25 February 1999
TRANSCRIPT: 2/25 GEN. SHELTON BANGKOK PRESS CONFERENCE
(Joint Chiefs Chairman reaffirms commitment to Thailand) (3340) Bangkok -- America's top military official reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to Thailand and the region during a February 25 press conference in Bangkok. General Henry Shelton, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters in the Thai capital that, "Thailand has been a very consistent supporter of the U.S. overseas presence in Asia and a very strong partner in addressing global issues." "This visit," he said, "is an opportunity for me to reaffirm the United States' commitment to Thailand and to the region." During the press conference, Shelton said the United States sought to engage China peacefully. "We all recognize that China is a regional power," he said. The United States thinks the correct approach to China at this point "is a policy of engagement, which we are doing at this time," he said. The United States does not see any major threats right now within the region, Shelton said, but for recent clashes like the one at sea between Thai and Burmese vessels, and other border disputes, the United States "would encourage, wherever possible, a peaceful resolution of those border issues or water/sea issues in a friendly manner." Answering a question on landmines in Cambodia, Shelton took the opportunity to tout the extensive U.S. demining operation worldwide. "We lead the world; we put more money into de-mining operations than all the other nations put together. And we don't say that from a boastful standpoint but to say that we really feel like that we are putting our heart and soul along with our money and resources into trying to help nations who want to get rid of mines," he said. "Cambodia is one of those nations." Shelton noted that relief operations in the wake of Hurricane Mitch has temporarily diverted some of the funds earmarked for demining operations, but expected Congress would soon replenish those funds. Following is the official transcript of the press conference: (begin transcript) PRESS CONFERENCE WITH GENERAL HENRY SHELTON CHAIRMAN OF JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 1999 BANGKOK, THAILAND VIRGINIA FARRIS, PAO USIS BANGKOK: Welcome to the press conference with General Henry Shelton who is the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in the United States. He is the principle military advisor to the President, to the Secretary of Defense and to the National Security Council. He has held that position since October 1, 1997. Prior to that, he was Commander in Chief of US Special Operations Command and has had a very distinguished career over the last 35 years within the US military. He has done tours in Vietnam and also in Hawaii and various places in the United States. He also had the role of heading the joint task force that conducted an operation in Haiti. He is completing a trip that he has made to go through several countries within the Middle East and just arrived last night. He will be heading back to the United States tomorrow morning. So with that, I think General Shelton will start with a brief statement and after that we will open up for questions and answers. We would ask that those of you who are raising questions to please give your name and also identify the organization that you represent. General Shelton... SHELTON: Thank you very much. It is a great pleasure to be back in Thailand as the guest of my counterpart and gracious host, General Mongkon. We have, in the past, met several times in Washington but I greatly appreciate his invitation and the opportunity to once again visit this wonderful country and enjoy the hospitality of the Thai people. This has been a very special morning for me -- first, the opportunity to meet with and hold substantive discussions with General Mongkon about the superb relationship between our nations and our two great armed forces. Then, a meeting with His Excellency Prime Minister Chuan, who presented me with the "Knight Grand Cross of the Most Noble Order of the Crown of Thailand." I am deeply honored and grateful to receive this very important recognition on behalf of the men and women of the United States Armed Forces. The United States places the highest value on our close and dynamic defense relationships that we share with Thailand and with their armed forces. I am very impressed with the Thai military's professionalism and their work in strengthening democratic institutions. Thailand, of course, is a very valued ally for the United States, a treaty partner, and one of the pillars of regional stability. I look forward to forging even stronger links in the chains that bound our two great nations and have bound us for more than half a century. This visit is an opportunity for me to reaffirm the United States' commitment to Thailand and to the region. Thailand, of course, has been a very consistent supporter of the US overseas presence in Asia and a very strong partner in addressing global issues. We cooperate over a broad range of concerns from joint exercises to counter-narcotics to anti-piracy. It is a very special occasion and privilege for my wife, Carolyn, and me have the opportunity to visit and to be here among friends. With that, I'll be happy to take your questions. Q: Washington Times: What is the perception in Washington about the potential threat of China in the future in terms of regional security? SHELTON: I think that we all recognize that China is a regional power. We think the correct approach to China at this point is a policy of engagement which we are doing at this time. I think it is perfectly natural for countries within the region to engage in and develop cooperative, bilateral relationships with China and to use the occasion of these visits to foster better relationships between countries. Q: VOA: General, Baghdad has complained that the latest raid actually took place outside the no-fly zone, in fact was on the outskirts of Baghdad and is calling it a grave escalation. Do you have any comment on that? SHELTON: Yes, first of all, let me say that anything coming out of Baghdad, I think should be questioned in terms of its veracity since we have seen very little of the truth come from Iraq in recent years. But I think that the United Nations, and