-Caveat Lector-
WJPBR Email News List [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Peace at any cost is a Prelude to War!
Pentagon dumps Chinese berets
By Rowan Scarborough
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Gen. Eric Shinseki, the Army chief of staff, reversed policy last night
and said his soldiers will not wear any of about 618,000 black berets being
made in a low-wage factory in communist China.
Faced with mounting criticism from Congress, Deputy Defense Secretary
Paul Wolfowitz said he was directing the military to reclaim issued berets
from the troops.
"The Army chief of staff has determined the U.S. troops shall not wear
berets made in China or berets made with Chinese content," Mr. Wolfowitz said
in a statement last night. "Therefore, I direct the Army and the Defense
Logistics Agency (DLA) to take appropriate action to recall previously
distributed berets and dispose of the stock."
In another move yesterday, the Pentagon acknowledged to The Washington
Times that it had canceled contracts with three other companies for more than
1.5 million foreign-made black berets due to poor workmanship and tardy
deliveries.
A DLA spokeswoman said yesterday that the three contracts canceled on
Monday were for berets from Romania, South Africa and India. She said the
deals were terminated due to late deliveries and substandard work.
Mr. Wolfowitz´s one-sentence statement did not say why the Pentagon was
rejecting the $4 million worth of Chinese-made berets after receiving about
half of the order from the plant four months ago.
But the Army and Pentagon had been under intense criticism in Congress
-- and faced ridicule in the media -- for having part of the Army uniform
made in a country that has threatened the United States with military
strikes, has held hostage the crew of a downed U.S. reconnaissance plane, and
could one day be fighting with American troops over Taiwan.
The Army also released a statement last night saying Gen. Shinseki
intends to continue his policy, announced in October, of issuing a black
beret to virtually every soldier and will try to meet his June 14 deadline.
Mr. Wolfowitz said the soldiers would not wear berets with "Chinese
content." This means the DLA may also have to dispose of all 240,000 berets
made in Sri Lanka since they contain Chinese leather.
Adding to the anger over the beret buy is the fact the Pentagon waived a
"buy American" law and contracted for most of 4.7 million berets with
companies operating Third World factories.
The no-Chinese-beret decision came on the eve of testimony today by Gen.
Shinseki and top Pentagon officials before the House Small Business Committee.
A House Armed Services Committee report obtained by The Times charged
that the Pentagon sidestepped a key provision of the law it must meet before
awarding clothing contracts to overseas plants.
The Army´s desire to have soldiers making the symbolic uniform change by
June 14, the service´s birthday, forced the DLA to waive the "buy American"
law.
In a House floor speech before Gen. Shinseki´s order last night, Rep.
Walter B. Jones Jr., North Carolina Republican and House Armed Services
Committee member, called on the Army to terminate the entire beret program.
"The bottom line is that we have troops without adequate ammunition and
pilots who can´t fly because of a lack of funds, so why in the world would
the Army spend $23 million to change the color of a hat on the whim of one
general?" said Mr. Jones.
"The decision regarding the change from folding green hats to black
berets appears to be dying a slow death," Mr. Jones added. "The time to bring
an end to this ill-fated decision has come."
Besides the "buy American" issue, the Army caught flak from special
operations soldiers for giving the Rangers´ exclusive black beret to nearly
every soldier. Gen. Shinseki eventually compromised by authorizing Rangers to
wear tan berets, after President Bush told Defense Secretary Donald H.
Rumsfeld to review the matter.
Sen. Christopher S. Bond, Missouri Republican, said yesterday he has won
a commitment from the Pentagon that future beret replacements will be
U.S.-made.
"They have to replenish the supplies of berets repeatedly as they go
forward and they´re saying they are going to establish a network of small
business-based providers who will be offered opportunities to make
replacements," said Craig Orfield, Mr. Bond´s spokesman.
Mr. Orfield said the agreement was reached in a meeting between staffers
for the Senate Small Business Committee, which Mr. Bond heads, and two senior
officials: Lt. Gen. Henry T. Glisson, the DLA´s director, and David Oliver,
acting undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics.
The spokesman also said the two agreed that future waivers of the
federal "Berry Amendment," which requires American military uniforms to be
made in the United States, will need the undersecretary´s approval.
"Waiving the Berry Amendment is a sensitive issue that is not routine,"
Mr. Bond said. "It is a decision to be made by senior officials who answer to
the Congress. It should not be delegated to lower-level staff not fully
versed in the broader implications of such a step."
*COPYRIGHT NOTICE** In accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. Section 107,
any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use
without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest
in receiving the included information for nonprofit research and educational
purposes only.[Ref. http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ]
Want to be on our lists? Write at [EMAIL PROTECTED] for a menu of our lists!
<A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A>
DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER
=========CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic
screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are
sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.
Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.
=======================================================================Archives
Available at:
http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html
<A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of
[EMAIL PROTECTED]</A>
http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
<A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl</A>
=======================================================================To subscribe to
Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Om
