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Expert: U.S. Likely to Continue to Build Troops in Gulf
Aired January 14, 2003 - 12:10 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.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Let's talk a little bit more now about the U.S. troop buildup in the Persian Gulf region.
Joining us from Chicago, our military analyst, the retired Brigadier General David Grange.
General Grange, thanks for joining us. You heard me ask John King how long U.S. military troops can sustain themselves there without necessarily going to war.
How much of a deadline, in effect, does the president have?
GEN. DAVID GRANGE (RET), U.S. ARMY: Well, the troops will not influence the deadline. They're ready to accomplish the mission and be in the area as a deterrent, as well as preparing to go to war, and also as just an influence and pressure put on Saddam to let these inspectors, to increase like they're doing, the aggressiveness of their mission.
But the troops in the region, the key is to make sure they have some type of training sustainment plan, so you can stay there a longer period of time. Because they get piqued and if they don't maintain some kind of training regime while they're deployed, then they will lose their capability over time.
BLITZER: And I assume, obviously, the top military command fully appreciates that notion.
The point, though, is can the president really turn back the clock and stop a war from unfolding over the next several weeks, perhaps a few months?
GRANGE: Yes, sure. I remember many deployments where you stood up and psyched up to go and accomplish a mission that you were given and then all of a sudden, it was canceled.
And it's a lot of psychological impact on the troops, because their mind-set is that they're going to go to war. They have to have that mindset so they're ready if they're told to go.
But they could be stopped and turned around on a moment's notice.
BLITZER: The whole -- also the other point that a lot of people are taking a look at right now is, when will the U.S. military be in full deployment mode if the president were to give them the order to strike? GRANGE: Wolf, I think for the -- whatever the optimum plan, the primary plan that they have and they're rehearsing, it would be probably sometime near mid- or to the end of February.
But again, if the military would have to have the capability to do something right now if they were told.
For instance, if Saddam or someone else in the region provoked a reason to do an early attack, they would have to start the attack with what they have there now. And that's key, because the military will echelon the deployment of certain capabilities just to cover that "what if" possibility.
BLITZER: If you were to speculate right now, General, based on everything you've heard, I know you've had some high level briefings over the past few days, what can our viewers anticipate over the next few weeks?
GRANGE: I think what you'll see is the continued buildup, hopefully in certain areas to disburse the troops so they're not a big target. You have a lot of amphibious buildup because, again, it's limited land mass to stage our units that would be involved in an attack.
You will continue to see mobilization of reserve and national guard, both for deployment over seas to handle the areas that the active force is deficient in, in other words, they don't have enough of that particular specialty, or for homeland defense and for defense of bases overseas at our launch sites, for instance in Europe to the Middle East. You'll continue to see that all through, I think, mid- February.
BLITZER: Clearly, the Pentagon is giving the president all the options, all the options he wants, the military options that may or may not be called on.
General Grange, thanks once again for joining us.
GRANGE: Thank you, Wolf.
BLITZER: It was this week in 1991 that the Gulf War began, exactly 12 years ago.
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 January 14, 2003 - 12:10 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Let's talk a little bit more now about the U.S. troop buildup in the Persian Gulf region.
Joining us from Chicago, our military analyst, the retired Brigadier General David Grange.
General Grange, thanks for joining us. You heard me ask John King how long U.S. military troops can sustain themselves there without necessarily going to war.
How much of a deadline, in effect, does the president have?
GEN. DAVID GRANGE (RET), U.S. ARMY: Well, the troops will not influence the deadline. They're ready to accomplish the mission and be in the area as a deterrent, as well as preparing to go to war, and also as just an influence and pressure put on Saddam to let these inspectors, to increase like they're doing, the aggressiveness of their mission.
But the troops in the region, the key is to make sure they have some type of training sustainment plan, so you can stay there a longer period of time. Because they get piqued and if they don't maintain some kind of training regime while they're deployed, then they will lose their capability over time.
BLITZER: And I assume, obviously, the top military command fully appreciates that notion.
The point, though, is can the president really turn back the clock and stop a war from unfolding over the next several weeks, perhaps a few months?
GRANGE: Yes, sure. I remember many deployments where you stood up and psyched up to go and accomplish a mission that you were given and then all of a sudden, it was canceled.
And it's a lot of psychological impact on the troops, because their mind-set is that they're going to go to war. They have to have that mindset so they're ready if they're told to go.
But they could be stopped and turned around on a moment's notice.
BLITZER: The whole -- also the other point that a lot of people are taking a look at right now is, when will the U.S. military be in full deployment mode if the president were to give them the order to strike? GRANGE: Wolf, I think for the -- whatever the optimum plan, the primary plan that they have and they're rehearsing, it would be probably sometime near mid- or to the end of February.
But again, if the military would have to have the capability to do something right now if they were told.
For instance, if Saddam or someone else in the region provoked a reason to do an early attack, they would have to start the attack with what they have there now. And that's key, because the military will echelon the deployment of certain capabilities just to cover that "what if" possibility.
BLITZER: If you were to speculate right now, General, based on everything you've heard, I know you've had some high level briefings over the past few days, what can our viewers anticipate over the next few weeks?
GRANGE: I think what you'll see is the continued buildup, hopefully in certain areas to disburse the troops so they're not a big target. You have a lot of amphibious buildup because, again, it's limited land mass to stage our units that would be involved in an attack.
You will continue to see mobilization of reserve and national guard, both for deployment over seas to handle the areas that the active force is deficient in, in other words, they don't have enough of that particular specialty, or for homeland defense and for defense of bases overseas at our launch sites, for instance in Europe to the Middle East. You'll continue to see that all through, I think, mid- February.
BLITZER: Clearly, the Pentagon is giving the president all the options, all the options he wants, the military options that may or may not be called on.
General Grange, thanks once again for joining us.
GRANGE: Thank you, Wolf.
BLITZER: It was this week in 1991 that the Gulf War began, exactly 12 years ago.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
