Smith, who lives in Pinehurst, said that the United States’ success in Iraq can be credited to a transformation in which military leaders think differently today and are making an intellectual application of new knowledge.
“From top to bottom, our military people have proven themselves,” Smith said. “They have represented this country magnificently. Ain’t it great to be an American?”
Smith said he could not imagine a more exciting scene than the one played repeatedly on television Wednesday night — the symbolic removal of Saddam Hussein from power through the toppling of his statue in Baghdad.
“He was effectively beheaded,” he said. “We were seen as liberators. To those overseas who doubted us, this should vindicate our gutsy president and the gutsy British Prime Minister Tony Blair.”
Smith admitted that it would be difficult to restrain oneself from saying “I told you so” to critics abroad and at home. He likened the situation in Baghdad to the fall of the Berlin Wall and the breakup of the Soviet Union.
“Once the scent of liberty is sniffed, how rapidly things can change,” he said.
Smith warned that there are dangerous days ahead. He warned of pockets of resistance, strength still remaining with the fading Republican Guard and the presence of suicide bombers.
“There are some mean dudes up there. I’ve seen them,” he said.
Enormous Task
The first task facing the allied forces is establishing law and order in a country where the regime has changed and the old order is falling apart, he said. Anarchy, he said, is the worst thing that could follow the war.
Next, humanitarian needs must be met, and this should be done promptly. He said it is also essential that the infrastructure be restored as soon as possible. This means the restoration of power and water.
Smith said history has proved that more people die of thirst than of hunger and more die of measles in refugee camps than from other causes.
“You have to make order out of chaos,” he said.
Smith said Gen. Jay Garner, who will head the reconstruction effort, faces an enormous task. He does not envy his friend.
Smith had similar experiences in Bosnia and Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, and knows first hand how difficult it is to restore an orderly government. He said the Iraq situation would be far more difficult.
“It took a lot of energy and time and was by no means easy,” he said of his work in Bosnia and Sarajevo.
The euphoria presently experienced will not last, he warned.
Military Transformation
The military transformation Smith described actually had its beginning when U.S. troops went to Afghanistan, despite repeated warnings that we were destined for a quagmire from a geographical and political standpoint. The nation was warned about the Russian experience, which was a total failure.
“We did it differently,” he said. “We used air power as effectively as anyone can remember.”
By comparison, the forces would use four aircraft to aim at one target in Vietnam.
For the Afghanistan effort, the closest airfield was 700 miles away on a naval aircraft carrier. Eighty percent of the weapons were precision-guided and more than 80 percent hit the target.
Out of that was developed the “rapid dominance” technique that integrated political and military tactics to apply lethal and nonlethal force to “shock and awe,” he said.
In the case of Iraq, the goal was liberation of the Iraqis by removal of the regime.
“An example was the lethal kinetic effects that occurred a couple of nights ago,” he said. “It would have shocked and awed them to death.”
What occurred Wednesday night was a case of velocity over mass with the risk of entering from the south because Turkey would not permit entry from the north. In such cases, he said that the military must be prepared to change plans as the situation dictates.
The latest tale, he said, is that the Iraqi minister of information has been hired to serve as Bill Clinton’s “spin doctor.” The Iraqi official became a source of humor early in the week when he continuously reported a victory for Iraqi military forces.
Smith remained to answer questions from his audience.
On the subject of United Nations and NATO participation in the post-Saddam era, Smith said that the UN could help with humanitarian services but has too unwieldy a bureaucracy to be effective for administration. He thinks NATO will recover but will want the United States to remain a member because it needs the United States.
Smith said it would take longer to heal the schism with France.
As for critics in this country, he said many retired military leaders who criticized the battle plan were proven wrong.
“If you don’t believe in the way things go down, you are obligated as an American to express your objections,” he said. “But once things get started, either be a cheerleader or keep your mouth shut.”
Smith said he worked closely with Secretary of State Colin Powell when he was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the first Gulf War and with Vice President Dick Cheney, who was secretary of defense at the time, as well as with other leaders in the first Bush administration.
“I know them well enough to believe that if they thought this was not the thing to do, any one of them would have walked away,” he said.
‘Sir Snuffy’
Asked if it was true that he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth, Smith said it was true. He said an elderly aunt didn’t like his nickname “Snuffy” but did refer to him as “Sir Snuffy” after he was knighted.
Smith said the nickname dated to his youth growing up in Alabama and was based on the character in the old Barney Google comic strip.
“I haven’t been able to get rid of it,” he said.
Smith, a 1962 graduate of the Naval Academy, was an aviator who flew carrier-based light attack jet aircraft during multiple deployments to the Mediterranean, North Atlantic, western Pacific and Indian oceans. These included three cruises in waters off North Vietnam, where he flew more than 280 combat missions.
Smith has logged more than 4,200 flying hours and 1,000 carrier-arrested landings.
He was commander in chief of U.S. Naval Forces Europe and commander in chief of Allied Forces Southern Europe from 1994 until 1996. In December of 1995 he assumed, concurrently, command of the NATO-led Implementation Force in Bosnia. He held the latter position until August 1996.
His decorations include two Defense Distinguished Service Medals, the Navy Distinguished Service Medal, three Legion of Merits, two Distinguished Flying Crosses, two Meritorious Service Medals, and 29 Air Medals. He has been honored by France and Hungary, and in 1997 he was granted a private audience with the queen, who conferred upon him the title of Honorary Knight of the British Empire.
Smith retired in 1996 and now serves as a senior fellow at the Center for Naval Analysis and is also president of Leighton Smith Associates and vice president of Global Perspectives Inc., both international consulting firms. He chairs the Board of Trustees of the U.S. Naval Academy Alumni Association and the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation.
At the close of his address, club president Lee Settle presented Smith with the “Edmunds cap,” named in honor of club member Dave Edmunds, who came up with the idea of giving informal caps to speakers. The meeting was held at the Country Club of North Carolina.
