friend Osama:
The hunt for bin Laden is an unprecedented confrontation between 21st-century technology and age-old guerrilla tactics. While the elusive terror chieftain hides in mountain caves and scurries along mule trails, Task Force 121 "bytes" away at him and his chief deputy, Ayman Al-Zawahiri, with the best the Information Age has to offer.
There's nothing magic about guerrilla warfare, absolutely nothing that prevents Western soldiers from knowing it inside and out. If these guys are as good as their reputation says they are, they know guerrilla warfare. Combine that with our overwhelming advantage in technology and mobility, and it becomes increasingly obvious it's only a matter of time before Mr. bin Laden is bumming cigarettes from Mr. Hussein in the cell next door. Or pushing up daisies, which will be almost as good.
Well, one disadvantage of technology is the fact that the civilians supporting the soldiers can monitor military actions more closely than ever before, and unfortunately the majority of these civilians expect the army, due to their technological advantage, to fight the terrorists while not only killing no enemy civilians at all, but also not letting the terrorists kill any civilians at all on either side. This allows the guerillas to use human shields to far greater effect against the modern army than ever before; kill enough civilians and scream loudly enough that it's the fault of the other side, and the other side's civilians pull out and leave the soldiers high and dry.
Fortunately, our tech advantage makes it possible for our soldiers to meet their civilians' expectations, but it gives the guerillas a near-parity that they wouldn't have against any more ruthless foe.
Posted by: Tatterdemalian on March 11, 2004 06:42 PM