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American Morning

America's New War: General Clark's Perspective on Strategizing in the Region of the Former Soviet Republics

Aired September 24, 2001 - 10:50   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.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: We've been hearing an awful lot about the former Soviet Republics of Central Asia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan. The reason these have all become so crucial is because of their proximity to Afghanistan, and the folks at the Pentagon are focusing very heavily on these places as possible staging operations, staging points for any sort of military campaign, letting some diplomacy take the lead right now to see if those leaders of those countries would be amenable to that at all.

Let's bring in General Wesley Clark, former NATO supreme allied commander, who's been our military analyst all along.

Good to see you again, General Clark.

GEN. WESLEY CLARK (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Nice to see you, Miles.

O'BRIEN: All right, I know you can't see the monitor right now, but what we are talking about is a -- first of all, from Diego Garcia, which is where we might have some long-range assets placed, say B-52s, perhaps B-2s, that's a 2400 mile run. What are the pros and cons of running a mission from there?

CLARK: Well, you'll need refueling. It does take a lot of time, which means you need additional crews. But it's completely secure. You're flying over water. You've probably got some concealment. You don't have a lot of airspace issues. No force protection issues at the air base side, so it's immediately available.

O'BRIEN: Now, as far as though, using B-52s, this is not the kind of war, as it has been described thus far, which lends itself to that style of bombing, does it?

CLARK: The B-52s will carry air-launched cruise missiles, and so they're very precise and can be very effective against facilities.

O'BRIEN: All right, now, let's talk a little bit about a U.S. base in Turkey. Incirlik, a hypothetical mission which might leave from here. it's a good 1600 mile run to the border of Afghanistan, it takes planes over the former Soviet Republic of Georgia into Azerbaijan, across the Caspian Sea and then ultimately either into Turkmenistan or Uzbekistan or both, perhaps, down to Kuska as a potential forward staging area. That is a lot of airspace issues to contend with, isn't it, General Clark?

CLARK: It really is. And so it means that you probably wouldn't want to launch the strikes out of Turkey. You probably want to be closer. If you could get closer, maybe rotate forces. Or if it's a one-time or two-time operation, maybe you do just launch them and refuel en route.

O'BRIEN: All right. We should point out there's a little bit of news this morning on some of the former Soviet republics. We should point out that Ukraine today has said it -- the U.S. could use its airspace, if required. That doesn't seem to do much strategically, given its proximity to Afghanistan. And Kazakhstan has indicated it would provide some support, possibly even allowing some sort of forces on the ground.

Now, that is significant, isn't it, General Clark? Because by my reckoning, it's about a 200 mile run from the southern tip of the Kazak border into Afghanistan. That changes the complexion quite a bit, doesn't it?

CLARK: Well, it is very significant because that would be a secure area; the overnight is important, the basing might be important. And all of this is directed not only militarily, Miles, but also diplomatically and strategically to put the squeeze on the Taliban. They are increasingly isolated. They're isolated in the Islamic world. They're isolated in the Arab world, and this is the consequence of that. And they should begin to feel this.

This is the way that you bring forces together to get the maximum effect for the new kind of war. It's not about a hasty strike, it's about an effective, long term, sustained campaign.

O'BRIEN: And give us a sense in, for example, our experience with the Gulf War and your direct experience of Kosovo, having forces staged a long distance away was more manageable in the sense that there was more emphasis on an air campaign. When you talk about some sort of special operations type of mission you need forces closer in, don't you?

CLARK: You do. You need -- but the best recipe is a complete balance of forces. So you may bring some forces in from thousands of miles away, as we did in the Kosovo operation. But others are going to be very close. Your shorter range aircraft, like the helicopters, or some of the fighter, planes need to be based closer, because you really do have a fatigue problem with the pilots.

In Kosovo we had pilots flying seven and eight-hour-long missions involved two air to air refuelings; that's asking a lot day in and day out for pilots.

O'BRIEN: All right, General Wesley Clark, as always, we appreciate your insights,joining from Little Rock, Arkansas today.

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