Roche Withdraws from Army Secretary Consideration
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James Joyner | Wednesday, March 10, 2004 |
Air Force Secretary James Roche has asked that his nomination for Army secretary be withdrawn.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld announced the request today.President Bush nominated Roche for the post in July 2003, but it has been mired in the controversy surrounding a $29.8 billion Air Force plan to lease refueling tankers from Boeing Co. As a result, the Senate Armed Services Committee recently suspended action on all nominations to top civilian Defense Department posts until the Pentagon turns over documents related to the Boeing deal.
Committee members have sought the documents since last fall, but the Pentagon has so far refused to turn them over. The documents include e-mail traffic between senior Pentagon officials and Boeing executives and lobbyists, which committee members believe will reveal that Boeing had an inappropriate degree of influence in the tanker deal.
The committee rejected the tanker deal last fall, saying it was about $5 billion too expensive.
Quite bizarre.
About the Author: James Joyner is the publisher of Outside the Beltway and the managing editor of the Atlantic Council. He's a former Army officer, Desert Storm vet, and college professor with a PhD in political science from The University of Alabama. He lives just outside the Beltway in Alexandria, Virginia with his wife and infant daughter.
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It looks like the incidents at the Air Force Acadamy is also driving the withdraw. I have a nasty suspicion that the incidence of rape in members of the military will gain greater promiance...it has already grown from the acadamy to those stationed in Iraq. The next stage will be start costing senior level careers.
It's Sen Daschle(D)'s wife's deal as the boeing lobbiest...
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