indeed the international community in general, have made it very clear that Iraq must comply with the United Nations Security Council resolutions, that it must end its pursuit of weapons of mass destruction and that it must comply with, for example, the no-fly zone and the no-drive zone. That ties into United States' policy of containment and continued enforcement of United Nations' resolutions and we intend to continue to do that, both the no-fly zone as well as containing them in terms of maritime interdiction operations. Actions by our coalition aircraft that are in there are taken in self defense, in response to Saddam's acts of provocation, his aggressive acts. As you know, he declared that the no-fly zone would be null and void and consequently has, in recent days, decided to both violate the no-fly zone as well as to fire his anti-aircraft artillery, his surface-to-air missiles and light up our aircraft with radar, which are an offensive action within itself. We subsequently engaged each time that he has made those violations and will continue to do so. We will continue to enforce the no-fly zone. We operate only up to the 33rd parallel, which is basically the boundary for the southern no-fly zone, and we do not go south of the 36th. We have not, and at this point do not intend to do that as an enforcement mechanism. So the report he is running is erroneous. We have not gone across the 33rd nor south of the 36th. Q: (inaudible) My question is what exactly would you say is the US threat perception in this specific region and I was wondering if you would comment on... SHELTON: I missed that part of the question. Q: I'm sorry. What exactly would you view as the US threat perception in this region? The second part of the question is how would you view the recent clash between the Burmese Navy and the Thai Navy and what exactly is the US take on that? SHELTON: I think from a threat perception standpoint United States does not see any major threats right now within the region. We think that there are always bilateral issues that are ongoing such as the one you mentioned. We certainly would encourage, wherever possible, a peaceful resolution of those border issues or water/sea issues in a friendly manner. We think that engaging and the contacts between nations is one way of approaching that. Certainly our military to military contacts that we have, we and the Thai nation have, are designed to address those types of issues and lessen the tension, reduce the threat, and work these rather than letting them get out of control. Q: AP: General, can you tell us if you have any word on the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden and whether it is true that the US Armed Forces are getting ready to strike on his bases and that's what made him flee, if indeed he fled, Afghanistan? SHELTON: I didn't get the last part of your question. Q: AP: Did he flee Afghanistan, do you know? And, if so, was it because of imminent threat of action by US forces as has been reported? SHELTON: We are quite concerned about the threats that have been made by Osama bin Laden and his organization, which of course, is an extensive organization. It is the fatwa that he declared a couple of years ago against the United States has remained a reason of concern and as we have said, if given the opportunity, we will do whatever we can to dismantle his organization or to go after threats. I think the international community in general has declared terrorism as a crime, something that has to be a serious concern to all law-abiding and peace-loving nations because it is a threat against us all. For example, the Osama bin Laden organization that went after the US Embassies in Nairobi as well as Tanzania just showed what an indiscriminant weapon terrorism is because not only did he kill Americans, he killed considerably more people of other nationalities, other religions, other races. And so it is a threat to us all and we feel like we need to be watchful, mindful of that organization and take necessary action whenever we can. In terms of whether or not he may have fled and whether or not as a result of our pursuit of him, is something I cannot comment on right now but I would just say that we will continue to watch and be mindful of what his intentions are and pursue whatever action we feel is appropriate at the time. Q: So, for example, you are not ruling out a bombing raid on Kandahar as we've seen in the press, and might be planning to send rockets to Kandahar and Afghanistan? SHELTON: I haven't seen any reports of that type but as I said, Osama bin Laden, wherever he is, as far as we're concerned is a terrorist and should be dealt with by the international community, which includes the United States, as appropriate. Q: Which means you're not ruling out a bombing raid on Kandahar. SHELTON: We will deal with him in whatever means we feel are appropriate. Q: VOA: Sir, soldiers now, in the American Armed Forces, seem more to be keeping forces apart rather than fighting in the traditional role, that is the experience in Bosnia and the prospect that there may be peacekeepers in Kosovo. What is being done on an institutional level to change the way that, in a training doctrine sense, to deal with this change of operating for American Forces? SHELTON: Thank you. First and foremost, we have to keep reminding ourselves to make sure everyone understands what the real purpose of anyone's armed forces are. And those are when required, to fight and win the nation's wars. That is what the military is all about. But we also have many other areas that we in fact, can contribute to peace and stability. We talked about engagement, this morning, we do that in a lot of ways, through exercises and through military education and training and through peace keeping and humanitarian assistance and disaster relief and even as we speak we are attempting to respond to the terrible tragedy with the recent avalanches by providing some assistance there. But in the peace keeping arena since about the early 90s, starting back with the Somalia followed by Haiti, etc., we have in fact, recognized as an institution that there is some special training that is required to allow you to be most effective when you first engage in peace keeping or peace enforcement. But we don't need to train all of