LA Weekly: Columns: On: Shock and Awe

"MODERN WARFARE ISN'T ONLY ABOUT KILLING — it's about inspiring mass terror. That's why on the first day of Gulf War II: Die Harder, the Pentagon reportedly intends to launch 300 to 400 cruise missiles at targets in Iraq — more than during the entire 40 days of the first Gulf War. "[Y]ou have this simultaneous effect, rather like the nuclear weapons at Hiroshima, not taking days or weeks but in minutes," says Harlan K. Ullman, who sounds far too comfortable with the historical analogy. Of course, the guy did co-author the 1996 book that defined the strategy that the U.S. military will be following. Euphemistically known as "Shock and Awe," the plan is designed to cow those Iraqis it doesn't blow up into immediate submission. "