TWELVE PRINCIPLES Emerging From TEN PROPOSITIONS

THE STRENGTHS of 10 Propositions Regard ing Air Power* are that the volume is simple, slim, assertive, and challenging. These charac­ teristics also contribute to a few of its weaknesses. Because it seems to aim at being a book of airmen’s apho­ risms, it is necessarily as insubstantial in the depth and strength of many of its arguments as it is slim in size. Its many assertions are not allotted the space to be buttressed by as many proofs. Consequently, elements of some propositions challenge logic, history, and some of the empirical data we have on the “power” of airpower. Some critics will opine that 10 Propositions continues the tradition of promises, predictions, sweep­ ing declarations, breathless exhortations, and grand but unwarranted syntheses found in the works of Giulio Douhet, William (“Billy”) Mitchell, Alexander de Seversky, and—more recently—John Warden. Only Douhet provided a new airpower theory, scholars rightly observe. All true. Yet, consider that the book was not written for scholars. Consider that the book, where it is faithful to its lofty ideal, is not analysis as much as it is pocketsize synthesis. What is new and good here is a supe­ rior idea, executed well: give airmen something simple and fairly solid to stimulate their thinking about air and space power. Without overlooking the arguable soft spots and hyperbole in 10 Propositions, perhaps airmen can get even greater discernment by a transfor­ mational critique of the work. The goal of this critique is to take what’s likelier than not true in 10 Proposi­ tions and transform “proposition” into “principle.” Twelve principles emerge (table 1). The first principle is that propositions are decla­ rations that invite proof or disproof. Propositions are neither principles nor rules nor verities. A propo­ sition invites caution. It is merely an assertion—a pro­ posal requiring proof in order to become more than a position or platform. Without proof, a proposition can be a falsehood—an untruth. The pre–World War II COL RICHARD SZAFRANSKI, USAF