Retired Chiefs Say Gulf War Was Unique, Warn Against Smugness
Three former U.S. military commanders from the Vietnam era said Friday that the Persian Gulf War bears little comparison to past or future military challenges and cautioned against smugness over the outcome.
“Our campaign in the Gulf was one of a kind and we should not get cocky about our success,” said retired Gen. William C. Westmoreland, 77, former Army chief of staff and longtime theater commander of the failed Vietnam campaign.
Westmoreland, retired Adm. Elmo Zumwalt and retired Air Force Gen. John Vogt appeared before the House Armed Services defense policy subcommittee.
Among the huge differences with the long, costly conflict in Southeast Asia, they noted, the Gulf War had support from the United Nations, Western and Arab allies, the Soviet Union and the American public.
And they pointed out that the coalition arrayed against Iraq had access to modern seaports and airports, open skies for its air forces, terrain that provided no place to hide and several months of preparation.
“Perhaps never again will we face a military leader as inept as Saddam Hussein,” Westmoreland said, citing an observation of the Gulf War commander, Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf.
Zumwalt, chief of naval operations from 1970 to 1974, said Hussein failed to prepare his troops ideologically. “No other way could he have been so stupid,” Zumwalt said.
Vogt and the others praised President Bush for delegating authority to Schwarzkopf and allowing the military to run the war.
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