Clean Bombs and Dirty Wars Clean Bombs and Dirty Wars Air Power in Kosovo and Libya Robert H. Gregory Jr. Potomac Books An imprint of the University of Nebraska Press © 2015 by Robert H. Gregory Jr. All rights reserved. Potomac Books is an imprint of the University of Nebraska Press. Manufactured in the United States of America. Proceeds from sales of this book support academic scholarships for veterans and their spouses through the Pat Tillman Foundation’s Tillman Scholar Program. The views expressed in this book are those of the author and do not reflect official policy or position of the U.S. Army, the Department of Defense, or the U.S. Government. Nothing in the contents should be construed as asserting U.S. Government authentication of information or endorsement of the author’s views. Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data Gregory, Robert H., 1981– Clean bombs and dirty wars: air power in Kosovo and Libya / Robert H. Gregory Jr. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 978- 1- 61234- 731- 8 (pbk: alk. paper) isbn 9 7 8 - 1 - 6 1 2 3 4 - 7 8 6 - 8 ( e p u b ) isbn 9 7 8 - 1 - 6 1 2 3 4 - 7 8 7 - 5 ( m o b i ) isbn 978- 1- 61234- 788- 2 (pdf ) 1. Precision bombing— United States— Case studies. 2. Air power— United States— Case studies. 3. Libya— History— Civil War, 2011— Aerial operations, American. 4. Kosovo War, 1998– 1999— Aerial operations, American. I. Title. II. Title: Air power in Kosovo and Libya. ug703.g73 2015 949.7103'15480973— dc23 2015008546 Set in Minion by Westchester Publishing Services. Dedicated to Brian H. Collins Major, U.S. Army 1977– 2013 Contents List of Illustrations ix Acknowledgments xi List of Abbreviations xv Introduction 1 1. Before the Bombing 17 2. The Bombing Begins 54 3. Protracted Bombing 72 4. After the Bombing 102 5. The U.S. Army Reacts to Kosovo 124 6. Spring in Libya 149 7. Bombing Libya 175 8. Clean Bombs and Dirty Wars 207 Notes 219 Bibliography 277 Index 293 Illustrations figures 1. Willingness to tolerate casualties in Bosnia, 1995 31 2. General Clark, 13 April 1999 press briefing 82 3. Incorporation of counter- battery radar acquisitions 93 4. Comparison of post- strike damage assessments 105 5. Destroyed tank in Klina, Kosovo 106 6. Future Combat System components 129 Maps 1. Kosovo xviii 2. Libya xix Acknowledgments First and foremost, I thank my wife, Christina Fishback, for supporting my writing endeavors over the past decade. I produced the bulk of this work during time off from my normal military duties, which we otherwise would have shared in a different manner. Fortunately, she understood from her own academic experience how writing a long work affects the psyche, though her idea of a Christmas and summer vacation did not entail waking up to a stack of pages to proofread each morning. I owe her a great deal of time that I promise to repay in the future. Starting in 2006, Professors Daniel Moran and James Wirtz at the Naval Postgraduate School inspired me to write what eventually became chapter 5 of this book. Seven years later, historians Sean Kalic, Jonathan House, and John Kuehn gave excellent advice as the first half of this book evolved as part of my studies at the Command and General Staff College (cgsc). These individuals fueled my lifelong interest in military history. I also thank Lt. Col. Kenneth Slover, Jack Kem, Lt. Col. Scott Roxburgh (usaf), Dennis Linton, Matt Broaddus, and Nicholas Murray for their encouragement while I was at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. The William J. Clinton Presidential Library, the Dudley Knox Library, and the Combined Arms Research Library had great researchers who helped me with source materials. Among them, I give special thanks to Brittany Gerke, archives technician at the Clinton library; Rob Seibert, mandatory declassification review archivist at the Clinton library; Greta Marlatt from the Dudley Knox Library; as well as John Dubuisson, Russell Rafferty, and Michael Browne at the Combined Arms Research Library. xi Also I thank Beth Bernstein at the rand Corporation for helping with the process of getting permission to use several figures in the book. While I was at Fort Leavenworth, Dean Nowowiejski, the Ike Skelton chair of the Art of War Scholars program, stimulated much of my writing and thinking on this work. I was fortunate to participate in a program that facilitated the extensive study of modern military history while also meeting the career requirements for professional military education. By design the Art of War Scholars program allows military officers from all U.S. services (and foreign countries as well) who are interested in researching and writing on their professional interests to do so with aca- demic independence, disciplined initiative, overhead cover, writing time, research travel funds, and peer encouragement. Without this program and Nowowiejski’s strong belief in providing