John Spencer (military officer)

Last updated

John Spencer
AllegianceUnited States
Service / branch United States Army
California State Guard
Rank Major (USA)
Colonel (CSG)
CommandsUrban Warfare Training, 40th Infantry Division
Battles / wars Iraq War
Alma mater Georgetown University

John W. Spencer is a retired United States Army officer, researcher of urban warfare, and author. He currently serves as the chair of urban warfare studies at the Modern War Institute, codirector of the Urban Warfare Project, and host of the Urban Warfare Project Podcast at West Point. [1] He is a founding member of the International Working Group on Subterranean Warfare. [2]

Contents

He has commented on the Russian invasion of Ukraine. His comments on the Israeli invasion of Gaza Strip have been controversial. [3] [4]

Military career

Spencer enlisted in the United States Army as a private, immediately after graduating from high school at the age of 17, [5] eventually reaching the rank of Sergeant first class, until receiving commission; he retired from active service with the rank of major. [6]

During his military career, he was infantry platoon leader and company commander, including two combat tours during the Iraq War. In Iraq, he served during the initial invasion in 2003 and later in 2008 during the Iraq War troop surge and the Battle of Sadr City. [7] [8] He was also assigned to Ranger School, Joint Chiefs of Staff, etc. Later he became a fellow with the chief of staff of the Strategic Studies Group, until he moved to Modern War Institute (MWI). [9]

Work

Spencer is currently a chair of urban warfare studies at the MWI and a colonel in the California State Guard, where he is assigned as the director of urban warfare training with the 40th Infantry Division. [10]

During the summer of 2022, while Russian invasion of Ukraine was still in progress, he visited Ukraine, "to study the battle of Kyiv." [11]

During the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, he started giving advice on "how to resist the Russian invasions" through Twitter. [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] This culminated in him releasing "The Mini-Manual for the Urban Defender: A Guide to the Strategies and Tactics of Defending a City", which was translated in more than 10 languages. [17] [18] [19]

He is also a contributing editor at War on the Rocks . [20]

Opinions on Israeli invasion of Gaza

In their criticism, Israel's opponents are erasing a remarkable, historic new standard Israel has set. In my long career studying and advising on urban warfare for the U.S. military, I've never known an army to take such measures to attend to the enemy's civilian population, especially while simultaneously combating the enemy in the very same buildings. In fact, by my analysis, Israel has implemented more precautions to prevent civilian harm than any military in history—above and beyond what international law requires and more than the U.S. did in its wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. [21]

John Spencer has praised the Israeli military's performance during its invasion of Gaza Strip, and interviewed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. [22] According to a foreign policy adviser of Netanyahu, Spencer believes "Israel sets the gold standard in terms of preserving civilian lives". [23] Spencer claims that Israel's mass calling and texting of Gazan civilians, giving them days, and then weeks to evacuate, and roof knocking before airstrikes are practices that no military has ever implemented before. [24]

John Spencer has stated that, while in most wars 80-90% of casualties are civilians, in the Israeli attack on Gaza, civilians constituted 50-60% of the deaths. [25] While these claims were later picked up by Netanyahu, Professor Michael Spagat of the University of London writes that both claims are false. [26] The myth that 80-90% of casualties in war are civilians was popular among government officials in the 1990s, but by 2010 it had been debunked by the Red Cross, World Health Organization and others. [27] Spagat points out that the Uppsala Conflict Data Program database of wars (1989-2017) in "urban settings" shows 42.5% of the casualties are civilians, 36.8% are combatants and 20.7% are unknown. [26] Spagat also estimates that 80% of Gaza casualties are civilians, concluding that civilian casualties in Gaza are higher than the average for both urban warfare and modern warfare. [26]

Larry Lewis of Center for Naval Analyses has criticized Spencer's positions. [3] He argues that IDF's order for 1 million Gazans to evacuate from northern Gaza to southern Gaza in 24 hour was deemed practically impossible by experts, [28] and that Israel attacked civilians while they were evacuating and then again once the civilians were in southern Gaza. Lewis also questions the effectiveness of communication with cell phones, given damage to Gaza's infrastructure; and that interviews with Gaza after the 2014 war showed that the effectiveness of roof knocking was mixed due to confusion among civilians. [3]

