-Caveat Lector-
http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20020222-2416724.htm
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Peace at any cost is a Prelude to War!
Inside the Ring
Bill Gertz and Rowan Scarborough
Notes from the Pentagon.
China missile sale
China's military delivered a shipment of naval anti-aircraft missiles to
Iran, according to U.S. intelligence officials.
The missile shipment took place in January and is a sign Beijing
continues to be a major supplier to states President Bush identified as an
"axis of evil."
The missiles were identified as HQ-7 surface-to-air missiles with a
range of up to 8 nautical miles. The missile is a reverse-engineered version
of France's Crotale missile system. It travels at twice the speed of sound.
It includes advanced guidance and control systems, including infrared and
television tracking.
The missile sale did not violate China's 1998 pledge made to the United
States that it would halt sales of C-801 and C-802 anti-ship cruise missiles
to Iran.
China's missile sales to Pakistan were raised in talks in Beijing
between U.S. and Chinese officials as part of the summit between President
Bush and Chinese President Jiang Zemin.
No agreement was reached on curbing Chinese arms sales at the talks. The
Chinese have not followed through with a pledge to impose new export controls
on its state-run arms makers.
The Bush administration imposed sanctions on China twice in the past six
months for sales of missile goods to Pakistan, and chemical and biological
weapons components to Iran. A CIA report made public last month stated:
"China is a primary supplier of advanced conventional weapons to Pakistan and
Iran, among others."
Supplemental
The Pentagon and the White House budget office this week are negotiating
the size of a current-year emergency-spending bill to pay for the ongoing war
on terrorism.
The Pentagon had drawn up requests for $20 billion. It has now whittled
the package down to $16 billion. But the White House does not want to exceed
$10 billion, defense sources say, to keep the projected deficit as small as
possible.
President Bush is proposing to fund next year's emergency defense bill
upfront in the pending fiscal 2003 Pentagon budget. But Capitol Hill sources
say it is unlikely lawmakers will give the Pentagon a blank check. Instead,
the money will be earmarked for big-ticket items, such as ships and aircraft.
Shipbuilding advocates want part of that $10 billion to fund three new
ships: a destroyer, an amphibious assault ship and a Virginia-class submarine.
Team player
Administration sources say the most intense opposition to President
Bush's "axis of evil" speech didn't come from overseas. It came from career
diplomats inside his own State Department.
Insiders say the opposition was so widespread Secretary of State Colin
L. Powell had to put out the word to his employees to be team players.
Mr. Powell himself has become more of a team player in recent weeks when
it comes to policy against Iraq. In a National Security Council dominated by
hawks like Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and Vice President Richard B.
Cheney, Mr. Powell was a lone voice of restraint. He once disputed in public
the views of Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, an ardent hawk on Iraq.
Taiwan diesel subs
The Bush administration in April promised to sell Taiwan up to eight
diesel submarines to bolster the island's coastal defenses against a major
Chinese naval and missile buildup.
Almost a year later, the Pentagon is still figuring out how to do it.
The United States last built a diesel-electric submarine in 1958. Efforts to
build the submarines with a design or hull produced by other nations also
have not panned out, because of pressure from Beijing to block the sales.
Now word has reached us that there is opposition to the submarine deal
from an unlikely source: the U.S. Navy. Submariners are quietly lobbying
against opening production of diesel submarines. They fear that once the
Pentagon gets back into the diesel-submarine business, it will make it harder
to get Congress to fund construction of big-ticket nuclear-powered submarines.
"The Navy is very, very nervous," said one person close to the Pentagon.
The reason is simple. The Navy can build four very quiet diesel-electric
submarines for the cost of one new Virginia-class submarine.
Another option being considered for the Taiwan submarine deal is to
refurbish old diesel submarines with new equipment, although that option is
not favored by Taipei.
Taiwan is said to favor building diesel submarines with U.S. help and
eventually building its own. Talks on the Taiwan submarine deal are set for
next month.
Visiting hours
The Pentagon has settled on strict visitation rules for the 300 or so al
Qaeda and Taliban prisoners being held at the U.S. Naval Base, Guantanamo
Bay, Cuba.
Visitors are restricted to clergy, as well as FBI interrogators for
criminal investigative matters, and CIA and Pentagon officials for
intelligence collection. No nongovernmental organizations may visit, except
the International Red Cross.
The interrogators have had mixed success to date in gaining valuable
information about how al Qaeda operates, and when and where it plans to
attack next. The best information continues to come in the form of documents,
computer hard drives, cell phones and videos found in Afghanistan.
New special ops
Civil Affairs, the branch of special operations that helps war-torn
countries recover and rebuild government institutions, will soon be going to
Afghanistan.
The Pentagon has activated two reserve units who are now at Fort Bragg,
N.C., training for the new mission. Civil Affairs soldiers were instrumental
in rebuilding the Balkans. They helped set up a judicial and education
system, reaffirming the American military's goal of leaving places better
than it found them.
Vieques
Sen. James M. Inhofe, Oklahoma Republican, has devoted a good part his
Senate career to improving the military's combat readiness. On no issue has
he been more persistent than preserving the Puerto Rican island of Vieques as
a practice range for Navy carrier battle groups.
But he cannot get the Navy to answer one question: If commanders request
it, will the Bush administration let a battle group practice with real ammo
on Vieques?
He asked Navy Secretary Gordon England that question repeatedly at a
recent hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee, but never got a "yes"
or "no" answer.
Mr. England's reply angered Sen. Jim Bunning, Kentucky Republican, more
than it did Mr. Inhofe. "Mr. Secretary," Mr. Bunning said, "if you would have
testified before this committee as you have testified in response to Sen.
Inhofe during your confirmation hearings, you would have not received my vote
at least."
The mistrust on Vieques stems from the fact that the top Marine and Navy
officers asked Mr. England to let the carrier USS John Kennedy use real
bullets at Vieques before going off to the war on terrorism. The Atlantic
Fleet commander decided against sending the Kennedy to Puerto Rico, according
to a Navy spokesman at the Pentagon.
Bill Gertz and Rowan Scarborough are Pentagon reporters.
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