http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ivan-eland/congress-should-vote-and_b_5824892.html

Ivan Eland  Senior Fellow and Director of the Center on Peace & Liberty, The Independent Institute

Congress Should Vote and Say No to Obama's New War

Posted: 09/15/2014

President Obama's war on the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is modeled on the U.S. war against Serbia in 1999 to essentially detach its province of Kosovo -- in which the United States acted as the air force for the Kosovo Liberation Army group. This model was also used more recently in Libya to provide air power for Libyan rebel groups that overthrew Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. Yet despite these tactical "successes," this model of pairing U.S. air power with local ground forces is likely to fail against ISIS in Iraq and Syria.
The difference is that in Kosovo and Libya, the United States was supporting guerrilla groups against governments of countries; in Iraq and Syria, the United States is fighting against an opponent that is mainly a guerrilla force. Governments tend to provide better targets for U.S. air power -- visible troops and armor, fixed installations, and leadership and command nodes -- than guerrillas, who can blend back into the civilian population. ISIS does have some of these targets but ultimately can rely mainly on its ability to disappear into relatively friendly Sunni Arab populations in both countries. In counterinsurgency warfare against guerrillas, President George W. Bush found out that his strategy of "offense is the best defense," which may work at times against nation-states, is abysmally ineffective against guerrillas. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ivan-eland/congress-should-vote-and_b_5824892.html