Top AF General Bounced : Dugan Told Press of Gulf Bomb Plans

Defense Secretary Dick Cheney fired Gen. Michael J. Dugan as Air Force chief of staff today after Dugan’s public comments about contingency plans to unleash massive air raids on Iraq and target Saddam Hussein personally.

Dugan, in the top Air Force job only three months, violated Pentagon rules by publicly discussing likely military targets inside Iraq and disclosing classified information about the size of U.S. forces in the gulf area, Cheney said.

“There are certain things we never talk about. We never discuss operational matters, such as the selection of specific targets for potential air strikes,” Cheney told reporters.

“We never talk about the targeting of specific individuals, who are officials in other governments. That is a violation of the executive order,” the secretary said.

“We never underestimate the strength of opposing forces or reveal previously classified information about the size or disposition of U.S. forces. Nor do we ever demean the contributions of the other services,” he said.

“Gen. Dugan’s statements as reported in the press and as confirmed by him to me--failed all of those tests,” Cheney said.

Dugan was away from the Pentagon today and not available for comment, his office said.

The Air Force chief took the job in July and quickly gained a reputation for openness with the news media and the Congress.

Dugan, 53, retains his four-star rank, but he is expected to retire.

“Protocol demands that he retire,” a Pentagon source said. “There’s no job in the Air Force he could really hold now.”

A senior Defense Department official said Cheney fired the general not simply because Dugan spoke openly to the news media but because he said things for which he had no authority.

“It’s saying things that aren’t true; it’s saying things that weren’t his decision to make. He’s not in the operational chain of command, and the idea whether Saddam Hussein is personally targeted--those are decisions that are up to the President to make,” said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Cheney fired Dugan after conferring with President Bush.

Before becoming Air Force chief of staff, Dugan was commander in chief of U.S. Air Forces in Europe. He was a combat pilot in the Vietnam War, flying 300 missions.

Dugan’s controversial comments, reported Sunday by the Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post, were made during the Air Force chief’s trip to and from Saudi Arabia, where he visited Air Force units deployed as part of Operation Desert Shield.

Dugan told the newspapers that if the United States and Iraq went to war, the Pentagon planned to unleash an air campaign designed to “decapitate” the Iraqi leadership by targeting President Hussein, his family and even his mistress.

Cheney said he intends to recommend Gen. Merrill A. McPeak, the commander of the Pacific Air Forces, to replace Dugan.