By Sig Christenson
February 20, 2015
Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff .
COLLEGE STATION, Texas (Tribune News Service) — The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff likened Russian aggression Thursday to a growing fire that could sweep across Eastern Europe, and warned NATO's unity was at stake
In an interview Thursday with the San Antonio-Express-News, Gen. Martin Dempsey vowed that the United States would defend three Baltic states that are NATO members if pressured in the wake of fighting in the Ukraine.
Echoing British Defense Secretary Michael Fallon, who warned earlier this week that Russian President Vladimir Putin could try to inflame ethnic divisions in Estonia, Lithuania or Latvia, Dempsey said the United States was reviewing options with its NATO allies.
The three countries joined the alliance after the Soviet Union collapsed.
"We are considering some things bilaterally, but Putin's principal aim, strategically, is to fragment the NATO alliance," he said. "And if we allow this issue to fragment the NATO alliance, then we will have actually have played into his grand strategy.
"So everything we're considering, we're considering in the context of NATO, but we are looking at options that provide both nonlethal and defensive aid."
Dempsey made his remarks before speaking at the 60th Student Conference on National Affairs at Texas A&M University.
Dempsey also hinted that an increase from the current 3,100 troops in Iraq was a possibility to help the country fight ISIS extremists.
One lawmaker, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., has argued that 10,000 troops are needed there, but Dempsey noted the campaign now envisioned by the administration doesn't call for large numbers of ground troops in a direct-combat role.
The American strategy relies on Iraqis to do the fighting and Baghdad's government becoming more inclusive. While Dempsey said "somewhat" more U.S. troops could be sent to Iraq, "I can't conceive of it going to 10,000."
"Can we do it? Sure we can. Have we done it in the past? Absolutely," said Dempsey, who led the 1st Armored Division in Iraq in 2003 and later spent two years in Baghdad leading the effort to train and equip its security forces. "And is that an option? Well, I told you before, as the senior military leader my responsibility is always to have options available when asked."
One tactical shift would be to assign close-air support teams near the battlefield. Retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Michael Longoria, 59, of Carrollton, Va., noted that would risk the capture and execution of U.S. troops. But, he added, such risks are part of military operations.
"The question is, does the accuracy of our air campaign, can it be improved and is it worth taking the operational risk, and in my judgment, the answer is yes," said Longoria, a Houston native who led close-air support teams in Afghanistan and the Iraq invasion.
The battle in Washington for a more aggressive policy is also being played out over the Ukraine, where forces there this week reeled in disarray under an onslaught by Russian-backed rebels. Retired Army Gen. Robert Scales, in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece, suggested giving Ukraine "the latest weapons technologies now" in hopes of deterring "future Russian aggression."
The weapons listed included small arms, ammunition, anti-tank ordnance and medium-range weapons — one of them the Multiple Launch Rocket System. MLRS batteries could hit such distant static targets as command-and-control facilities and quickly move to avoid being hit.
Dempsey did not go into detail on the nonlethal and defensive aid the Obama administration might provide. He said the United States would "reassure our NATO allies" that it will live up to its commitments to the alliance, including responding militarily if any member nation is attacked.
If the cease-fire in Ukraine is short-lived, the U.S. and NATO would craft a response, he said.
"Russian aggressiveness in Eastern Europe is incredibly destabilizing, and what it's done is it's lit a fire of ethnicity and nationalism that, frankly, I think, I'm not sure how far it will spread and how violently it will burn," Dempsey said.
Retired Air Force Gen. Eugene Habiger, a former head of the U.S. Strategic Command who lives in San Antonio, warned there are risks ahead in Europe.
"Whenever you start mucking around with a sovereign state like Ukraine up against a giant like Russia, you have to tread very likely because do you really want to wake the sleeping bear?" he said.
sigc@express-news.net
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