Joint Chiefs Chairman Army Gen. Martin Dempsey
sharply disputed retired Air Force
Lt. Gen. David Deptula’s view
that the US air campaign in Iraq was being hampered by “excessive” concern over
civilian casualties. During a House Armed Services Committee hearing Wednesday,
Rep. Martha McSally (R-Ariz.), a retired Air Force fighter pilot, expressed her
“serious concerns” about the “incoherent strategy” in Iraq, particularly the
limitations on air strikes. She quoted from a June 6
opinion
article in which Deptula, the dean of AFA’s Mitchell Institute for
Aerospace Studies, said the effort to defeat ISIS was complicated by “an
excessive focus on the avoidance of collateral damage and casualties.” Those “excessive restrictions,” Deptula
wrote, “work to the advantage of the enemy.” Deptula and McSally both cited
pilots’ complaints that those restrictions prevented them from hitting ISIS. “I
couldn’t disagree more with Gen. Deptula,” Dempsey said during the hearing,
with apparent irritation. Dempsey said decisions on when pilots could release
ordnance “was made by the commander on the ground,” not in Washington, D.C.
Responding to earlier questions, Dempsey and Defense Secretary Ash Carter said
avoiding civilian casualties was necessary for humanitarian reasons and to
prevent alienating the Iraqi population. “It’s really a matter of assuring the
targets we hit are the targets we want to hit,” Dempsey said.