European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 17, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse Monday october 17, 1994 commentary i the stars and stripes Page 13service rivalries impede defense strategies Stephen s. Rosenfeld to understand the defense debate that is increasingly consuming military Washington it helps to go see Arnold Schwarzenegger in the film True lies. His character pilots a Marine corps harrier the fixed Wing attack aircraft that can hover in a defiantly stationary pose while he rescues his daughter. Never publicity shy the marines scored a Public relations coup by getting a Hollywood Star into a plane that exemplifies and advertises their real world Effort to move to the cutting Edge of technology and Post cold War military relevance. The same Effort explains How even As Saddam Hus skin was preparing to do his own bit for the Marine corps by cranking up new trouble in the persian Gulf a plan Load of us from Washington came to spend a recent Day at Cample Jeune in North Carolina. A we talked to the troops and. Watched a Well rehearsed Marine air ground a capability exercise that featured the same harrier aircraft doing its astonishing dance before our eyes. Any Battle that May yet engage , forces in Iraq Haiti or wherever is not nearly so Likely to touch the Core interests of our separate services As the Battle now developing in Washington Over the future roles and missions of the american military. The stage for this struggle was set with the end of the cold War. A new Era of financial Stringency Begam and the Pentagon had to switch its focus from a unifying global communist threat to lesser ragged and detached local and regional crises. The services responded in their energetic and protective fashion. But an impatient Congress wanted More than economies and postponements that did not alter institutional habit. Last november breaking a 50-year-taboo, it instructed the Secretary of defense to open up to review the arcane but Central matter of the services roles and missions a John p. White director of the Center for business and government at Harvard a Kennedy school of government and a former assistant Secretary of defense Heads a Blue ribbon Independent commission that is meant to sort out the existing accreted cluttered and often overlapping and duplicating service purposes and to report Back to Congress next May. You missed the White commission the services. Haven to. A a a Quot a. A a a \ a /. A a a a &Quot., a. They understand that missions and roles mean purpose budget status and survival a the works. Because of the Way events have played out in the last few years the review has inevitably zeroed in on chaos checking a a expeditionary operations. While the politicians have argued first Over whether to conduct them the generals and admirals have argued Over who and How. Some citations culled by the weekly inside the Navy nicely describe the services tug of War. Navy Secretary John Dalton says the a Navy endures As americans expeditionary responds army Secretary Togo West Quot Only the army can provide rapid decisive expeditionary says a Marine general a expeditionary is the Marine corps Middle a adds a Marine Grunt who took part in a first integrated Marine army helicopter Landing in Cap haitian last month. A a a this is a classic Marine corps operation and we should be doing it the services jumped on the latest persian Gulf crisis to demonstrate their new wares with the army rapidly deploying an armoured division and the marines dispatching an expeditionary Force of their own. The marines and a who have their own tensions unite to Hail their a unique ability with aircraft carriers to operate anywhere Independent of foreign bases and strategic the harrier aircraft fits in Here. Able to take off and land vertically it can operate off a Carrier a Landing strip or a Clearing. It helps enable the Marine corps to conduct the Ever faster and deeper operations that constitute the glint in its Eye. a a a salient contrary army View a one that finds much resonance in the air Force a comes from retired army it. Gen. William Odom. Army paratroop and special operations forces Are making the Navy carried marines progressively obsolete he say kissing off aircraft carriers As a a mid Ceri Tury technology appropriate when aircraft had extremely limited ranges and munitions Odom nonetheless is the rare party to this debate who delivers on the Standard Promise to make service decisions on the basis of a genuine ends Rand Means strategy. The american roles in Germany and Japan remain the a Cornerstones of world order a he argues build on them and manage a the Only other strategically critical Region Quot the persian Gulf with a ground presence. The question remains whether this proposed strategy reflects mainly the special interest of the army and air Force or an authentic Broad gauged National interest. A a a a. A any other strategy would have to face a similar test. It s where the argument ought to go inside and outside the White commission. Schwarzenegger had it much easier. C wa3hlng<on Post. Clinton betting on Haiti Iraq for comeback the Virginia Hills had just begun to turn to Gold when the spy planes carried the bad news Back to the White House the old foe was on the move. American interests were once More at risk. This time the Young president did it it a waver. A / a. A by Hiis command vast forces mobilized girding for a possible War. Halfway around the world the wily dictator blinked. Sensing americans resolve he pulled his weapons Back and avoided a clash of arms. Sound familiar then you May have been around for the cuban missile crisis of 1962, which took place just a few weeks before the midterm elections. The democrats who had feared a political disaster in the making wound up losing Only four House seats they even gained three seats in the Senate. Pundits said the results reflected a sudden surge in John f2 Kennedy a popularity. Thirty two years later Bill Clinton a political handlers Hope to see a similar Jet for the democrats after their Man stood up to Saddam Hussein. As some Good tidings unfold in the Middle East and in Haiti they a spin Quot the president once More As the comeback kid. In politics timing counts. But if there is a lesson to be drawn from this Campaign a at least before the results Are in a it is that the country has had its fill of politics. Folks distrust the practitioners and the Roccos. Few even ave a Good word to say for the Media a the people paid to report on the sour mood a t m Andrew j. Glass e Clinton amp co. Are in a fix because they have never really made the needed shift from campaigning to governing. All too often these Days the White House and air Force one serve As props for the Selling of the presidency. Tie issues raised by Saddam Hussein in his feint toward Kuwait were quite serious ones three years after the end of the persian Gulf War he seeks to regain Access to the worlds Oil markets. Russia China and France a All of whom hold iraqi a Are scheming to get the sanctions lifted because they want to get paid Back and do fresh business with Baghdad. Were he to speak honestly Clinton might say a id really like to finish off Saddam. But i can to because it would Cost us too much in the chits we have out with Moscow Beijing and Paris. A if i can to finish him off id like to Cut a Deal so our troops have stay in Kuwait forever. But i can to because the republicans would tear me apart. A lets at least be grateful that the saudis and the Gulf Shiek Doms will pick up the whole Tab. That a because they done to want Saddam to Send Oil prices tumbling. As they see it the prices Are Low enough As it is although it would help us at Home if they were even lower. Quot i have played the emperor Long enough a Napoleon said As his weary troops slogged Back in the Snow from Moscow. A now it is time to play the for Clinton that would mean dropping the endless Campaign Mode and recognizing that in our democracy for government to work leaders must seek a popular consensus. My who a Abb by tub bomb. You done to have to invite Saddam Home for Tea. But neither do you have to posture on the world stage hoping the a a spin continues to turn your Way through election Day. After All not everybody has the Luck of the Kennedy not even the Kennedy. C Cox news service a
