--- title: American Airstrikes against ISIS in Iraq Take on Small Targets description: The world’s most powerful military is dispatching multi-million-dollar aircraft and their pilots into harm’s way to destroy $70,000 Humvees canonical: https://time.com/3206804/iraq-syria-isis-obama-airstrikes/ author: Mark Thompson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-08-28T15:14:23.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T09:54:39.078Z article:section: Politics og:title: American Airstrikes against ISIS in Iraq Take on Small Targets og:description: The world’s most powerful military is dispatching multi-million-dollar aircraft and their pilots into harm’s way to destroy $70,000 Humvees og:url: https://time.com/3206804/iraq-syria-isis-obama-airstrikes/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfb9720fe2d6b4972/6986a13e810bbb8fa1c9331b/rtr437vw.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: The wreckage of a car belonging to Islamic State militants lies along a road after it was targeted by a U.S. air strike at the entrance to the Mosul Dam og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: American Airstrikes against ISIS in Iraq Take on Small Targets twitter:description: The world’s most powerful military is dispatching multi-million-dollar aircraft and their pilots into harm’s way to destroy $70,000 Humvees twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfb9720fe2d6b4972/6986a13e810bbb8fa1c9331b/rtr437vw.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # America Is Using Cannons to Kill Mosquitoes in Iraq by [Mark Thompson](https://time.com/author/mark-thompson/) ## Mark Thompson Aug 28, 2014 3:14 PM UTC  U.S. airpower has been largely limited to attacking and destroying Humvees and other vehicles inside Iraq. U.S. airpower has been largely limited to attacking and destroying Humvees and other vehicles inside Iraq.Youssef Boudlal / Reuters by [Mark Thompson](https://time.com/author/mark-thompson/) ## Mark Thompson Aug 28, 2014 3:14 PM UTC The new war the U.S. is waging over Iraq is succeeding. With help on the ground from Kurdish and Iraqi troops, U.S. airstrikes have pushed fighters from the militant group Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) away from the Mosul Dam. But the daily details of U.S. military airstrikes only serve to highlight how little American military might can do. “The strikes destroyed an \[ISIS\] Humvee,” U.S. Central Command [said](http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=123026) Wednesday. “One strike destroyed an \[ISIS\] Humvee near the Mosul Dam,” Sunday’s [announcement](http://www.centcom.mil/en/news/articles/aug-24-us-military-conducts-airstrikes-against-isil-near-irbil-and-mosul) said. “The strikes destroyed or damaged three \[ISIS\] Humvees,” Centcom [said](http://www.centcom.mil/en/news/articles/aug.-21-u.s.-military-conducts-airstrikes-against-isil-near-mosul-dam) a week ago. The world’s most powerful military is dispatching multi-million-dollar aircraft and their pilots into harm’s way to destroy $70,000 Humvees. Adding insult to injury, the U.S. gave those vehicles to the Iraqi military, which fumbled them into ISIS hands after the militants overran Mosul and plundered Iraqi arsenals two months ago. This may be the challenge of 21st century war. The American military, honed by its successes in World War II, is primed to attack militaries that look like it. Germany, Japan, the Soviet Union and Saddam Hussein’s Iraq each presented U.S. war planners with target-rich environments. But why should anyone confronting U.S. might want to fight on America’s terms? That’s why the U.S. military has been less successful in the target-poor environments of Vietnam, Afghanistan and post-Saddam Hussein Iraq. President Barack Obama’s 100-plus airstrikes in Iraq against ISIS targets have beaten the jihadists back. Now he’s weighing an expanded campaign that would attack ISIS targets across the border, in Syria. But any such action lacks a smart and achievable goal. Attacking ISIS in Syria would make the U.S. a _de facto_ ally of Syrian dictator Bashar Assad, whose civil war has killed nearly 200,000\. It was three years ago this month that Obama said Assad must surrender power. Most Americans don’t want more military action in the Middle East. Until they do—and their representatives in Congress are willing to back it with a declaration of war against ISIS—letting U.S. warplanes attack U.S.-built-and-paid-for Humvees inside Iraq may be the best, if unsatisfying, option. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3206804/iraq-syria-isis-obama-airstrikes/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3206804/iraq-syria-isis-obama-airstrikes/"},"headline":"America Is Using Cannons to Kill Mosquitoes in Iraq","datePublished":"2014-08-28T15:14:23.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T09:54:39.078Z","description":"The world’s most powerful military is dispatching multi-million-dollar aircraft and their pilots into harm’s way to destroy $70,000 Humvees","url":"https://time.com/3206804/iraq-syria-isis-obama-airstrikes/","keywords":["Military","Syria","Iraq","National Security"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfb9720fe2d6b4972/6986a13e810bbb8fa1c9331b/rtr437vw.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mark Thompson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/mark-thompson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfb9720fe2d6b4972/6986a13e810bbb8fa1c9331b/rtr437vw.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The wreckage of a car belonging to Islamic State militants lies along a road after it was targeted by a U.S. air strike at the entrance to the Mosul Dam","caption":"The wreckage of a car belonging to Islamic State militants lies along a road after it was targeted by a U.S. air strike at the entrance to the Mosul Dam","creditText":"Youssef Boudlal / Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/military/","name":"Military"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3206804/iraq-syria-isis-obama-airstrikes/","name":"America Is Using Cannons to Kill Mosquitoes in Iraq"}}]}] ```