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CNN Live Today

Spread Too Thin?

Aired July 18, 2003 - 10:20   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Iraq, Afghanistan, the Korean peninsula, these are just some of the many hotspots where U.S. troops are now deployed, and a question is looming, is the U.S. military stretched too thin? Well, let's pose that question to retired Major General Don Shepperd. His 40 years in the U.S. Air Force carried him from the cockpit of a fighter jet to the halls of the Pentagon. He now serves as a CNN military analyst, and Don probably feels like we put 40 years on him as he covered the war here.
Good to see you, general.

MAJ. GEN. DON SHEPPERD (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Good to see you, Leon.

HARRIS: The Pentagon officials who have been quoted in the papers of late say we're right on schedule, on plain, we're not spread too thin. But they're making plans to call in national guard troops beginning in the winter. How can they have it both ways? What do you think?

SHEPPERD: Well, this is a tough problem, no question. We're at the early hours of Iraq. Looks like we've been at it a long time, but we really haven't. Basically, this is a messy world out there, and we're not stretched too thin, but we're stretched too thin in some areas. And something that's very new here is we're seeing repeated and long call-ups of National Guard and Reserve forces before. Before, what we did is called them up for the duration of the war, got the war over with and went home, and did it about once every 25 years.

Now, because of the downsizing of the United States forces after the Cold War by about 40 percent and the upping of operational tempo by about 300 percent, Guardsmen and Reservists are being relied upon more everywhere. It's a whole new world out there, Leon.

HARRIS: Does that then require a reformulation of thought on how to use the Guard?

SHEPPERD: It does, indeed. And there's a lot of talk going on about it. But my guess is that as long as the Guard leaders are allowed to manage the mobilizations and manage -- and there's a reasonable rotation schedule that this can be managed. Again, the difference is we've gone many places over the world, and we've stayed. Before, we used to come home, and now we're staying, and Iraq is a typical example here. We don't know how long we're going to be in Iraq, but it's certainly going to be a long time. This is a whole new world that requires new thought, new policies, and they're all being looked at it in the Pentagon. HARRIS: There's new realizations coming every day about how long we'll be staying in Iraq. Now, it appears that there's going to be U.S. troops there for a long time. That's going to be a big problem there, as anti-American sent sentiment continues to build. We don't see U.N. troops coming in to replace the troops there. We're now seeing morale problems, because some of the troops are saying it's time for them to come home.

SHEPPERD: Indeed. Leon, this is new test. It's a test not just of the military, but of the will of the American public. We're have good as Americans at going in, John Wayne-ing it, and then using our strength and getting out. That's what we do best and what we want to do. Now, as the president and secretary of defense said early in the war on terrorism, this is going to be a long war in many places, and our will, and our courage and our treasury is going to be tested, and we're seeing the opening steps of that Iraq in Iraq.

HARRIS: All right, one of the steps is dealing with attacks plaguing U.S. troops there, killing them daily there.

Would you like to second guess the assumptions made about Iraqi troops surrendering? Remember when all these uniforms were found piled up around the countryside, the thinking at time was that these troops were basically turning tail and running. Do you think this was part of some orchestrated plan now to basically hide where they are right now and coming out with these guerrilla attacks?

SHEPPERD: No, I don't think it's part of an orchestrated plan, and I do think there were some misjudgments about the war. Nobody thought it was going to be this tough after the initial military victory has taken place. We didn't know how long it would take. We knew there would be terrorist attacks. But we didn't think it would be this tough. I don't think it was part of a plan. I think it's a natural reaction from the Sunni triangle, from the west of Baghdad out to Fallujah, to Ramada and up to Tikrit. That's where most of the problem is. The north and south are going fairly well. They're pretty permissive, doesn't mean shots aren't fired now and then. But I think this is a manageable situation over time if we have the wills and American public to stick with it, our troops will do the same thing, Leon.

HARRIS: All right, that will be a tough test. We'll see how folks stand up to the test.

