--- title: General Who Championed Air Power Challenges Pentagon on ISIS description: Architect of U.S. air war in Afghanistan says U.S. strikes too limited. canonical: https://time.com/3484325/pentagon-isis-air-power/ author: Mark Thompson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-10-09T12:08:14.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:05:28.899Z article:section: Politics og:title: General Who Championed Air Power Challenges Pentagon on ISIS og:description: Architect of U.S. air war in Afghanistan says U.S. strikes too limited. og:url: https://time.com/3484325/pentagon-isis-air-power/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8508f2a013bab758/69875f5f8e060188fe4578c9/456900358.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2835 og:image:height: 1595 og:image:alt: Clashes between ISIL and Kurdish armed groups in Kobane og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: General Who Championed Air Power Challenges Pentagon on ISIS twitter:description: Architect of U.S. air war in Afghanistan says U.S. strikes too limited. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8508f2a013bab758/69875f5f8e060188fe4578c9/456900358.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # General Who Championed Air Power Challenges Pentagon on ISIS > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: ISIS Militants Raise Their Black Flags in Kobani Border Town [Watch (HLS stream): ISIS Militants Raise Their Black Flags in Kobani Border Town](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/qNgEviC8.m3u8) (0:39)  _Published 2014-10-07. After several days of fighting against Kurdish forces, ISIS militants enter the border town of Kobani_ by [Mark Thompson](https://time.com/author/mark-thompson/) ## Mark Thompson Oct 9, 2014 12:08 PM UTC  Smoke rising from the Syrian town of Kobani Thursday marks where clashes between its Kurdish defenders and ISIS attackers are underway. Smoke rising from the Syrian town of Kobani Thursday marks where clashes between its Kurdish defenders and ISIS attackers are underway. Emin Menguarslan / Anadolu Agency / Getty Images by [Mark Thompson](https://time.com/author/mark-thompson/) ## Mark Thompson Oct 9, 2014 12:08 PM UTC Once a United States military effort bogs down, as is now happening in the battle for the Syrian border town of Kobani, two things happen: Pentagon officials explain why what is happening should come as no surprise, and experts carp about how it _is_ a surprise and could be done better. Rear Admiral John Kirby, the Pentagon spokesman, [explained](http://time.com/3482713/pentagon-kobani-syria-turkey/) Wednesday why the U.S. and its allies are basically powerless to stop the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) from taking Kobani, which sits on Syria’s border with Turkey, and the 200,000 residents still living there. ISIS is now reported to control about a third of the town, half of whose population has fled to Turkey. “Airstrikes alone,” Kirby said, “are not going to . . . to save the town of Kobani.” Them’s fighting words to air power advocates like David Deptula, a retired Air Force lieutenant general who ran the successful air campaign over Afghanistan in the opening months of the U.S. campaign there. Deptula responded to Kirby’s comments in an overnight email from Australia: --- > “” --- Fighting words, indeed. ## Transcript [ FOREIGN ] [ FOREIGN ] [ FOREIGN ] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3484325/pentagon-isis-air-power/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3484325/pentagon-isis-air-power/"},"headline":"General Who Championed Air Power Challenges Pentagon on ISIS","datePublished":"2014-10-09T12:08:14.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T08:05:28.899Z","description":"Architect of U.S. air war in Afghanistan says U.S. strikes too limited","url":"https://time.com/3484325/pentagon-isis-air-power/","keywords":["Military","Syria","Iraq","Terrorism","Weapons","National Security","Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8508f2a013bab758/69875f5f8e060188fe4578c9/456900358.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/blt8508f2a013bab758/69875f5f8e060188fe4578c9/456900358.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Clashes between ISIL and Kurdish armed groups in Kobane","caption":"Clashes between ISIL and Kurdish armed groups in Kobane","creditText":"Emin Menguarslan / Anadolu Agency / Getty Images","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/3484325/pentagon-isis-air-power/","name":"General Who Championed Air Power Challenges Pentagon on ISIS"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"ISIS Militants Raise Their Black Flags in Kobani Border Town","description":"After several days of fighting against Kurdish forces, ISIS militants enter the border town of Kobani","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/qNgEviC8/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-10-07T04:58:50.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/qNgEviC8.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3484325/pentagon-isis-air-power/","duration":"PT39S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3484325/pentagon-isis-air-power/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```