Carlucci, D’Amato Disagree on ‘Insult’ : Secretary Cites ‘Coward’ Charge Over Noriega; Senator Denies It

Sen. Alfonse M. D’Amato and Defense Secretary Frank C. Carlucci disagreed today on whether D’Amato had called Carlucci a coward because he is not doing enough to get rid of Panamanian dictator Manuel A. Noriega.

D’Amato (R-N.Y.) released a letter from Carlucci that referred to a telephone conversation the two had last week. In the letter, Carlucci wrote:

“You charge that I, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, are ‘cowards’ and that we are ‘supporting a drug dealer.’ ”

Carlucci said that he had “been reflecting on your emotion-charged telephone call” and that the senator’s charges “are unwarranted and insulting.”

The defense secretary wrote: “I hope you can indicate to me that you did not mean them as stated. I have shown this letter to the Joint Chiefs of Staff.”

In releasing Carlucci’s letter, D’Amato’s spokesman, Jack Kinnicutt, said D’Amato “apparently called Carlucci a coward” in the telephone conversation. “I wasn’t sitting in on (the phone call) but from what I hear, boy, it was hot,” Kinnicutt said.

Hours later, D’Amato said through another spokesman: “I did not call Carlucci a coward. My recollection of the conversation was that (I said) the inaction would be perceived as cowardly.”

D’Amato, in a subsequent letter sent to Carlucci today, said he does not “believe that the Joint Chiefs of Staff are cowards. There is no doubt, however, that the lack of U.S. action in Panama has made us appear weak in many people’s eyes.”

At a news conference today, D’Amato said he had told Carlucci: “We are being perceived as cowards, lacking the resolve to deal with a drug dealer, a tinhorn drug dealer by the name of Noriega. It’s not a question of questioning anybody’s particular manhood or the patriotism of the Joint Chiefs. As a matter of fact, I never mentioned the Joint Chiefs in that matter.”