Vieques Closing Angers Military, Hill GOP

Bush's Decision Is Criticized as an 'Outrage,' 'Betrayal' and Politically Expedient

Senior military officers said they felt betrayed and Republicans on Capitol Hill reacted furiously yesterday after President Bush said he would end bombing exercises on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques in 2003.

Rep. Bob Stump (R-Ariz.), chairman of the Armed Services Committee, was among 21 Republican House members who sent Bush a letter saying they were "gravely disappointed" with the plan and warning that it could result in sending "our troops forward less than fully combat-ready."

If the Navy pulls out of Vieques, opposition to training exercises will mount in South Korea, Okinawa and elsewhere overseas, said Rep. James V. Hansen (R-Utah), a senior committee member. "What do we tell them?" he asked at a news conference with other Republican legislators. "We won't bomb on ours, but we'll bomb on yours?"

Senior Navy and Marine officers complained that they had not been consulted and used such terms as "outrage," "sold-out" and "betrayal" in describing their reactions. Speaking with the understanding they would not be identified, flag rank officers accused the White House of acting out of political expediency regardless of the cost to military readiness.

Described by the Navy as the crown jewel of training areas, Vieques is the only place where the Atlantic Fleet practices amphibious landings backed up by aerial bombing and naval gunfire. The Pacific Fleet conducts similar exercises on an uninhabited island off the California coast. Protests against the Navy periodically have flared in Puerto Rico over the past decade and gained momentum two years ago after an errant bomb killed a security guard on the training facility.

Until the administration's sudden change of course, the Pentagon's position was that the 9,500 residents of Vieques could be persuaded to accept the training exercises and would vote to let the Navy remain in a November referendum, part of a deal worked out under the Clinton administration. Moreover, the Navy has insisted that Vieques is an irreplaceable training ground for the flotillas that are rotated through the Persian Gulf.

Bush took an entirely different view when he announced his decision yesterday during a news conference in Goteborg, Sweden.

"The Navy ought to find somewhere else to conduct its exercises, for a lot of reasons," Bush said. "One, there's been some harm done to people in the past. Secondly, these are our friends and neighbors, and they don't want us there." And, he expressed confidence that the Navy "will find another place to practice, and to be prepared to keep the peace."

Normally loyal Republicans in Congress flatly disagreed with the president.

"I've been all the way around the world to every possible, conceivable alternative site," said Sen. James M. Inhofe (R-Okla.), arguing that there is nothing to replace Vieques. "I see this as an issue that means American lives."

"I will do everything I can within my power to keep from changing the law so that we can go ahead with the November referendum," Inhofe added.

Other critics of the decision in both parties said it looked like a political favor to Hispanic voters and, in particular, to New York Gov. George E. Pataki, one of the few Republicans who lobbied to evict the Navy from the island.

A Republican official said the decision appeared to be part of Bush's effort to win over many Hispanic voters before he seeks reelection in 2004. "You don't get people voting for you who didn't in the past by not doing anything for them," the official said. "And now you have Pataki delivering for a big part of his constituency."

A White House official denied that political considerations played a part in the decision. The official said it was made quickly to quell protests planned for Monday, when the Navy begins another training exercise on the island, and to "keep more demonstrators out of harm's way."

The decision was finalized Wednesday at a White House meeting between Bush's senior adviser, Karl C. Rove, and Navy Secretary Gordon R. England. News of the move leaked that night, after England briefed lawmakers on Capitol Hill. Senior military officials said that even the Pentagon's top uniformed leadership was taken by surprise.

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld distanced himself from the controversy yesterday and offered only a tepid endorsement of the decision. Asked why he was giving up the long fight to continue training on Vieques, Rumsfeld told reporters: "That is a matter that the secretary of the Navy has been dealing with, with Deputy Secretary [Paul] Wolfowitz, and I think I'll leave that issue to them. We've got great confidence in them and the way they're handling it, and they're doing a fine job."

Pataki, who discussed Vieques with Rove during a meeting Tuesday at the White House, lobbied the administration and the Pentagon aggressively on the issue. He sat with Puerto Rico Gov. Sila Calderon during Bush's inauguration and led a delegation of state lawmakers and community leaders to Vieques in March.

Michael McKeon, Pataki's communications director, said the governor considers Vieques to be "a human rights issue -- these are American citizens who don't want to live with bombs falling in their backyard."

Among senior military officers, suspicion about Bush's intentions began to mount more than a month ago when the White House blocked the Navy from taking steps intended to win the goodwill of the island's residents and increase the chances that they would vote in November to let the Navy continue using the island.

Under the agreement reached by the Clinton administration, the Navy was to spend $40 million on public works to improve the economy and living conditions on Vieques. The Bush administration, however, has given the Navy only $6 million of the authorized funds. This left the impression that the administration had no intention of trying to win the referendum, officers said.