students an alternative path from the standard military curriculum, I would have curtailed this endeavor. Three of my peers, Jason Alexander, Lance Tomlinson, and Bobby Gichert, who all participated in previous iterations of the program, recommended it to me— I am thankful for their advice. I discussed this work with several people via e- mail and in person. Among them, Scott Porter (Department of Command and Leadership at cgsc), who worked on the battle damage assessment team in Kosovo, gave his perspective on the impact of the bombing. He shared photographs taken in 1999 of destroyed tanks and decoys that the Serbian army left behind in Kosovo after the air campaign (one of the photographs is in this book). Via e-mail, Douglas Macgregor (Colonel, U.S. Army, retired), who served as the j- 5 at Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (shape) before Operation Allied Force and as the director of joint opera- tions during the operation, answered several of my questions pertaining to the air campaign and nato’s subsequent bombing damage survey. As the lone armor officer in cgsca seminar with four aviators from the U.S. Army and two from the U.S. Navy, I gained a great deal of insight on air power through daily interaction with my peers. My Art of War classmates Doug White and Bob Stone read portions of the work and gave feedback over breakfast and lunch on several occasions. Doug participated in operations over Libya in 2011 and pointed out how the rebels painted the tops of their vehicles pink so that nato aircraft did not mistakenly xii Acknowledgments bomb them. This revelation led me to numerous sources pertaining to air– ground coordination with the rebels. Also, my longtime friend and workout partner, Paul Stelzer, during our daily weightlifting sessions at Gruber Fitness Center served as a sounding board for my ideas on how to revise the manuscript to make it sharper. Numerous colleagues, friends, and relatives gave feedback on early versions of the manuscript. Lifelong West Point friend Dave Dixon read the entire manuscript and provided numerous comments and sugges- tions throughout. Charles Bies caught an important error with dates, and Travis Neely gave advice on how to trim portions of the first half of the work. I am thankful for comments provided by my sister- in- law, Allison Fishback, who read the entire work from the perspective of someone who had never served in the military. She gave significant advice on how to keep the work readable for a general audience and served as a litmus test for whether particular military terminology should be included or substituted by plain English. Additionally, Lt. Col. Vida Burrell discussed the work with me during a three and a half hour drive across the Arabian Desert while steering around camels, potholes, and numerous reckless drivers. Later on Dan Lichlyter did the same during seven hours of driv- ing from Hofuf to Riyadh to Dhahran. During the revision process, my interpreter and friend Abdulaziz al-Banyan read the second half of the work and suggested appropriate spellings for Arabic names while pro- viding a regional perspective on the Arab Spring movement. Any errors contained herein despite all the support, encouragement, and proofing I had from others are solely my own. Many people also gave their moral support. Among them, I owe many thanks to my parents, Robert and Engracia Gregory, as well as Bonnie Collins, Johnny Anderson, Chris Lyons, Donnie Workman, Michelle Gregory- Van Dyke, Mike Kelly, Matt Nilson, Tara Dean, Dana Kornburger, Mike Kornburger, James Hayes, Ryan Seagreaves, Shannon Schwaller, Sam Allen, Jeff Fuller, Andy Rohrer, Joanna Fishback, Rob Altman, Sherrod Dantzler, Jane Fishback, Kyle Lippold, Steve Weber, Bryon Bonnell, Juan Berlanga, Scott Davidson, and Rob Hedge. This work would never have made it to publication were it not for Alicia Christensen, acquisitions editor at Potomac Books; Maggie Boyles, Acknowledgments xiii editorial assistant at the University of Nebraska Press; and Tish Fobben in the marketing department. Alicia recognized that Clean Bombs and Dirty Wars had potential as a book, and I am grateful for her efforts in guid- ing me through the University of Nebraska’s peer review and publication process. Sean Kalic and several others recommended Potomac Books as a potential publisher because of its focus on academic books pertaining to military affairs. Maggie guided me through the various phases of publish- ing. Additionally, I thank Vickie West and Debbie Masi for their roles in copyediting and production. Finally, I recognize Robert O’Connell. He planted the genesis of this work in my head during a graduate course discussion in January 2007. In class, he explained the premise of his book Of Arms and Men, arguing that military professionals favor certain types of weaponry and as a consequence tend to overlook the role of inconspicuous apparatuses.