-Caveat Lector- -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Pentagon Blocks Apache Use in Kosovo Date: 17 May 1999 07:44:15 -0000 From: Activist Mailing List <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: Activist Mailing List <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Activist Mailing List - http://get.to/activist NY Times May 16, 1999 MILITARY STRATEGY ______________________________________________________________ By MICHAEL R. GORDON with ERIC SCHMITT B RUSSELS -- In a behind-the-scenes struggle over military strategy and tactics, the Pentagon is blocking a plan by the NATO commander, Gen. Wesley K. Clark, to send Apache helicopters into combat against Serbian troops, Pentagon and NATO officials say. Seeking to increase allied firepower, General Clark has pressed the United States to authorize the final combat preparations for the helicopters, which are part of a United States Army ground force in Albania. Although 24 of them, along with their accompanying Army rockets and artillery, have already been deployed, the Pentagon has balked, fearing that the mission is too risky. The dispute adds a new strain to the alliance's seven-week-old air campaign. NATO's generals have often found themselves hemmed in by political constraints. The resistance this time, though, is not coming from allied diplomats. It is coming from the Army leadership at the Pentagon, Defense Secretary William S. Cohen and Gen. Henry H. Shelton, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. "The issue is that Clark is being aggressive, and there is some resistance to doing what he wants to do," a senior American official said. The Apache is the Army's premier tank-killing weapon. It can fly low, at night and in bad weather, and is equipped with a sophisticated infrared system that generates images from the heat of its targets. It is armed with laser-guided Hellfire antitank missiles and 30-millimeter guns. Since General Clark first requested them 48 hours after NATO's air strikes began on March 24, the Apaches have been a particularly sensitive matter for the Clinton Administration, which has been reluctant to use combat troops in Kosovo. It took weeks for Washington to agree to General Clark's request to deploy the Apaches. Then it took weeks more to lug the men and supplies for the helicopters and the Army units that accompanied them to Albania. Further, Washington only agreed to send the Apaches and rockets on the condition that they not be used in combat without the formal approval of President Clinton. That approval, which Apache commanders expected by early May, has yet to take place, largely because top Pentagon officials have refused to recommend such a step to the White House, fearing the possible domestic and international consequences if the missions fail. Nor are the Apaches allowed to conduct "live fire" exercises without the Clinton Administration's consent. Such exercises, in which the helicopters fire their guns and missiles, are an essential prerequisite for employing them in combat. American officials have pledged to give General Clark whatever weaponry he says he needs to wage the air war. Pentagon officials still recall Defense Secretary Les Aspin's fateful decision in 1993 to turn down the military's request for tanks and AC-130 gunships in Somalia, a judgment that cost Aspin his job after 18 Army soldiers were killed. But General Clark wants to conduct the "live fire" test by shooting at targets in Kosovo, and he still has not received permission to do so. Two of the helicopters have already crashed during training missions, killing two pilots. "There was no concept of using the Apaches just as a feint," a NATO official said. "General Clark would not have asked for them if he did not have every intention to use them. The Serbs are using helicopters against civilians in Kosovo. Why can't we use helicopters against the Serbs?" General Clark flew to Albania Saturday to meet with the Task Force commanders and review their tactics and preparations. He declined to be interviewed about the Apaches. General Shelton indicated this week that the Pentagon was concerned about the risks and complexity the operation. "This is a relatively complicated operation, very similar to running any other type of air operation, same types of resources required in terms of electronic warfare, support aircraft, the suppression fire that has to be in place," he told the Senate Appropriations Committee. "And all this has to be rehearsed, and then you weigh the risk versus the gain." The 24 Apaches are part of Task Force Hawk, a 5,000 Army soldier unit in Albania, which also includes surface-to-surface rockets, artillery, Bradley Fighting Vehicles and M1-A1 tanks. The task force is under the overall command of Lieut. Gen. John Walker Hendrix, who also serves as commander of the United States Army's V Corps in Germany. It is very unusual for such a high-ranking officer to head up such a small task force, and his appointment reflects the United States' anxiety over the operation. The Apache squadron is commanded by Brig. Gen. Richard A. Cody, one of the Army's