The U.S. is squandering its airpower

In fact, airpower hasn’t yet been put to a full and proper test in the fight. This point has been lost in the back and forth over how a congressional authorization for the use of force should be worded and whether an attempted ground push by proxy Kurdish and Iraqi troops to retake Mosul is the right next step.

Sad to say, we’ve been here before. Nearly two decades ago, the United States and NATO likewise dithered by using only limited air attacks to counter Serbian human rights abuses against ethnic Albanians at the start of their air war for Kosovo in 1999. Only after the most important targets in Belgrade were struck with full force toward the end of that 78-day campaign was Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic finally driven to end his atrocities.

That early experience over Serbia is being replayed today with our meager daily airstrikes against the Islamic State, proving yet again that hard-learned wartime lessons are often soon forgotten.