Overview

After the United States, along with NATO allies, bombed the Serbian forces of Slobodan Milosevic for seventy-eight days in 1999, Milosevic withdrew his army from Kosovo. With no troops on the ground, political and military leaders congratulated themselves on the success of Operation Allied Force, considered to be the first military victory won through the use of strategic air power alone. This apparent triumph motivated military and political leaders to embrace a policy of using “clean bombs” (precision munitions and air strikes)—without a dirty ground war—as the preferred choice for answering military aggression. Ten years later it inspired a similar air campaign against Muammar Gaddafi’s forces in Libya as a groundswell of protests erupted into revolution. Clean Bombs and Dirty Wars offers a fresh perspective on the role, relevance, and effectiveness of air power in contemporary warfare, including an exploration of the political motivations for its use as well as a candid examination of air-to-ground targeting processes. Using recently declassified materials from the William J. Clinton Presidential Library along with primary evidence culled from social media posted during the Arab Spring, Robert H. Gregory Jr. shows that the argument that air power eliminates the necessity for boots on the ground is an artificial and illusory claim.

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9781612347318

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A must-read for anyone interested in the use of airpower in the post-Cold War security environment. --Sean N. Kalic, author of U.S. Presidents and the Militarization of Space, 1946-1967 --Sean N. Kalic (03/18/2015)

Robert's account goes a long way to redressing the balance and will be a boon to military historians specialising in these particular conflicts. -- Paul Norman Books Monthly 01/03/2016

Robert Gregory Jr. has produced a salutary, carefully researched study reminding us that war is not only a process, but a momentous and unpredictable effort to accomplish specific policy goals. Michigan Review Clean Bombs and Dirty Wars is a well-written and necessary look at what airto-ground capabilities bring to the joint fight, and testifies to synergistic effects the aforementioned improvisation brought to OAF. -Journal of Military History

Author Information

Robert H. Gregory Jr. is a career soldier and scholar. He has served in a variety of armor, cavalry, airborne, and advisory units in the United States, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia. His expert opinions have been published in Parameters and Small Wars Journal. Gregory is a graduate of West Point and the Naval Postgraduate School.

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