[SIZE= 7.5pt][/SIZE]
[SIZE= 7.5pt]The New York Times, (Sunday, April 20) published a special section about the Iraq war. The last page (B16) had a full-page graphic I found interesting to compare the evolution of numbers in the last military interventions:
[/SIZE][SIZE= 7.5pt]
[/SIZE][SIZE= 7.5pt]In prespective: America at War.[/SIZE][SIZE= 7.5pt]
[/SIZE][SIZE= 7.5pt]The current conflict in Iraq has ushered in the age of digital warfare. As technological advances changed the way America fought its wars, casualties in the battlefield and the cost of war tended to fall
[/SIZE][SIZE= 7.5pt]
……….[/SIZE][SIZE= 7.5pt]WW I[color=" white"]……….[/color]WW II[color=" white"]………...[/color]Korea[color=" white"] ……..[/color]Vietnam [color=" white"]…..…[/color] Gulf[color=" white"]..............[/color]Iraq[/SIZE]
[SIZE= 7.5pt] [/SIZE]
[SIZE= 7.5pt](1)[/SIZE][SIZE= 7.5pt]…[/SIZE][SIZE= 7.5pt]$577 Billion[color=" white"]....[/color]$4.7 Trillion[color=" white"]..…[/color]$400 Billion[color=" white"]….[/color]$572 Billion[color=" white"]..[/color]$80 Billion[color=" white"]....[/color]>$20 Billion[/SIZE]
[SIZE= 7.5pt](2)[/SIZE][SIZE= 7.5pt].…[/SIZE][SIZE= 7.5pt]Not in use[color=" white"]……[/color]Not in use[color=" white"]..…...[/color]Not in use[color=" white"]……. ….[/color]< 1%[color=" white"]……..…[/color]9%[color=" white"]……...…..[/color]67%[/SIZE]
[SIZE= 7.5pt](3)[/SIZE][SIZE= 7.5pt]….…...[/SIZE][SIZE= 7.5pt]28,000[color=" white"]…...[/color]1,746,568[color=" white"]…..…..[/color]341,269[color=" white"]……[/color]1,992,000[color=" white"]…...[/color]29,393[color=" white"]………..[/color]41,850[/SIZE]
[SIZE= 7.5pt](4)[/SIZE][SIZE= 7.5pt]…[/SIZE][SIZE= 7.5pt]Not available[color=" white"]..……...[/color]3,024[color=" white"]……...……[/color]550[color=" white"]……….……[/color]44[color=" white"]………….[/color]8[color=" white"]…………..…...[/color]1[/SIZE]
[SIZE= 7.5pt](5)[/SIZE][SIZE= 7.5pt]….......[/SIZE][SIZE= 7.5pt]53,402[/SIZE][SIZE= 7.5pt]..… . [/SIZE][SIZE= 7.5pt]291,557[/SIZE][SIZE= 7.5pt].………..[/SIZE][SIZE= 7.5pt]33,741[/SIZE][SIZE= 7.5pt]……...[/SIZE][SIZE= 7.5pt]47,414[/SIZE][SIZE= 7.5pt]…….....[/SIZE][SIZE= 7.5pt]148[/SIZE][SIZE= 7.5pt]……….........[/SIZE][SIZE= 7.5pt]85[/SIZE]
[SIZE= 7.5pt][/SIZE]
[SIZE= 7.5pt] [/SIZE]
[SIZE= 7.5pt](1)[/SIZE][SIZE= 7.5pt] – Cost of the war (in 2002 US Dollars)[/SIZE]
[SIZE= 7.5pt](2)[/SIZE][SIZE= 7.5pt] – Precision Guided Weapons[/SIZE]
[SIZE= 7.5pt](3)[/SIZE][SIZE= 7.5pt] – Number of sorties flown[/SIZE]
[SIZE= 7.5pt](4)[/SIZE][SIZE= 7.5pt] – Number of sorties required to hit a 60 by 100 foot building
[color=" #ff3333"](5)[/color][color=" white"]…[/color]Total number of American Soldiers killed in battle
Advances in Warfare[/SIZE]
[SIZE= 7.5pt] [/SIZE]
[SIZE= 7.5pt]WWI:[/SIZE]
[SIZE= 7.5pt]New inventions like planes, submarines, poison gases, explosives; tanks are employed for the first time. Machine guns, cannons and shells used in previous wars, are upgraded and more effective.[/SIZE]
[SIZE= 7.5pt] [/SIZE]
[SIZE= 7.5pt]WWII:[/SIZE]
[SIZE= 7.5pt]The development of radios, radar and sonar improves communications and ushers in the age of electronic warfare. Fighthers, B… and transport rapidly developed and large-scale ‘B’ campaigns are conducted. America drops the Atomic 'B' twice, but as not used the weapon again.[/SIZE]
[SIZE= 7.5pt](In World war II, bombers were so inaccurate that thousands of sorties had to be flown to be assured that a target building was destroyed.)