most respected helicopter officers. One of General Cody's most notable exploits took place in 1991, when he led Task Force Normandy, the Apache helicopter unit that fired the opening shots of the Persian Gulf war. The Apaches blasted two clusters of Iraqi early-warning radars, firing Hellfire missiles and 30-millimeter guns. But the mission in Kosovo is far more complex and dangerous. Serbian troops are armed with SA-7 shoulder-fired missiles, antiaircraft artillery and SAM surface-to-air missiles, which pose a major threat to the helicopters. "It's a very tough mission that they're being asked to perform," Cohen told reporters on Wednesday. "It's very harsh terrain under very difficult circumstances. These Apaches and their training requires great skill and a full training measure before they are actually employed." Still, Task Force Hawk has been developing the tactics to take on the Yugoslav military. First, the task force would blast a path through the Serbian air defenses, using Atacms rockets, which have a range of about 100 miles and rain down as many as 950 deadly bomblets per rocket. Barrages of MLRS rockets, which have a range of 18 miles, would also be fired. Each rocket carries nearly 700 armor-piercing fragmentation bomblets. Then the Apaches would attack, hugging the earth and popping up to attack Serbian troops and armored vehicles. To provide themselves an additional measure of protection, they would attack at night. When General Clark briefed allied ambassadors on the air campaign at a closed-door meeting on Tuesday evening, several diplomats asked why the Apaches they had heard so much about were not fighting in Kosovo, according to two diplomats who were present. None expressed concern about using the weapons. General Clark replied that the helicopters needed to conduct "live fire" exercises. The NATO commander did not say that it was the Pentagon that was holding up those exercises. A major Pentagon concern is that the mission is too risky. As long as the weather is good, NATO should rely on attacks from combat planes that bomb from high altitude, they say. "The Army's concern is that this is a very dangerous mission," a Pentagon official said. "The avenues into Kosovo are limited, and the opportunity for shoulder-held weapons is very real. We have to really have all our act together. No one thinks the mission can't be done, but in an age when the American people believe we're in a zero-defects war, there's real apprehension we're going to bring solders back in body bags." NATO officials said that if attacks deep into Kosovo are too dangerous, the Apaches could still be used to attack Serbian forces during one of their regular incursions into Albania. Or the Apaches could fire at Serbian troops just across the border while hovering over Albania. Another Pentagon objection pertains to barrages of rockets and artillery that would precede the Apache attacks. While the rockets would be aimed at air defenses, there are no NATO ground troops in Kosovo to direct the fire, raising the prospect of civilian casualties. NATO officials said, though, that the risk might be minimized by using unmanned reconnaissance drones. A final Pentagon argument is that launching Apache and surface-to-surface rocket attacks against Serbian forces might prompt the Yugoslav military to retaliate. "If you begin attacks with Apaches out of Albania with artillery fire, you're escalating the conflict and inviting the V. J. to come across the border," said a Pentagon official, using the acronym for the Yugoslav military. "They're not just going to take that kind of beating and sit still. That's at the top of the issue list here and at the State Department." NATO officials say that Serbian troops are already attacking across the border and that the risk of a major division-level attack is overstated. They assert that real concern of United States Army officers at the Pentagon is to avoid being drawn into the fighting. "The Serbs are already attacking into Albania," a NATO official said. "We are passed that point. It does appear that the Air Force is prepared to accept more risk than the Army." While it is unclear if the Apaches will ever be used, NATO is already using the helicopter threat as part of its psychological operations against the Serbian military. NATO leaflets dropped in Kosovo warn Serbian troops that the alliance will relentlessly attack them from every direction if they stay in Kosovo. Showing a fearsome picture of an Apache swooping down on a tank, the leaflets warn: "Don't Wait For Me." JOIN THE ACTIVIST MAILING LIST To subscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED] __________________________________________________________________ * The Activist * http://get.to/activist This is not about the world that we inherited from our forefathers, It is about the world we have borrowed from our children !! __________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Start Your Own FREE Email List at http://www.listbot.com/ DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance�not soapboxing! 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