The military chief charged with rebuilding the Army forecasts a future of persistent conflict in which Americans will have to fight for their freedom.
The enemies won’t be nations, Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey said Tuesday night, but likely will resemble a force of some 1,300 Hezbollah fighters — a faction within Lebanon — who in 2006 took on tens of thousands of well-equipped Israelis.
“How did they do it?” Casey asked a crowd of more than 600 at a downtown Denver banquet.
They relied on an outside supplier — Iran — which provided thousands of rockets that the Hezbollah forces fired at Israeli communities, he said.
They used unmanned aerial drones to track Israeli troops. They set off roadside bombs to guide Israeli tanks into traps where they attacked with armor-piercing missiles. They nailed an Israeli ship with a missile.
They communicated in secret using encrypted computers and cellphones. And they exploited local media to put forth their views, Casey said.
After commanding armed forces in Iraq from 2004 to 2007, Casey was assigned to lead Army efforts to modernize. This is expected to cost taxpayers at least $160 billion — out of annual U.S. military spending of nearly $700 billion — growing the Army by 30,000 soldiers to a total around 547,000 and equipping them with new sensors, vehicles and weapons.
Casey spoke after accepting a Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Denver’s Josef Korbel School of International Studies.
Some military analysts argue U.S. armed forces are unraveling and broken from the strains of wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
“That’s just not true,” said Casey, who last year noted troubling trends such as a rise in Army suicides.
For example, consider the actions of Army Reserve Sgt. Scott Ruske, a Colorado resident, when he and fellow soldiers came under heavy grenade and machine-gun fire from Taliban forces in Afghanistan, Casey said.
Hit in the hip, Ruske still fired so his platoon could find protection. He spotted two Afghan National Police officers pinned down by bullets, one wounded and trying to crawl to safety, Casey said.
Ruske dashed for 100 yards under fire to the wounded policeman and dragged him to safety.
“Our people are the key,” Casey said. Their willingness to die for U.S. ideals “is what makes this country the greatest on Earth.”
Bruce Finley: 303-954-1700 or bfinley@denverpost.com
