“Because of his work during the Carter Administration, Dr. Perry is known as the ‘Father of Stealth.’ If that’s true, it’s my job to make sure he keeps up his child-support payments.”
Gen. Merrill A. McPeak, Air Force Chief of Staff, referring to Defense Secretary William J. Perry at an AFA symposium in Florida, February 18, 1994. Perry, DoD’s top weapons official in 197781, initiated the F-117 fighter, the B-2 bomber, and other stealth projects.
More Peace in Our Time “I have seen us adopt a policy of accommodation that borders on appeasement, which has had predictable results. In return for asking the North Koreans to comply with a treaty, which they signed, . . . we have offered them economic aid, we have offered to cancel the military exercises [that] have been an annual event for the last forty years, and we have also dangled other carrots. . . . The result has been . . . more and more intransigence on the part of the North Korean government . . . leading us closer and closer to a confrontation.”
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), in a February 2, 1994, Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the nomination of William J. Perry to be Secretary of Defense.
Under the UN Flag
“I think we ought to make sure that we judge those things on a case-by-case basis. . . . I can well imagine that there will be United Nations operations . . . where we can all, with a great deal of confidence, say that the command and control arrangement is robust enough, the rules of engagement are proper. . . . There are other cases where I would obviously have to say no.”
Gen. John Shalikashvili, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, at a December 14, 1993, press conference explaining how to decide when US forces should participate in UN operations.
No Further Cuts “Last year, I proposed a defense plan that maintains our postCold War security at a lower cost. This year, many people urged me to cut our defense spending further to pay for other government programs. I said no. The budget I send to Congress draws the line against further defense cuts. It protects the readiness and quality of our forces. Ultimately, the best strategy is to do that. We must not cut defense further.”
President Bill Clinton, in a January 25, 1994, speech to Congress on the State of the Union.
Look Over Here “We normally think of Russia as being a European power. However, in the Far East Military District, they have over 300,000 personnel and almost four times the number of airplanes that I do. And all of those are third and fourth generation. You wondered what happened to all those Soviet airplanes that came out of the eastern European countries. Most of them showed up in the Far East Military District.”
Gen. Robert L. Rutherford, commander in chief, Pacific Air Forces, in February 17, 1994, remarks at an AFA symposium in Florida.
Wish I Had Been There “It is very difficult to understand the [Persian] Gulf War unless you have some perspective on air and space operations, . . . which is not available to us. . . .
“I don’t always find that [the Gulf War] receives the historical, honest perspective that it should. In fact, it tends to be a gold mine that people go to to extract particular points they want to make and then justify, based on that war. In fact, I go to briefing after briefing from my own space people who tell me how they won the Gulf War. . . . I sit there and smile and say, ‘Thank you very much. I appreciate that.’ “
Gen. Charles A. Horner, commander in chief, US Space Command, and commander of coalition air forces during Operation Desert Storm, in an October 1, 1993, presentation to the Royal United Services Institute for Defence Studies in Britain.
State’s Top Priority “Top priority for everybody are our commitments on population. . . . The world population is currently 5.5 billion. If we do nothing, [it] will double again some time in the next thirty-five to forty years. . . . [This] is unfathomable and clearly does not allow us . . . to maintain the quality of life or respect for the individuals that are fundamental to what we believe in the United States, nor would it allow us to maintain an environment with any integrity whatsoever or to conserve what many would call God’s creation.”
Tim Wirth, counselor for the Department of State, in January 11, 1994, remarks on the Administration’s highest priority “global issues.”
The World as Minefield “[An] estimated 85 million land mines [are] scattered around the world as a result of [regional or civil] conflicts. Land mines now cause 150 casualties each week, or 7,800 yearly, almost exclusively among civilians. . . . Many of these conflicts have deliberately targeted civilian populations. . . .In Cambodia, for example, there have been 30,000 to 60,000 land mine casualties. . . . In Mozambique . . . more than 520 people are killed or maimed each year.”
Department of Defense statement, December 21, 1993, outlining new international efforts to establish a moratorium on the export of land mines and to deal with those already in place.