Retired Major General Don Shepperd, always good to see you. Take care. Talk to you soon.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired July 18, 2003 - 10:20   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Iraq, Afghanistan, the Korean peninsula, these are just some of the many hotspots where U.S. troops are now deployed, and a question is looming, is the U.S. military stretched too thin? Well, let's pose that question to retired Major General Don Shepperd. His 40 years in the U.S. Air Force carried him from the cockpit of a fighter jet to the halls of the Pentagon. He now serves as a CNN military analyst, and Don probably feels like we put 40 years on him as he covered the war here.
Good to see you, general.

MAJ. GEN. DON SHEPPERD (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Good to see you, Leon.

HARRIS: The Pentagon officials who have been quoted in the papers of late say we're right on schedule, on plain, we're not spread too thin. But they're making plans to call in national guard troops beginning in the winter. How can they have it both ways? What do you think?

SHEPPERD: Well, this is a tough problem, no question. We're at the early hours of Iraq. Looks like we've been at it a long time, but we really haven't. Basically, this is a messy world out there, and we're not stretched too thin, but we're stretched too thin in some areas. And something that's very new here is we're seeing repeated and long call-ups of National Guard and Reserve forces before. Before, what we did is called them up for the duration of the war, got the war over with and went home, and did it about once every 25 years.

Now, because of the downsizing of the United States forces after the Cold War by about 40 percent and the upping of operational tempo by about 300 percent, Guardsmen and Reservists are being relied upon more everywhere. It's a whole new world out there, Leon.

HARRIS: Does that then require a reformulation of thought on how to use the Guard?

SHEPPERD: It does, indeed. And there's a lot of talk going on about it. But my guess is that as long as the Guard leaders are allowed to manage the mobilizations and manage -- and there's a reasonable rotation schedule that this can be managed. Again, the difference is we've gone many places over the world, and we've stayed. Before, we used to come home, and now we're staying, and Iraq is a typical example here. We don't know how long we're going to be in Iraq, but it's certainly going to be a long time. This is a whole new world that requires new thought, new policies, and they're all being looked at it in the Pentagon. HARRIS: There's new realizations coming every day about how long we'll be staying in Iraq. Now, it appears that there's going to be U.S. troops there for a long time. That's going to be a big problem there, as anti-American sent sentiment continues to build. We don't see U.N. troops coming in to replace the troops there. We're now seeing morale problems, because some of the troops are saying it's time for them to come home.

SHEPPERD: Indeed. Leon, this is new test. It's a test not just of the military, but of the will of the American public. We're have good as Americans at going in, John Wayne-ing it, and then using our strength and getting out. That's what we do best and what we want to do. Now, as the president and secretary of defense said early in the war on terrorism, this is going to be a long war in many places, and our will, and our courage and our treasury is going to be tested, and we're seeing the opening steps of that Iraq in Iraq.

HARRIS: All right, one of the steps is dealing with attacks plaguing U.S. troops there, killing them daily there.

Would you like to second guess the assumptions made about Iraqi troops surrendering? Remember when all these uniforms were found piled up around the countryside, the thinking at time was that these troops were basically turning tail and running. Do you think this was part of some orchestrated plan now to basically hide where they are right now and coming out with these guerrilla attacks?

SHEPPERD: No, I don't think it's part of an orchestrated plan, and I do think there were some misjudgments about the war. Nobody thought it was going to be this tough after the initial military victory has taken place. We didn't know how long it would take. We knew there would be terrorist attacks. But we didn't think it would be this tough. I don't think it was part of a plan. I think it's a natural reaction from the Sunni triangle, from the west of Baghdad out to Fallujah, to Ramada and up to Tikrit. That's where most of the problem is. The north and south are going fairly well. They're pretty permissive, doesn't mean shots aren't fired now and then. But I think this is a manageable situation over time if we have the wills and American public to stick with it, our troops will do the same thing, Leon.

HARRIS: All right, that will be a tough test. We'll see how folks stand up to the test.

Retired Major General Don Shepperd, always good to see you. Take care. Talk to you soon.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com