Maryam Jamshidi has also criticized John Spencer's praise of Israel's "precautionary measures" arguing that in reality such measures are ineffective and possibly even war crimes. She points out that many of Israel's evacuation orders contained errors, and Israel's order for 1.1 million Palestinians to evacuate could be construed as collective punishment. [29]

Publications

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Human shield</span> Non-combatants placed around a target to discourage enemy attacks

A human shield is a non-combatant who either volunteers or is forced to shield a legitimate military target in order to deter the enemy from attacking it.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Urban warfare</span> Warfare in urban areas

Urban warfare is warfare in urban areas such as towns and cities. Urban combat differs from combat in the open at both operational and the tactical levels. Complicating factors in urban warfare include the presence of civilians and the complexity of the urban terrain. Urban combat operations may be conducted to capitalize on strategic or tactical advantages associated with the possession or the control of a particular urban area or to deny these advantages to the enemy. It is considered to be arguably the most difficult form of warfare.

Attrition warfare is a military strategy consisting of belligerent attempts to win a war by wearing down the enemy to the point of collapse through continuous losses in personnel, materiel and morale. The word attrition comes from the Latin root atterere, meaning "to rub against", similar to the "grinding down" of the opponent's forces in attrition warfare.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yoav Gallant</span> Israeli politician and former military officer (born 1958)

Yoav Gallant is an Israeli politician and former military officer who served as minister of defense between 2022 and 2024. Gallant was an officer in the Southern Command of the Israel Defense Forces, serving in the Israeli Navy. In January 2015 he entered politics, joining the new Kulanu party. After being elected to the Knesset he was appointed minister of construction. At the end of 2018 he joined Likud, shortly after which he became minister of Aliyah and Integration. In 2020 he was appointed minister of education, and the following year became minister of defense. On 5 November 2024, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that he had dismissed Gallant, effective 7 November, and sought to have Israel Katz replace him.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moshe Reuven Azman</span> Chief Rabbi of Ukraine

Rabbi Moshe Reuven Azman is an Orthodox rabbi and one of two people who claim to be the Chief Rabbi of Ukraine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Israel–Russia relations</span> Bilateral relations

The State of Israel is represented in the Russian Federation through an embassy in Moscow and a consulate-general in Saint Petersburg. Russia is represented in Israel through an embassy in Tel Aviv and a consulate in Haifa. Russia is a member of the Quartet on the Middle East. For many years, Israel was a haven for Russian Jews. This was especially the case during the aliyah from the Soviet Union in the 1970s and 1990s. Israel and the Soviet Union, Russia's predecessor state, were on opposing sides during the Cold War. However, the relationship between Israel and Russia has improved significantly since the early 2000s, with the election of the more pro-Israel Russian leader Vladimir Putin, and the election of the more pro-Russia Israeli leader Ariel Sharon. Putin has had a close relationship with long-serving Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Israel–Ukraine relations</span> Bilateral relations

Israel–Ukraine relations are foreign relations between Israel and Ukraine. Both countries recognized each other on 11 May 1949 as the Ukrainian SSR and established de jure diplomatic relations on 26 December 1991 when Ukraine became independent. Israel has an embassy in Kyiv. Ukraine has an embassy in Tel Aviv and a consulate-general in Haifa. There are 30,000 Ukrainians settled in Israel, while Ukraine has one of Europe's largest Jewish communities. Ukraine was also the first state outside of Israel to have had both a Jewish president and prime minister simultaneously.

Gaza War fatalities estimates made by human rights NGOs and by the involved combatants:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Giora Eiland</span> Israeli war criminal (born 1952)

Giora Eiland is a retired Major General of the Israel Defense Forces and a former head of the Israeli National Security Council. After his retirement from the public sector, he was a senior research associate at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS).

In armed conflicts, the civilian casualty ratio is the ratio of civilian casualties to combatant casualties, or total casualties. The measurement can apply either to casualties inflicted by or to a particular belligerent, casualties inflicted in one aspect or arena of a conflict or to casualties in the conflict as a whole. Casualties usually refer to both dead and injured. In some calculations, deaths resulting from famine and epidemics are included.

