Army Must Be Larger Or Do Less, Says Ex-Joint Chiefs Head

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | October 4, 2003 | By Jack Kelly, Post-Gazette National Security Writer

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The U.S. Army must be enlarged or its commitments scaled back, according to retired Gen. Henry Hugh Shelton, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1997-2001.

"The Army cannot sustain the operations tempo they currently have," Shelton said in a telephone interview this week. "The Army currently has 232,000 soldiers deployed overseas. You cannot sustain 232,000 with an active force of only 485,000."

Shelton will discuss the war on terror and peacekeeping in Iraq at a banquet sponsored by the Pittsburgh chapter of the Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountants on Oct. 21. A telephone interview with reporters was set up in advance of his Pittsburgh visit.

Despite the strain on the Army, the war on terror is going well, Shelton said, cautioning that victory is years away and many dangers lie ahead.

"A great thing President Bush has done is he is focusing all elements of national power, and that's what it takes to defeat terrorists," he said. "Too often we have tended to focus too much just on the military."

Shelton supports the measures taken to protect homeland security, as well, but suggested al-Qaida will likely mount another attack on U.S. soil. "It's not a matter of if we'll get hit again," he said. "It's a matter of when." Shelton said he is most worried about attacks on U.S. computer networks or with chemical or biological agents.

Shelton praised President Bush's emphasis on preventive military action, saying, "You've got to keep the terrorists on the run." But he differentiated between U.S. action against Iraq and Afghanistan.

Overthrowing Saddam Hussein was much less important in the war on terror than was destroying the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, he said.

"Afghanistan is a great example of how a lawless region provides terrorists a safe haven. Iraq was not in that same vein. There is no clear evidence that Saddam was harboring terrorists."

Shelton said the war in Iraq was well executed, "but the followup isn't being done as well." Now that Saddam has been overthrown, it is critical the peacekeeping mission succeed so Iraq does not become what Afghanistan was, he said.

Shelton, now president of international operations for MIC Industries of Reston, Va. , refused to answer questions about his relationship with retired Gen. Wesley K. Clark, the Democratic presidential candidate who was NATO military commander when Shelton was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Clark was relieved of his command several months before his tour was scheduled to end for reasons which have never been publicly disclosed.

In response to a question at a forum in California Sept. 12, Shelton said: "I've known Wes for a long time. I will tell you the reason he came out of Europe early had to do with integrity and character issues, things that are very near and dear to my heart. I'm not going to say whether I'm a Republican or a Democrat. I'll just say Wes won't get my vote."

That prompted a flurry of media inquiries, but Shelton has refused to elaborate.

Clark was quoted as responding, "I've never heard anything about these integrity and character issues, and to be honest with you, I always liked Hugh Shelton and there's no explanation for it. The only thing I can say is we did have professional disagreements and obviously, for him, they became personal disagreements. For me, they were professional."

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By the way, the Corps just retired the last truck the Army abandoned when they fled from the Chosin Reservoir.

You mean they were attacking in a different direction.

[RebelBanker]

Thanks.