Dave Eberhart, NewsMax.com
Friday, Jan. 11, 2002
Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz’s recent declaration that Iraq is on the back burner of the War Against Terrorism may have less to do with recalcitrant allies, a limited U.N. mandate, or a politically correct shift from targeting Muslims and Arabs - and more to do with the Pentagon’s crippling shortage of conventionally armed cruise missiles. The Department of Defense in its $1 billion cruise missile budget authority for FY 2001 and FY 2002 was clear about the crisis: "The United States has a shortage of conventionally armed, air-launched cruise missiles; specifically, it has about 60 of these missiles but needs about 1,000.” During the critical early days of any offensive into Iraq, cruise missiles would be the vanguard to attack systems and tactical aircraft; deny forward movement of enemy forces; neutralize enemy operations; suppress enemy air defenses; attack electrical generating facilities, command and control nodes, and weapons assembly/storage facilities. Currently, however, according to the Pentagon budget document, the Air Force is scrambling and improvising when it comes to procuring these key tools of warfare – relying on converting the nuclear payloads of aging Air Launched Cruise Missiles (ALCMs) to conventional missiles (CALCMs).
His legacy is still haunting us.