[Prodigal Son]

The originator of the policy of "shock and awe" was not a Pentagon employee but Giulio Douchet, an Italian advocate of air power in the 1930s.

The author should do his homework. Achieving shock and awe on the battlefield has been around a lot longer than this. Sun Tzu gives examples for achieving it.

Shock and awe isn't about bombing per se nor does it have to involve hi-tech gadgetry. Shock and Awe is about achieving rapid dominance- so much so that the enemy decides it is useless to fight. Some historical methods of achieving this dominance didn't even involve a single shot being fired. Shock and Awe can be achieved purely through psychological means.

It isn't just a system of bombing though.

[Bob]

The author should do his homework.

Why? He never has before.

[FairWitness]

The author should do his homework. Achieving shock and awe on the battlefield has been around a lot longer than this. Sun Tzu gives examples for achieving it.

You credit him with trying to make a historical point, when he is more likely trying to make a political point.

[Kozak]

Ashurbanipal II, King of Assyria (884 – 859 BC), called himself “trampler of nations”. Blood-curdling inscriptions of his achievements include:

I besieged and conquered the city… I captured many troops alive. I cut off of some their arms and hands. I cut off others their noses, ears and extremities. I gouged out the eyes of many troops. I made one pile of the living and one of heads. I hung their heads on trees around the city. I flayed as many nobles as had rebelled against me and draped their skins over the pile of corpses… I flayed many, right through my land and draped their skins over the walls. I cut off the heads of their fighters and built therewith a tower before the city. I burnt their adolescent boys and girls. (Bleibtreu 1991)

Shock and Awe version 1.0