Military Review English Edition March-April 2015 | Page 15

CONTINUITY AND CHANGE credible ground forces are available to compel an outcome.17 It is for these reasons that the AOC stresses that American military power is joint power. For example, Army forces make joint fires more effective because they compensate for enemy efforts to avoid detection (e.g., dispersion, concealment, intermingling with civilian populations, and deception). By placing valuable enemy assets at risk, Army forces may force enemies to reveal themselves as they concentrate to defend those assets. In short, Army forces, operating as part of joint teams, create multiple dilemmas for the enemy. The Zero Dark 30 fallacy. The Zero Dark 30 fallacy, like the vampire fallacy, elevates an important military capability, raiding, to the level of strategy.18 The capability to conduct raids against networked terrorist or insurgent organizations is portrayed (Photo by Rafiq Maqbool, Associated Press) as a substitute for, rather than A line of Afghan policemen try to control a crowd during the celebration of Nowruz, the a complement to, conventional start of spring and the traditional new year celebrated in Afghanistan, Iran, and other joint force capabilities. Because countries of central Asia, from the hilltop at the Kart-e-Sakhi Shrine in Kabul, Afghanistan, 21 March 2010. they are operations of short duration, limited purpose, and planned to strategic bombing theory in the 1920s. What is withdrawal, raids are often unable to affect the hucommon across all that time is the belief that techman and political drivers of armed conflict or make nology and firepower are sufficient to achieve lasting sufficient progress toward achieving sustainable outstrategic results in war. Today, the vampire is back, comes consistent with vital interests. Like precision promising victory delivered rapidly from standoff strikes, raids often embolden rather than dissuade range, based on even better surveillance, informathe enemy and leave populations vulnerable not tion, communications, and precision strike technolo- only to enemy action, but also to enemy propaganda gies. Although the vampire fallacy is based on a suite and disinformation. It is for these reasons that the of military capabilities vitally important to national AOC calls for dynamic combinations of combined defense, it is insufficient to solve the complex probarms teams and special operations forces to provide lem of future war. multiple options to the joint force commander as well This fallacy confuses targeting enemy organizaas Army forces capable of defeating enemy organizations with strategy. Although targeting from standtions and consolidating gains. off range can disrupt enemy organizations, strikes The Mutual of Omaha Wild Kingdom fallaoften embolden rather than dissuade enemies unless cy. The Mutual of Omaha Wild Kingdom fallacy MILITARY REVIEW  March-April 2015 13