The killing fields

There are hotspots that the sun sends out and then there are those that are man-made and treacherous. A genuine hotspot and going beyond the mere fluff of a label is the current conflict raging (and I use the word raging advisedly) in Kobane — a Syrian border town under IS siege. A whole civilian population is trapped in the exchange of fire between the Kurds and Iraqi forces backed by US firepower against a deeply entrenched IS that has no intention of surrendering even if it takes heavy losses and, what is more, will continue to use the urban topography as its cover.
There is no way to win an urban war without civilian casualties or a thickening stream of refuges who in this crisis cannot even find a way out because the gates are locked and the key flung away. Every fighting army has learned the lesson the hard way. Vietnam was a disaster for the US. The Russians got bruised in Afghanistan. The Indians went to Sri Lanka and thought it would be a doddle. They could not take on schoolchildren with landmines in their schoolbags. Remember the mauling in Mogadishu when US troops lost a Black Hawk and the torturous effort it was to rescue the chopper crew.
No one wants to talk about these clever little blood-soaked results that emanate from war in this sort of built up terrain. It is no longer salve for the guilt to call it collateral damage. The drones that drop the incendiaries are democratic and don’t care who gets hit.
Ergo, one would have to be very cautious before claiming any sort of long-term victory when women and children are in the firing line. While the gathering of intelligence can pinpoint IS strongholds they can do nothing about the civilian population’s spillover. It will always be there and as fighting intensifies can only increase in numbers.
One may then ask what alternative exists that can reduce the agony and the stench of carnage and cordite in Kobane. The answer, regrettably, is elusive but is predicated to a more cautious fire pattern for certain. The very fact that there is no statistical data coming out about civilian casualties indicates they could be very high and playing ostrich is the only option not to confront the ugly truth.
Even if the IS is dislodged what then is the next chapter and how will they be eliminated from the great swathes of territory they have occupied?
The fact is that unless coalition powers consider very seriously boots on the ground as a real dimension to their military strategy, the long-distance strafing is not going to produce a quick or satisfying result. Unless there is infantry moving into the region and in overwhelming strength this is going to be a very protracted fight. Will simply feeding the Kurds with weaponry be enough to safeguard the civilians in the towns and villages? It seems unlikely.
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Email: bikram@asianlite.com