Expert in urban warfare: "The IDF is the army most careful of harming civilians in the world" John Spencer, a colonel in the United States Army and a world-renowned expert on urban warfare, wrote a column for the American weekly "Newsweek" Spencer claimed that the IDF makes extensive use of guided bombs precisely in order to avoid indiscriminate damage to civilian infrastructure. In addition, he compares the conduct of the IDF to that of the American and the Iraqi army during the battles for the city of Mosul in northern Iraq.