U.S.

Gulf War General Fires At Critics

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

May 15, 2000 / 11:54 AM EDT / CBS

Retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey lashed out at author Seymour Hersh Monday morning over Hersh's charges that troops led by McCaffrey used unnecessary force in a battle with Iraqi troops after the Gulf War cease-fire.

The actions of McCaffrey's troops are questioned by several of McCaffrey's former military colleagues in a report written by Hersh in The New Yorker magazine.

One of the ex-colleagues, retired Lt. Gen. James H. Johnson Jr., is quoted as saying that "there was no need to be shooting at anybody" on March 2, 1991. "They couldn't surrender fast enough. The war was over."

"I think this thing will melt like a snowball as it's examined this week," McCaffrey told CBS News. "This is nonsense, this is revisionist history."

McCaffrey, now director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, said two of his company commanders reported they were under fire and "we obviously had to support our soldiers."

His action had the support of his commanders, Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Colin Powell, McCaffrey said, pointing out that the accusations were thoroughly examined 10 years ago and found to be without merit.

"It was clear to me as a division commander that my forces were at risk and decisive action was warranted," McCaffrey told CBS National Security Correspondent David Martin.

The magazine said that its research found there was disagreement among officers assigned to McCaffrey's mobile headquarters about whether Iraqis had attacked American forces, prompting McCaffrey's strong response. Patrick Lamar, the operations officer of McCaffrey's division, told the magazine that the initial skirmish that triggered McCaffrey's order to attack was "a giant hoax. The Iraqis were doing absolutely nothing. I told McCaffrey I was having trouble confirming the incoming" fire.

But McCaffrey insists the Iraqis fired first, which is what Battalion Commander Lt. Col. Chuck Ware told reporters at the time. "We got permission to return fire. We returned fire and we went out and captured those guys who fired at us. While we were out there their armored vehicles started firing on us," Ware said.

But Retired Lt. Gen. John J. Yeosock told Hersh "what Barry ended up doing was fighting sand dunes," and McCaffrey was "looking for a battle."

Maj. Gen. Ronald Griffith said McCaffrey "made it a battle when it was never one."

The attack ordered by McCaffrey destroyed some 700 Iraqi tanks, armored cars and trucks, The New Yorker reported.

McCaffrey said Hersh "wasn't the one watching a force spanning five miles, made up of hundreds of Iraqi tanks, trucks and armored personnel carriers face him. The Iraqis fired on U.S. forces. The Army investigations unequivocally concluded that the use of force in response was justified."

The magazine noted that there were ocasional "bitter disputes" between McCaffrey and other generals over such things as the perceived hoarding of tank and truck fuel by McCaffrey, whose division performed the famed "left hook" maneuver that blocked the retreat of Iraqi forces from the war zone in Kuwait.

McCaffrey admits the situation was confusing, but says he could not ignore the reports of incoming fire.

"Look, in the middle of the night a battalion commander felt under attack," he says. "It is crazy for anyone to argue with the front line reporting of our captains in battle."

The Army says there is no need to reopen the investigation and the White House says McCaffrey has done an outstanding job, both on the battlefield and in the war against drugs.