Drone warfare is a form of warfare using robots. Robot types include unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAV) or weaponized commercial unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), unmanned surface vehicles, and ground based drones. The United States, the United Kingdom, Israel, China, South Korea, Iran, Iraq, Italy, France, India, Pakistan, Russia, Turkey, Ukraine, and Poland are known to have manufactured operational UCAVs as of 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2014 Gaza War</span> Armed conflict between Israel and Palestinian militants

The 2014 Gaza War, also known as Operation Protective Edge, and Battle of the Withered Grain, was a military operation launched by Israel on 8 July 2014 in the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian territory that has been governed by Hamas since 2007. Following the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers in the West Bank by Hamas-affiliated Palestinian militants, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) initiated Operation Brother's Keeper, in which it killed 10 Palestinians, injured 130 and imprisoned more than 600. Hamas reportedly did not retaliate but resumed rocket attacks on Israel more than two weeks later, following the killing of one of its militants by an Israeli airstrike on 29 June. This escalation triggered a seven-week-long conflict between the two sides, one of the deadliest outbreaks of open conflict between Israel and the Palestinians in decades. The war resulted in over two thousand deaths, the vast majority of which were Gazan Palestinians. This includes a total of six Israeli civilians who were killed as a result of the conflict.

Casualties in the Russo-Ukrainian War include six deaths during the 2014 annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, 14,200–14,400 military and civilian deaths during the War in Donbas, and up to 1,000,000 estimated casualties during the Russian invasion of Ukraine till mid-September 2024.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Palestine–Ukraine relations</span> Bilateral relations

Palestine–Ukraine relations are bilateral relations between the State of Palestine and Ukraine. The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic recognized Palestinian independence on 19 November 1988. Palestine recognized Ukraine as a sovereign state in February 1992. On 2 November 2001, the two countries established diplomatic relations and the Palestinian embassy opened the same day. Ukraine has supported UN resolutions against Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories.But they are not on the best terms in the current global climate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Russian invasion of Ukraine</span> Ongoing armed conflict in Eastern Europe

On 24 February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which started in 2014. The invasion, the largest and deadliest conflict in Europe since World War II, has caused hundreds of thousands of military casualties and tens of thousands of Ukrainian civilian casualties. As of 2024, Russian troops occupy about 20% of Ukraine. From a population of 41 million, about 8 million Ukrainians had been internally displaced and more than 8.2 million had fled the country by April 2023, creating Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Sumy</span> Battle in the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine

On 24 February 2022, the Russian army attempted to capture Sumy, located near the Russia–Ukraine border. Ukrainian paratroopers and territorial defense forces began engaging Russian forces within the city, resulting in heavy urban fighting and the destruction of a Russian tank column. That evening, Ukraine's paratroopers were ordered to withdraw from the city, leaving the city's defense to a few thousand local volunteers armed with rifles, limited anti-tank weapons and no armed vehicles or heavy weaponry. After three to four days of failing to enter the city, the Russian military shifted to encircle and bypass the city, and were then subject to guerrilla ambushes.

The battle of Bucha was part of the Kyiv offensive in the Russian invasion of Ukraine for control of the city of Bucha. The combatants were elements of the Russian Armed Forces and Ukrainian Ground Forces. The battle lasted from 27 February to 31 March 2022 and ended with the withdrawal of Russian forces. The battle was part of a larger tactic to encircle Kyiv, the capital city of Ukraine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Hostomel</span> Battle during the Russian invasion of Ukraine

The battle of Hostomel was the first major battle in the Russian invasion of Ukraine, fought for control over the town of Hostomel between the Russian and Ukrainian armed forces. As part of the Kyiv offensive, the Russian forces sought control over Hostomel, Bucha and Irpin in order to encircle and besiege the Ukrainian capital city Kyiv from the west. Due to the intensity of the Kyiv offensive, the Kyiv Oblast State Administration named Hostomel, along with Irpin, Bucha, Highway M06, and Vyshhorod as the most dangerous places in Kyiv Oblast.

