News Clips: Into the Gulf (1988)

Foreign Policy News Clips: Institute of International Studies, University of California, Berkeley

Foreign Policy News Clips: 1979-1990, edited by Harry Kreisler

1/29/88: Into the Gulf

III. Are We Ready to be There?

"But after six and a half years of expansion, Mr. Reagan's Navy has run into problems in the Persian Gulf. As much as anything, the questionable ability of they Navy to carry out its assigned missions there appears to have been behind the reluctance of the Administration to discuss events in the gulf, even after the fact, some officials indicated."

Richard Halloran, New York Times, 8/17/87, p. 6

"Each day that goes by in the Gulf leads to new reports of weaknesses in U.S. military forces.

"There are reports about divisions among planners as to how the task force should be commanded. There are reports over the delays in modernization of American mine forces. WW II minesweepers have to be deployed halfway around the world. An assault carrier breaks down on its way to the region. U.S. warplanes fire air-to-air missiles and appear to miss. The largest naval task force since Vietnam has to be sent to the gulf to deal with what so far is a very minor threat.

"Many of the resulting criticisms are individually correct. But before we accuse our entire defense Establishment of being the 'gang that couldn't shoot straight.' we need to examine our expectations, the nature of war, and what is really happening in the Persian Gulf."

Anthony H. Cordesman, Los Angeles Times, 8/25/87, p. 5

"After a recent visit, Sir Michael Howard commented that America has made a huge investment in preparation for an 'utterly improbable' nuclear war and has not concentrated sufficiently on the problems of the relatively small military encounters that are likely to occur."

Drew Middleton, New York Times, 10/17/87, p. 31

"What is the U.S. Navy doing in the Persian Gulf? The question needs to be asked in two separate ways. First, how well is the Navy carrying out U.S. policy? Second, and more important, is that policy -- based on the Carter doctrine, which pledges unilateral military action to defend the gulf -- a valid blueprint for our long-term interests?"

John Lehman, Wall Street Journal, 8/5/87, p. 9

"Here we go again. In response to the Iranian Silkworm missile attack on Kuwaiti ships flying the American flag, we've taken out an Iranian oil-drilling rig in the Persian Gulf. President Reagan called that response 'prudent yet restrained.' But what it really represents is a return to the very same military strategy that caused us so much grief in the Vietnam War."

Harry G. Summers Jr., Los Angeles Times, 10/22/87, p. 7

"Yet ever since the Iran-Iraq War began almost seven years ago, tanker traffic in the Gulf has been subjected to periodic mining, missile and gunfire attacks. Indeed, deterring such attacks was among the explicit objectives of the Reagan administration's decision to reflag Kuwaiti tankers and provide them escorts of U.S. warships. Moreover, weeks before the Bridgeton collided with a mine, Pentagon officials repeatedly warned of the threat posed to reflagged tankers by mines stealthily sown at night by Iranian speedboats operating from Farsi and other Iranian controlled islands astride the gulf's shipping lanes.

"It therefore might have been expected that modern minesweeping vessels would have been prominent among the U.S. naval flotilla assigned to protect the tankers. None were present, however when the Bridgeton entered the gulf."

Jeffrey Record, Sun, 9/4/87, p. 18B

"In the Persian Gulf today, the United States has committed the largest concentration of men and equipment overseas since the Vietnam War. Yet a look at recent American foreign military interventions, including experience thus far in the gulf, shows that neither politicians nor military leaders remember their history lessons. Specifically:

"Planners have forgotten the first rule of military operations. It goes by the acronym KISS, meaning 'Keep it simple, stupid.'
"The military has embraced a 'no fault' mentality, the refusal to accept even the possibility of serious, avoidable error. This keeps political and military leaders from honestly examining the sources of foul-ups and assigning blame in time-honored military tradition."

James Adams, Washington Post, 9/6/87, p. B1

"In the past 18 months, the Navy has deployed hundreds of antiship missiles with wiring defects that some officials fear may cause them to fail in combat. It also deployed 1,800 missiles, intended to find and destroy enemy radars, with substandard soldering and uncertain ability to withstand high heat."

Jeffrey Smith, Washington Post, 9/25/87, p. A10

"The present situation in the Persian Gulf contains all of the ingredients needed to create a new version of these old, unresolved command problems. Navy forces in the gulf are under the commander in chief of the Pacific Fleet, whose headquarters is in Hawaii. The new unified commander -- that is, the commander of all military forces in the geographic region that includes the Persian Gulf -- is based at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Fla. The Joint Chiefs of Staff is responsible for coordinating the assignment of forces to the Persian Gulf mission, even though it does not 'own' any of those forces and technically does not have any command authority over them."

Kenneth C. Jacobsen, Norfolk Virginian-Pilot, 9/6/87, p. C3

"The Pentagon is planning to reorganize the command running its Persian Gulf escort operations for the second time since convoys of oil tankers under naval protection began in July, according to Navy officials in the region and in Washington."

John H. Cushman Jr., New York Times, 12/18/87, p. 6