'Underkill': Fighting Extremists amid Populations

The battle for Gaza revealed a favourite extremist strategy: hiding in cities and provoking attack to cause civilian deaths that can be blamed on the attacker. Western militaries, having no options but deadly force, are ill-equipped to defeat this strategy. Using deadly force in population centres c...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Survival (London) 2009-04, Vol.51 (2), p.159-174
Main Author: Gompert, David C.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Armed conflict
Armed Forces
Conflict theory
Defense Policy
Extremism
Guerrillas
International relations
Iraq
Israel
Neutralism
Police
Strategic studies
Terrorism
United States of America
Warfare
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Summary:The battle for Gaza revealed a favourite extremist strategy: hiding in cities and provoking attack to cause civilian deaths that can be blamed on the attacker. Western militaries, having no options but deadly force, are ill-equipped to defeat this strategy. Using deadly force in population centres can alienate the very people whose cooperation forces are trying to earn. To solve this problem, a suite of capabilities that includes sound, light, lasers, mobile phones, and video cameras - a 'continuum of force' - is proposed. In missions ranging from counter-insurgency to peacekeeping to humanitarian intervention, the typical small military unit needs portable, versatile, scalable capabilities to carry out its mission without harming civilians that get in the way. The technologies for these capabilities are at hand but have not been recognised as a solution to this strategic problem. They need high-level attention, integration and funding.
ISSN:0039-6338
1468-2699
DOI:10.1080/00396330902860892