our forces right down to the young enlisted or young officers level to the same degree that we do to our mid-level NCOs and officers because we've got great troops in the case, and I'll speak for the United States, where you have a well-trained and disciplined army who carry out whatever instructions they are given. The real change in the dynamics occurs in terms of organization and ability to carry out the mission at the NCO and the officer level and specifically up at the senior officer level where you are setting up the operation, where you're fusing with the Country Team in a particular nation and working with the leadership of the host nation in many cases to carry out these operations. And so we have included training of this type in our professional military education at what we call the TRADOC, the level of schooling for both our NCOs and our officers to show them the types of things that need to be done. We also have given them greater training, for example, in how to work with the Country Team, the non-governmental organizations and other governmental organizations, taught them more about what the structures of these organizations are like so that we can better assist and better organize and carry out the operation than we would have been able to do in the past, I think. I think that is a very important aspect of what we do. But we also need to make sure that in our training that we keep our focus with the young soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines on carrying out their wartime missions, which are in fact the most difficult and must be done in all kinds of conditions -- day, night, cold weather, hot weather, etc. So we have a full plate in terms of staying trained and ready and we can't divert too much of that into what can be carried out by well trained and disciplined troops. Q: Are you prepared to go into Kosovo now, if you need to be there on short notice? SHELTON: Yes, we would be, as a matter of fact. And if required to provide a ground force if the President commits us to doing that, then we, in fact, would look at a unit for example that has just completed a rather exhaustive training -- granted that training oriented on being trained and ready as a disciplined warfighting force which is what we want to send in until they get sorted out -- but the leadership also been trained in peace keeping and peace enforcement. Q: Kyodo: Would you give me some idea what you have planned or have anything to do with the landmines in Cambodia now? SHELTON: Yes, first of all let me take this opportunity to say that the United States has been quite concerned about landmines for many, many years. In fact, about four years ago we started to unilaterally destroy all of what we call the "dumb" landmines in our inventory, long before the Ottawa Treaty came along. And we have continued with that destruction. We are nearing the completion of destroying all of those. We also have had for a number of years now, a very comprehensive de-mining operation going on. In fact, last year we were in 14 different nations carrying out (these operations). We lead the world; we put more money into de-mining operations than all the other nations put together. And we don't say that from a boastful standpoint but to say that we really feel like that we are putting our heart and soul along with our money and resources into trying to help nations who want to get rid of mines. Cambodia is one of those nations. We, in fact, have had an extensive operation training there and of course we go in with equipment and train the de-miners, train people how to do this using normally our Special Operations Forces to teach the de-mining training and then allow them to go out and carry out their de-mining operations. We've done that with Cambodia along with 13 other nations and are looking forward to doing the same thing here in Thailand. And Thailand, in fact, will also be assisting Cambodia, as I understand it. But this will be kind of a regional program. Q: The demining program in Cambodia and Thailand now needs more money. Does the United States have any plan to add more budget to that? SHELTON: More money, yes. We are right now have been through a little bit of the dilemma in the United States because as you know there was a terrible hurricane that went through Central America about three months ago as I recall, maybe four months ago. Really very destructive in four nations down there who had millions of people left homeless. It wiped out hundreds of bridges, wiped out the lines of communications, etc. We very quickly moved, in fact, were on the scene just as soon as the weather cleared to start trying to bring relief to that storm-ravaged land. Consequently, a lot of the money that I had available to me, all of the money that I had available to me as an initiative along with the funds that were in the de-mining account were temporarily diverted to allow us to fund that under the law, to fund the relief effort. And then we go to Congress to get the money put back in to the accounts that we use for de-mining as well as the Chairman's initiative funds. So Secretary Cohen and I testified before Congress a few weeks ago. We were anticipating the supplemental, that would replenish that money so we can get it back up and running full speed, should be coming very soon in the Congressional supplemental. It is a temporary issue right now, not a permanent. Q: VOA: Just one more question on Kosovo. Are you prepared for air strikes should they be necessary? Do you think air strikes will still be necessary on the Serbs at this time? SHELTON: Well I think as everyone has said all along, the desirable outcome for Kosovo is a political settlement. Force should always be the tool of last use. We will try political, economic and military - all tools that can be used. But force should be the last military solution. But I think it has been made very clear that both sides need to come to a political settlement and if the Kosovars, the Kosovo Liberation Army, the UCK agree to the settlement, then Milosevic needs to agree to the settlement. I think it has been made very clear by everyone, by NATO, that if unless the Serbs sign up with that then they will still be subject to being struck. Thank you. (end transcript)
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