[/SIZE]
[SIZE= 7.5pt]
Korea:[/SIZE]
[SIZE= 7.5pt]Innovations in the US military during the war include the use of Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH) units, the use of jet aircraft in combat, an air force separate from the army, one year theater rotations for soldiers, and psychological warfare.[/SIZE]
[SIZE= 7.5pt] [/SIZE]
[SIZE= 7.5pt]Vietnam:[/SIZE]
[SIZE= 7.5pt]Air forces prove essential to America’s military efforts in Vietnam and many air combat innovations take place over the course of the war. New tactical ideas range from search-and-destroy missions, carried out by helicopters of the Air Cavalry, to 'B' raids called arclights, flown by B-52’s[/SIZE]
[SIZE= 7.5pt] [/SIZE]
[SIZE= 7.5pt]Gulf:[/SIZE]
[SIZE= 7.5pt]The air campaign in the Persian Gulf, with the first major use of stealth fighters[/SIZE] and precision-guided weapons, introduces a new kind of high tech warfare. On the ground, GPS devices help forces navigate the desert undetected.
[SIZE= 7.5pt] [/SIZE]
[SIZE= 7.5pt]Iraq:[/SIZE]
[SIZE= 7.5pt]The battlefield goes digital with a communications network that enables all American forces in a battle to see the same thing at the same time. The majority of the munitions are precision guided.[/SIZE]
[SIZE= 7.5pt] [/SIZE]
[SIZE= 7.5pt]
Sources: Department of Defense;
Congressional Research Service;
Richard P. Hallion, aerospace historian
Matthew Ericson & Farhana Hossain
The New York Times
[/SIZE]
[url="http://www.nytimes.com/"]http://www.nytimes.com/[/URL]
[SIZE= 7.5pt]The New York Times, (Sunday, April 20) published a special section about the Iraq war. The last page (B16) had a full-page graphic I found interesting to compare the evolution of numbers in the last military interventions:
[/SIZE][SIZE= 7.5pt]
[/SIZE][SIZE= 7.5pt]In prespective: America at War.[/SIZE][SIZE= 7.5pt]
[/SIZE][SIZE= 7.5pt]The current conflict in Iraq has ushered in the age of digital warfare. As technological advances changed the way America fought its wars, casualties in the battlefield and the cost of war tended to fall
[/SIZE][SIZE= 7.5pt]
……….[/SIZE][SIZE= 7.5pt]WW I[color=" white"]……….[/color]WW II[color=" white"]………...[/color]Korea[color=" white"] ……..[/color]Vietnam [color=" white"]…..…[/color] Gulf[color=" white"]..............[/color]Iraq[/SIZE]
[SIZE= 7.5pt] [/SIZE]
[SIZE= 7.5pt](1)[/SIZE][SIZE= 7.5pt]…[/SIZE][SIZE= 7.5pt]$577 Billion[color=" white"]....[/color]$4.7 Trillion[color=" white"]..…[/color]$400 Billion[color=" white"]….[/color]$572 Billion[color=" white"]..[/color]$80 Billion[color=" white"]....[/color]>$20 Billion[/SIZE]
[SIZE= 7.5pt](2)[/SIZE][SIZE= 7.5pt].…[/SIZE][SIZE= 7.5pt]Not in use[color=" white"]……[/color]Not in use[color=" white"]..…...[/color]Not in use[color=" white"]……. ….[/color]< 1%[color=" white"]……..…[/color]9%[color=" white"]……...…..[/color]67%[/SIZE]
[SIZE= 7.5pt](3)[/SIZE][SIZE= 7.5pt]….…...[/SIZE][SIZE= 7.5pt]28,000[color=" white"]…...[/color]1,746,568[color=" white"]…..…..[/color]341,269[color=" white"]……[/color]1,992,000[color=" white"]…...[/color]29,393[color=" white"]………..[/color]41,850[/SIZE]
[SIZE= 7.5pt](4)[/SIZE][SIZE= 7.5pt]…[/SIZE][SIZE= 7.5pt]Not available[color=" white"]..……...[/color]3,024[color=" white"]……...……[/color]550[color=" white"]……….……[/color]44[color=" white"]………….[/color]8[color=" white"]…………..…...[/color]1[/SIZE]