The Israeli generals' plan refers to a siege strategy proposed by former Israeli general Giora Eiland during the Israel–Hamas war. The plan would force the complete evacuation of Northern Gaza by labeling all remaining civilians as military targets and blocking supplies such as food and medication from entering the area.

References

  1. ↑ MWI.USMA.edu - John Spencer
  2. ↑ "John Spencer: Chair of Urban Warfare Studies". westpoint.edu. United States Military Academy.
  3. 1 2 3 Lewis, Larry (12 March 2024). "Israeli Civilian Harm Mitigation in Gaza: Gold Standard or Fool's Gold?". Just Security.
  4. ↑ Bryant, Wes J. (10 January 2024). "I led strike cells against ISIS — Israel's strike campaign in Gaza is unacceptable". The Hill .
  5. ↑ International Policy Digest - Conversation with Ret. Colonel John Spencer, Chair of Urban Warfare Studies
  6. ↑ MWI.USMA.edu - John Spencer
  7. ↑ JohnSpencerOnline.com - Urban Warfare
  8. ↑ MWI.USMA.edu - John Spencer
  9. ↑ MWI.USMA.edu - John Spencer
  10. ↑ MWI.USMA.edu - John Spencer
  11. ↑ WashingtonExaminer.com - John Spencer is a world-renowned expert on urban combat. Here’s how he thinks the war in Ukraine is going
  12. ↑ OpenCulture.com - West Point Expert Gives Ukrainians Advice on Conducting Effective Urban Warfare Against Russian Troops
  13. ↑ Marketwatch.com - Advice on how to fend off Russian army from urban warfare expert hits Twitter as battle for Ukraine’s capital Kyiv rages
  14. ↑ WashingtonExaminer.com - John Spencer is a world-renowned expert on urban combat. Here’s how he thinks the war in Ukraine is going
  15. ↑ KyivPost.com - Leading US Scholar Publishes Book on Urban Warfare Free to Read in Ukrainian
  16. ↑ Sky News - Ukraine invasion: Urban war expert’s advice on how Ukrainian civilians can defend themselves against Russian forces
  17. ↑ JohnSpencerOnline.com - Urban Warfare
  18. ↑ WashingtonExaminer.com - John Spencer is a world-renowned expert on urban combat. Here’s how he thinks the war in Ukraine is going
  19. ↑ KyivPost.com - Leading US Scholar Publishes Book on Urban Warfare Free to Read in Ukrainian
  20. ↑ WarOnTheRocks.com - John Spencer
  21. ↑ Spencer, John (25 March 2024). "Israel Has Created a New Standard for Urban Warfare. No One Will Admit It". Newsweek. Retrieved 5 November 2024.
  22. ↑ "John Spencer Interview of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu 27FEB2024". 15 March 2024.
  23. ↑ Simon, Scott (February 17, 2024). "Netanyahu's foreign policy adviser comments on Israel's possible invasion of Rafah". Now, Col. John Spencer - he says that Israel sets the gold standard in terms of preserving civilian lives.
  24. ↑ Spencer, John (31 January 2024). "Israel Tried to Prevent Civilian Casualties More Than Any Nation in History". Newsweek.
  25. ↑ Spencer, John (25 March 2024). "Israel Has Created a New Standard for Urban Warfare. No One Will Admit It". Newsweek.
  26. 1 2 3 Overton, Iain (2 August 2024). "Netanyahu got it wrong before the US Congress: IDF's clean performance in Gaza is a lie". AOAV.
  27. ↑ Roberts, Adam (July 2010). "Lives and Statistics: Are 90% of War Victims Civilians?". Survival. 52 (3): 115–136. doi:10.1080/00396338.2010.494880.
  28. ↑ K, S. "Israel must rescind evacuation order for northern Gaza and comply with international law: UN expert". Question of Palestine.
  29. ↑ Jamshidi, Maryam (6 May 2024). "Genocide and Resistance in Palestine under Law's Shadow". Journal of Genocide Research: 1–35. doi: 10.1080/14623528.2024.2348377 .
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.