WAR OPINION FROM "DOWN UNDER"

Brigadier shocks and awes: there is no war on terrorism
By Cynthia Banham, Defence Reporter
April 27, 2005
Sydney Morning Herald

http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Brigadier-shocks-and-awes-there-is-no-war-on-terrorism/2005/04/26/1114462041971.html

The so-called global war on terrorism does not exist, a high-ranking army officer has declared in a speech that challenges the conventional political wisdom.
In a frank speech, Brigadier Justin Kelly dismissed several of the central tenets of the Iraq war and the war on terrorism, saying the "war" part is all about politics and terrorism is merely a tactic.
Speaking at a conference on future warfighting, Brigadier Kelly, the director-general of future land warfare, also suggested that the "proposition you can bomb someone into thinking as we do has been found to be untrue".
While success in battle was critical, it would not of itself deliver victory - that would come by winning over the hearts and minds of the local people. The war of the future would be "out of human control". There was "no alternative" but to engage the population and "convince them of your rightness".