[SIZE= 7.5pt](5)[/SIZE][SIZE= 7.5pt]….......[/SIZE][SIZE= 7.5pt]53,402[/SIZE][SIZE= 7.5pt]..… . [/SIZE][SIZE= 7.5pt]291,557[/SIZE][SIZE= 7.5pt].………..[/SIZE][SIZE= 7.5pt]33,741[/SIZE][SIZE= 7.5pt]……...[/SIZE][SIZE= 7.5pt]47,414[/SIZE][SIZE= 7.5pt]…….....[/SIZE][SIZE= 7.5pt]148[/SIZE][SIZE= 7.5pt]……….........[/SIZE][SIZE= 7.5pt]85[/SIZE]
[SIZE= 7.5pt][/SIZE]
[SIZE= 7.5pt] [/SIZE]
[SIZE= 7.5pt](1)[/SIZE][SIZE= 7.5pt] – Cost of the war (in 2002 US Dollars)[/SIZE]
[SIZE= 7.5pt](2)[/SIZE][SIZE= 7.5pt] – Precision Guided Weapons[/SIZE]
[SIZE= 7.5pt](3)[/SIZE][SIZE= 7.5pt] – Number of sorties flown[/SIZE]
[SIZE= 7.5pt](4)[/SIZE][SIZE= 7.5pt] – Number of sorties required to hit a 60 by 100 foot building
[color=" #ff3333"](5)[/color][color=" white"]…[/color]Total number of American Soldiers killed in battle
Advances in Warfare[/SIZE]
[SIZE= 7.5pt] [/SIZE]
[SIZE= 7.5pt]WWI:[/SIZE]
[SIZE= 7.5pt]New inventions like planes, submarines, poison gases, explosives; tanks are employed for the first time. Machine guns, cannons and shells used in previous wars, are upgraded and more effective.[/SIZE]
[SIZE= 7.5pt] [/SIZE]
[SIZE= 7.5pt]WWII:[/SIZE]
[SIZE= 7.5pt]The development of radios, radar and sonar improves communications and ushers in the age of electronic warfare. Fighthers, B… and transport rapidly developed and large-scale ‘B’ campaigns are conducted. America drops the Atomic 'B' twice, but as not used the weapon again.[/SIZE]
[SIZE= 7.5pt](In World war II, bombers were so inaccurate that thousands of sorties had to be flown to be assured that a target building was destroyed.)
[/SIZE]
[SIZE= 7.5pt]
Korea:[/SIZE]
[SIZE= 7.5pt]Innovations in the US military during the war include the use of Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH) units, the use of jet aircraft in combat, an air force separate from the army, one year theater rotations for soldiers, and psychological warfare.[/SIZE]
[SIZE= 7.5pt] [/SIZE]
[SIZE= 7.5pt]Vietnam:[/SIZE]
[SIZE= 7.5pt]Air forces prove essential to America’s military efforts in Vietnam and many air combat innovations take place over the course of the war. New tactical ideas range from search-and-destroy missions, carried out by helicopters of the Air Cavalry, to 'B' raids called arclights, flown by B-52’s[/SIZE]
[SIZE= 7.5pt] [/SIZE]
[SIZE= 7.5pt]Gulf:[/SIZE]
[SIZE= 7.5pt]The air campaign in the Persian Gulf, with the first major use of stealth fighters[/SIZE] and precision-guided weapons, introduces a new kind of high tech warfare. On the ground, GPS devices help forces navigate the desert undetected.
[SIZE= 7.5pt] [/SIZE]
[SIZE= 7.5pt]Iraq:[/SIZE]
[SIZE= 7.5pt]The battlefield goes digital with a communications network that enables all American forces in a battle to see the same thing at the same time. The majority of the munitions are precision guided.[/SIZE]
[SIZE= 7.5pt] [/SIZE]
[SIZE= 7.5pt]
Sources: Department of Defense;
Congressional Research Service;
Richard P. Hallion, aerospace historian
Matthew Ericson & Farhana Hossain
The New York Times
[/SIZE]
[url="http://www.nytimes.com/"]http://www.nytimes.com/[/URL]
