Quote Originally Posted by Philipvs Vallindervs Calicvla View Post

Yes - seriously. Soldiers' lives are a resource, just like bullets or tanks. Now, to be sure, they are a valuable resource but if we're going to get into the morality of the "numbers game" viz how much an individual's life is worth then we might as well give up on war altogether.

As far as I have seen the American armed forces, and the American public are generally considered to over-value the lives of their servicemen in relation to the wider context of a given operation. This has been a prevailing British opinion for at least a few decades, if not since Vietnam.
I guess that explains the Somme then.

If you, and as you seem to claim a large section of the British public, really think that a soldiers life is the same as a bullet or tank then I really do not understand your sense of morals at all.

Now, this is not to say there should be no artillery support, far from it, but American doctrine in "Urban Combat" often includes flattening potential enemy position or choke points. Remember the missiles they fired down roads in Fallujah to remove *potential* land mines? Not only did they make all the roads impassable they knocked out all the water and electricity mains going into the city, triggering a humanitarian crisis.
Potential? Read any first hand account of the Second Battle of Fallujah, where the use of the mine-clearing line charge (which is what you are referring to as "missiles") was prevalent, and you would know that the roads in Fallujah were covered in IEDs. Now then, considering the destructive power of IEDs, I think tearing up a road is much more preferable to losing human lives. And considering that most of the civilian population evacuated (if government estimates can be trusted, anywhere between 70-90% of the civilians cleared out before the fighting), it sucks that the remaining civilians had to deal with no water or electricity but sometimes its unavoidable. Its the harsh reality of war that innocents suffer. We can do what we can to alleviate their suffering but the end goal must be to destroy the enemy. Deploying the line charges might have messed up the roads (which were fixed after the battle anyways) but you cannot deny that it also saved lives.

In an urban environment, particularly an allied city, we should be aiming for judicious use of minimal destructive power, not shock and awe.
You keep neglecting to say that at the moment it is not an allied city. Yes, coalition forces arent trying to wipe out the town but to say that just because coalition forces are trying to take it back that we shouldnt launch airstrikes against reported Taliban positions is tactical stupidity.

Imagine retaking an American city and half the city is rubble before you're done. How would that swing with the American media and public?
If it resulted in the capture of the city, then I would guess that the main response would be "well that really sucks that the town is now half rubble, but Im sure glad that we took the city and now we can rebuild."