Bush's Vieques decision draws fire

Rumsfeld told CNN that Vieques decision results from Clinton administration agreement to let referendum settle bombing range dispute

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Bush administration vowed Friday to find an alternative to the Navy's Vieques range for live-fire training missions.

That promise came even as critics -- including key Republicans -- lashed out at the announcement that bombing runs on the Puerto Rican island will stop.

"I can assure you that we are going to find ways, one way or another, to see that the men and women who go to the Gulf have the same kind of training that we're giving the men and women who go out in the Pacific for their deployments," Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Friday.

And Navy Secretary Gordon England told reporters he will appoint a panel of experts "to reinvigorate efforts to find effective alternatives to Vieques for training our forces."

VIDEO CNN's Bill Schneider says the key player in this week's Vieques political drama is Puerto Rico Gov. Sila Calderon (June 15) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld tells CNN's Jamie McIntyre the Pentagon will find a suitable replacement for the Vieques training range (June 15) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)   ALSO Florida eyes Navy training switch from Puerto Rico     RESOURCE Read the transcript: England on Vieques

Senior Pentagon officials said Thursday the United States will end training at Vieques once the current agreement with Puerto Rico expires in May 2003.

Rumsfeld noted that former President Clinton agreed to stop live-fire exercises on the Puerto Rican island if, in a referendum, the people of Puerto Rico decided they wanted it to stop.

In that November referendum, the islanders were to decide whether to accept a package of economic incentives in return for allowing the Navy to continue using the range after May 2003. Until then, the Navy is using only inert ordnance on the island.

Asked by CNN Military Affairs Correspondent Jamie McIntyre if he was blaming the Clinton administration for the loss of the island as a practice range, Rumsfeld said, "Who knows? All I know are the facts, and the facts are that that arrangement was made before this administration came into office. And there it is. You have to live with it. You have to live up to your word in life."

President Bush said Thursday while in Sweden attending a meeting with European Union leaders that the operation would be suspended because residents of Puerto Rico "don't want us there." Bush cited widespread opposition to the bombing exercise by many of Vieques' 9,000 residents and said the Navy would seek an alternative site to conduct the military drills. But Bush's decision appears to have pleased no one. Opponents of the bombing want it to end immediately, while proponents don't want it to end at all.

Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott, R-Mississippi, said Friday he disagrees "very strongly" with Bush's decision. Lott told CNN Radio he "would be opposed to legislation that would carry out this decision, but I want to be briefed on why they think this is the right step."

And Sen. John Warner, R-Virginia, a former Navy secretary who until recently was chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said legislation will be needed if the Defense Department wants to modify the existing law that allows the training on Vieques.

Warner, now the Armed Services committee's ranking Republican, is calling for Senate hearings but the new committee chairman, Sen. Carl Levin, D-Michigan, said only that he has received the request.

Rep. Bob Stump, R-Arizona, said he would ask for similar hearings in the House.

Since the administration wants to end the bombing practices in 2003, there is no need to hold the referendum in Puerto Rico, senior Bush administration officials said. But England said he would reconsider his decision to end Navy training at Vieques if the referendum were held, and if the Navy were to win the vote.

"Certainly, we would reconsider," England said at a Pentagon briefing Friday. "It would be a lot of expense and everything to move our facilities from Vieques and develop alternative capability. If the people in Vieques wanted us to stay on Vieques and the referendum itself, certainly, we would reconsider this position." England's statements would seem to offer a way for conservative opponents in Congress to overturn the Bush administration decision, by blocking passage of the request to amend the law governing use of Vieques.

"If we do not get the legislative relief, we will certainly follow the law and we will work to win the referendum," England said. But England said the decision to leave represents the best hope the Navy has of ensuring it does not get stuck without a place to practice. The decision may help "decompress this issue -- that is, remove some of the current passion and emotion surrounding the discussions," he said.

A replacement need not be a single site, he said. Several sites could be combined, and technology could be used as well.

"As long as we provide effective training for our sailors and Marines, we will have met our objective," he said.

The U.S. military has conducted exercises on Vieques since 1941. Controversy over use of the island for bombing practice has grown since October 1999, when an errant bomb killed a civilian security guard. In late April, about 180 protesters were arrested at the main gates of the Navy facility on the island during the Navy's resumption of exercises.

Demonstrators allege that the island's residents are at higher risk of cancer and are exposed to dangerous levels of noise. They want the bombing stopped permanently.

The aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt and its escort ships are scheduled to begin training exercises at Vieques this weekend, and demonstrations are expected.