Articles
- Subject: Vieques Not Needed for Navy - Retired Admiral Declares
Date: Thu, 09 Aug 2001 23:10:49 -0700
From: Carolyn S. Scarr
Vieques Not Needed For Navy Maneuvers
by Eugene J. Carroll Jr.
Published on Friday, August 3, 2001 in Newsday
Vieques proves the old adage that the military always prepares for
the next war by re-running the last war. What else could explain the
U.S. Navy's insistence on rehearsing for amphibious assaults on the
island - whose inhabitants voted Sunday for an immediate withdrawal
of U.S. forces - in exactly the same way famous battles were won in
the Pacific during World War II? The sands of Iwo Jima ran red with
the blood of heroic Marines storming ashore, but that certainly is
not the way conflicts will be fought in the foreseeable future.
Proof of that was evident during Desert Storm in 1991. With enormous
naval superiority in the Persian Gulf and major amphibious assault
forces in position to invade Kuwait, not one Marine went ashore in
the face of Iraqi defenses.
Why? Because casualties would have been unacceptably high. Modern
defensive weaponry is capable of inflicting intolerable damage on
lightly armored amphibious warships and slow-moving waves of assault
craft; and the U.S. Navy lacks the sustained firepower today needed
to suppress defending fire. In the Pacific campaign, the Navy
employed 17 battleships plus countless cruisers and destroyers to
pound defending forces for days with heavy-caliber guns before an
assault began. There is not one heavy-caliber gun in service today.
Furthermore, more than 40 carriers were available to provide air
support before and during the assaults, and today there are only 12
carriers and 11 air wings. In short, the Navy-Marine Corps team lacks
the means to overpower defenders, and frontal amphibious assaults are
no longer feasible against modern weapons.
This is why Vieques is no longer required for fleet readiness. The
Navy should leave Vieques now - instead of waiting for the 2003
withdrawal date set by President George W. Bush.
The military should always practice operating in the same manner it
intends to fight. Now, it is neither equipped nor planning to fight
across heavily defended beaches.
This is the reason that the Marine Corps has waged a desperate battle
to acquire the V-22 Osprey aircraft. Recognizing that its historic
amphibious assault mission (which distinguishes it from the Army) is
in jeopardy, the Marine Corps considers the V-22 necessary to restore
the perception that such assaults are still feasible by avoiding
enemy defenses.
In principle, the Osprey would give Marines the capability to fly
around beach-area defenses and envelop the objective area with air-
landed troops who would then move overland to engage enemy forces.
Whether this proves feasible in the face of costly safety problems
and program delays, it does demonstrate that the Corps recognizes the
need to abandon the World War II tactics that are still being
employed on the beaches of Vieques.
As for the necessary training of pilots in the delivery of ordnance,
there is no shortage of facilities in the United States. Much better
bombing ranges than Vieques abound in California, Nevada, Idaho,
Arizona, Texas and Florida as well as overseas. These ranges permit
live fire and close air-support training far more extensive than that
available at Vieques, and in many cases instrumentation provides
precise assessment of pilot performance and precision.
In purely military terms, there is no requirement for continued
access to Vieques as a bombardment area. After being subjected for 60
years to abuse and sacrifice that no community in the United States
would have accepted, it is truly time to achieve peace for Vieques.
[Eugene J. Carroll Jr., a retired Navy rear admiral, is former vice
president of the Center for Defense Information, Washington.]
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