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IP: U.S. Must Re-Think Strategy to Counter WMD Threat
From: [email protected]
Subject: IP: U.S. Must Re-Think Strategy to Counter WMD Threat
Date: Fri, 13 Nov 1998 14:14:50 -0600
To: [email protected]
Source: US Newswire
http://www.usnewswire.com/topnews/Current_Releases/1113-110.txt
Weapons Expert: U.S. Must Re-Think Military Strategy
U.S. Newswire
13 Nov 11:04
Weapons Expert: U.S. Must Re-Think Military Strategy to Counter Weapons of
Mass Destruction Threat
To: National Desk
Contact: Paige McMahon, 301-320-8053.
WASHINGTON, Nov. 13 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The United States
must devise a military force structure that makes possible
a rapid response to future crises involving the manufacture and use
of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), according to Dr. Robert W.
Chandler, an expert in the strategic use of WMD and author of the
just-published The New Face of War (AMCODA).
"The U.S. military mindset is rooted in conventional warfighting
tactics," said Chandler, a retired U.S. Air Force colonel and former
NATO advisor. "While we're waiting for carriers to get in position
and making sure our fighters have a place to park, Iraq is working
feverishly to hide and disperse the targets, which are the labs and
equipment they use to manufacture biological and chemical weapons. At
this moment, they're unbolting machinery and moving it to sheds, to
civilian residential areas, and out into the desert. By the time we
get around to bombing the factories, they will be empty."
"Wouldn't it be nice to destroy their weapons of mass destruction
before they are hidden? Targets are perishable, like vegetables and
fruit. If you wait too long to destroy them, by the time you hit the
target it's rotten. That is to say, they've been altered to the point
where they have little or no value," said Chandler, who predicted
Iraq's intent to use weapons of mass destruction to alter the balance
of power in the region in his first book, Tomorrow's War, Today's
Decisions (AMCODA, 1996).
"Absent a U.S. ability to strike quickly and deliberately, we have
no choice but Saddam's current game, where he plays the Roadrunner
and we are the wiley coyote," Chandler said. "Saddam Hussein sees
peace with U.N. weapons inspections as a losing proposition. From his
perspective, the only chance to end the hated weapons inspections and
end the U.N.'s economic sanctions is to force his countrymen to
endure another bombing in the anticipation that it will satisfy world
opinion, and lead to the lifting of sanctions. Dictators like Saddam
Hussein need to pay off those who keep them in power military,
police, and other elites with economic rewards. The sanctions cut
into that ability and weaken his grip.
"The U.S. must create a Global Reconnaissance and Strike
Complex to develop the military strategy and fighting forces
necessary to meet the challenges of WMD proliferation. We must
mass firepower, not forces, and we must make time work to our
advantage."
------
Dr. Chandler lives and works in McLean, Va., and is available for
broadcast and print interviews. You may contact Chandler directly
at his office, 703-356-6927 (evenings/weekends: 703-883-0324).
For more information, contact Paige McMahon, 301-320-8053.
-0-
/U.S. Newswire 202-347-2770/
11/13 11:04
Copyright 1998, U.S. Newswire
-----------------------
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interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and
educational purposes only. For more information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
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