John LeBoutillier
Thursday, June 14, 2001

There was Pentagon correspondent David Martin announcing the decision, which was not a surprise. In fact, the Bush administration had signaled for weeks that it was leaning this way.

No, the surprise was the vehemence with which the Navy protested the decision – on television and on camera!

First, David Martin reported that the Navy was "dismayed and upset" with the move. Then he had – on national television's top-rated newscast – a uniformed admiral complaining about the decision! He said something to the effect that he could no longer report that the ships and planes and troops under his command were combat ready without the Vieques training.

The Navy has decided to take the dangerous and risky strategy of defying the Bush White House – publicly!

Even in the worst days of the Clinton assault on the Pentagon (budget cuts and gays in the military), active duty personnel were rarely seen or heard in the media expressing their views.

But the Navy – thought to be pro-Bush – has decided to "go public" with its unhappiness.

This decision borders on insubordination.

Why has this defiance come only four months into what was supposed to be a 'pro-military' administration?

A number of factors have contributed to a rapidly deteriorating relationship between the military leaders and their civilian superiors:

1) Bush repeatedly promised that "help is on the way" in last year's campaign. Yet, in fact, other than one small supplemental pay increase measure, the Bush Team has largely shunted new Pentagon needs to the proverbial 'back burner.' The Bush forces are awaiting a total Pentagon "review" before initiating any new spending.

2) Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld – in the past a savvy D.C. insider – seems to have already alienated most of the military leaders. His "Review Panels" excluded all military input! So upset were the admirals and generals over this that they went to Capitol Hill to complain. GOP senators, in turn, echoing their own unhappiness with also being kept out of the loop, threatened Rumsfeld with no confirmations of his appointments unless they and the uniformed brass were included in the review process.

3) The military brass is also furious at 'Rummy' for unilaterally canceling military-to-military contacts with the Red Chinese. Several military leaders have publicly voiced their disapproval – in the press – but not quite to the extent that they now have on Vieques.

4) Wednesday’s White House meeting that resulted in the decision to stop using Vieques was chaired by White House political mastermind Karl Rove. Clearly the brass does not appreciate a military decision being made by a "political counselor" – especially when the president is overseas and has apparently ceded his presidential authority to an un-elected and unconfirmed 'aide.'

5) Also, this White House meeting chaired by Rove took place on the very same day that Washington swirled with stories about Rove's meeting earlier this spring with executives of Intel Corporation seeking permission for a lucrative merger – while Rove held hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of Intel stock! (Rove had stalled on selling his stocks.)

For all of these factors, the state of relations today between the normally pro-Republican military and the Bush White House is at a low point.

The military brass has assessed Bush and decided that their best course of action is public insubordination.

We now have to see Bush's reaction to this near-mutiny.

Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
Bush Administration