-Caveat Lector- > FYI > > http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2001/11/21/182656.shtml > > WJPBR Email News List [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Peace at any cost is a Prelude to War! > > Unencumbered Air Power Key to Afghan Successes, Says Moorer > Dave Eberhart, NewsMax.com > Thursday, Nov. 22, 2001 > "President Bush has not imposed a lot of rules on the military commanders > directing the American air offensive in Afghanistan,” retired Adm. Thomas > Moorer told NewsMax on Wednesday. "As a result, our air power has quickly > interdicted the supplies and leadership of the Taliban.” > Moorer, who over a 45-year Navy career served variously as commander in chief > of the Pacific Fleet, commander in chief of the Atlantic Fleet, chief of > naval operations, and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (Vietnam), said > he appreciated and admired President Bush’s pragmatic > let-the-commanders-command approach to the air war in Afghanistan. > > "That’s why it’s working,” Moorer summed up. > > "We never showed the enemy in Vietnam what a superpower could do,” Moorer > said. "There were all kinds of stops and starts to the air campaign in that > war. No military man in his right mind would have run that war in the way it > was run.” > > As a young lieutenant commander aviator at Pearl Harbor, Moorer scrambled his > plane, a PBY "flying boat,” after the Japanese attack. He and his crew flew > for 17 hours in search of the retreating Japanese fleet, radioing > intelligence back to U.S. commanders. > > Moorer has been sharing intelligence with presidents, Congress and the > military leadership ever since. > > After a long period of being stymied by President Lyndon Johnson’s > micromanagement of the Vietnam War, President Richard Nixon turned control of > the Vietnam War over to Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Moorer on Dec. > 14, 1972 with simple marching orders: "Win this war.” > > "The bastards have never been bombed like they’re going to be bombed,” > warned Nixon. > > On Dec. 18, 1972, Operation LINEBACKER II began, hallmarked by 3,000 sorties, > 11 days and 40,000 tons of bombs decimating targets in North Vietnam and > elsewhere. > > Eleven days after the intensified air war, America’s involvement in Vietnam > changed forever. > > Stalemated peace talks in Paris resumed on Jan. 8, 1973. North Vietnamese > envoy Le Duc Tho and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger reached a final > agreement and signed the Paris Peace Accords on Jan. 27, 1973. > > Within 60 days after the signing, 591 American prisoners of war were released > and returned to the United States. > > The new policy of letting the military run the war was key, said Moorer. "It > took us eight years to get permission to mine Haiphong harbor. Afterward, not > one ship entered or left the harbor until we took up the mines.” > > The bombardment campaign wrecked North Vietnam’s economy, brought its > transportation system to a halt and overpowered its air defenses. "The media > so often overlooks the key element of logistics,” Moorer said. > > After the war, a candid enemy agreed. "This war [LINEBACKER] was different > than the first war of destruction,” concluded historians of the People’s > Army of Vietnam. "This time the enemy [U.S.] massed larger forces and made > massive attacks right from the first day of operation, using many types of > modernized technical weapons and equipment.” > > IS Air Power the Total Solution? > > Moorer admitted that, sooner or later, American forces may get into the > serious business of ground combat. However, air power will still be the key, > he qualified. "Our trained special forces on the ground will be directing air > power to targets.” > > And that’s where the carrier-based fighter-bombers will continue to show > their stuff, Moorer said. Strategic bombers have to fly thousands of miles, > he explained. Tactical targets are fluid and may not be around by the time > the bombs fall. The carrier planes can be circling over the target in minutes > or hours. > > Moooer referred to the four carriers in the Afghanistan theater as "complete > packages,” the very able point of the American sword. Ironically, he said, it > always takes two or three years to push a new carrier through the budget > process. > > Combining air power with forces on the ground was always a reality in the > Vietnam War. In Capitol Hill testimony just before the saturation B-52 > bombing of Haiphong, Moorer suggested amphibious assaults behind North > Vietnamese lines as an option. > > Prior to Nixon’s unleashing of massive air power, a 1972 congressional report > concluded: "This study calls into serious question the efficacy of strategic > and interdiction bombing against a highly motivated guerrilla enemy in an > underdeveloped country.” > > Reminiscent of early critics of the modern Afghan campaign, the report > lamented the scarcity and nature of targets and the cost of the bombing > operations. The dollar value of the attacks greatly exceeded the dollar value > of the value of the targets destroyed. Chinese and Soviet supply shipments to > North Vietnam were exceeding the damage done by a 6:1 margin. U.S. > intelligence studies indicated that the bombing would not bring the war to a > successful conclusion. > > Much of that pessimism dissolved after the unencumbered air campaign began. > Objectives that had been long excluded were added to the target lists. > Additionally, new American "smart bombs” came into play that could hit within > 10 meters of the target. > > Key bridges in North Vietnam that had withstood numerous American strikes > fell. > > In May 1972 just four flights of F-4 Phantoms dropped one span of the Thanh > Hoa bridge with smart bombs. There were no losses in the attack compared with > the previous 871 attacks that cost 11 U.S. aircraft downed – but did not get > the bridge. > > Moorer discussed the lessons learned. Former Secretary of Defense Robert > "McNamara and Johnson tied our hands with stupid rules of engagement. There’s > always the potential for provoking a larger war. You must fight a game plan > that accounts for how you are going to end the war.” > > *COPYRIGHT NOTICE** In accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. Section 107, > any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use > without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest > in receiving the included information for nonprofit research and educational > purposes only.[Ref. http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ] > > Want to be on our lists? Write at [EMAIL PROTECTED] for a menu of our lists! > Write to same address to be off lists! > > <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> > DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER > ========== > CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic > screeds are unwelcomed. Substancenot soap-boxingplease! 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