arch/ive/ief (2000 - 2005)

Rumsfeld, Army Chief Battle Over Arms

Tuesday May 7, 2002 7:30 AM

WASHINGTON (AP) - Army Secretary Thomas White is at loggerheads with Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld over the Pentagon chief's plan to cancel the $11 billion Crusader artillery system.

Officials close to both men, speaking on condition of anonymity, said White could be forced out, although he told aides Monday he did not intend to resign.

The outcome could be apparent as early as Tuesday, when the Army's chief investigator is due to report to Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz on the circumstances under which Army officials contacted members of Congress last week after Wolfowitz told White that Crusader would be canceled.

The allegation is that Army officials were disloyal to Wolfowitz and Rumsfeld by encouraging members of Congress to fight for Crusader, an advanced artillery system due to be fielded in 2008.

There is no evidence White knew in advance that lower-level officials responsible for liaison with Congress contacted certain members to push the Army's argument for saving Crusader, officials said Monday.

Rumsfeld aides have implied that even if White had no direct hand in making the contacts with Congress he, as the Army's top civilian official, was indirectly responsible. White told aides Monday morning that resigning was not an option, at least not before Wolfowitz got the investigation report.

In White's view, Crusader is indispensable to protecting soldiers in close combat. Aides said he gave no indication he intended to soften his stance. Rumsfeld appeared equally determined to kill Crusader, although he faces a tough battle in Congress, where there is considerable support for Crusader.

Wolfowitz informed White last Tuesday that Crusader would be canceled and that the Army should produce a report within 30 days spelling out options for spending the $475 million earmarked for Crusader in President Bush's proposed 2003 defense budget on alternative technologies.

``Some time after'' Wolfowitz did that, Army officials sent faxes and ``talking points'' to congressional offices that undermined Rumsfeld's position, Rumsfeld spokeswoman Victoria Clarke said Friday.

``When a decision has been reached, people are expected to support it,'' she added, referring to Army leaders.

White has declined to comment publicly.

For weeks White has been under political pressure as a result of contacts with Enron Corp. officials during the company's collapse last year. White had headed Enron Energy Services, a subsidiary, before he became Army secretary. White is a retired general and a decorated Vietnam veteran.

White also is under investigation by the Defense Department's inspector general for his handling of personal business matters on trips involving Army jets.

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Is it really possible that White went behind Rumsfeld's back? No one in the Bush administration says or does anything without permission. In case you don't remember, the crusade missile is made by a company owned by the carlyle group. Goerge Bush's father is a bigwing in the Carlyle group,...

But isn't a leat possiblethat Bush&co has to pretend to be against the implementation of the Crusader, so it won't look as though Bush is enriching his family, and himself-through inheritance? That they had decided to fire White anyway because of the revelations about his likely insider trading and his personal use of military aircraft, and that they offerd him a berth at the Carlyle Group after they fire him, if he'd pretend to go around their backs to concince Congress to fund the Crusader to protect jobs in their districts, so that Congress would be blamedfor funding the Crusader, not Bush?