Defense Budget Priorities a ‘Disgrace,’ McCain Says

Outlining his national security platform Tuesday, Sen. John McCain of Arizona denounced the latest defense budget as a waste-riddled “disgrace,” recommended an end to federal income taxes for U.S. forces overseas and called for a 9% hike in military pay.

McCain blamed political leaders in both major parties for wastefully spending $6 billion in the latest defense budget on items that were not requested by the military and came at the expense of worthy military programs.

“For too long we have asked our armed services to do much more with much less,” said McCain, who is seeking the Republican presidential nomination. “Now is the time to give them enough.”

McCain, a decorated 22-year Navy veteran who survived five years as a POW in Vietnam, detailed his policies at a Rotary Club luncheon speech in Concord, N.H., on Tuesday and in a formal address that night at the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum in New York City.

His comments came one day after the six Republican candidates sparred in a televised debate from Arizona, raising a few issues that continued to draw attention Tuesday. Publisher Steve Forbes charged that Texas Gov. George W. Bush mishandled some of his answers during the debate, prompting Bush to defend his performance.

McCain participated in the Arizona debate by a satellite link Monday so that he could be in New Hampshire for his speech Tuesday. Noting that Tuesday was Pearl Harbor Day, McCain described the military as “struggling in virtually every category that measures preparedness” at a time when rogue nations and nuclear proliferation pose new and growing threats to the 21st century.

McCain accused political leaders of misdirecting “scarce defense dollars to their political priorities rather than to vital defense needs” and said he harbored “grave concern about the state of America’s defenses.”

“America has the strongest, best trained, best led military force in the world,” McCain said. “But those who have pledged their lives to our defense look to their civilian leaders for the guidance and the means to meet the security challenges of a new era. And we have failed them.”

McCain underscored his promises to slash wasteful spending and eliminate deals with special interest groups with a campaign ad that began airing in Boston on Tuesday. In it, he says that, if elected president, he would “refuse to sign any pork-barrel bill that crosses my desk.” Aides said the ad marks a transition to an issues-based approach, following ads that focused on McCain’s biography.

As president, McCain said in his speech, he would make the deployment of a ballistic missile defense system a priority and address vulnerabilities created by the “ill-considered” reduction in the Pacific carrier fleet. He also said he would implement a far-reaching strategy to deal with rogue nations, such as Iraq and North Korea, that would be designed “not simply to contain rogue regimes but to drive them from power.”

McCain said rogue nations must be confronted with diplomacy, targeted economic measures and military assistance to pro-democratic opponents.

“We must be prepared to back up these measures with American military force when the continued existence of such rogue states threatens America’s interests and values,” he said. “It should surprise no one that the most viciously anti-democratic regimes--the rogue states--are the chief proliferators, the major exporters of terrorism, the main instigators of regional and ethnic conflicts.”

Elsewhere, Bush, whose foreign policy credentials have been questioned in the campaign, found himself back on the defensive Tuesday over the responses he gave in Monday’s debate.

Asked anew whether he lacks sufficient experience to serve as president--as Sen. Orrin G. Hatch of Utah said--Bush again cited his experience as Texas governor and suggested that it may serve him better than all the years McCain and Hatch have spent in Washington.

“It sounded like being in Washington . . . wasn’t a very attractive feature of being a nominee,” Bush told reporters at a news conference, following a breakfast speech to the Arizona Chamber of Commerce. “If you listened carefully, everybody was attacking Washington last night. . . . Well, I’m the one person who’s been a chief executive outside Washington.”

Asked about his seemingly rote reply to a question about the lessons drawn from his current reading--a biography of former Secretary of State Dean Acheson--Bush told reporters that “in a minute’s time it was hard for me to give a full book review.

“But I was able to convey what I wanted to convey, and that is if I’m the president I’m not going to retreat within our borders. I’m going to help keep the peace.”

Bush laughed off a question about whether he would consider the No. 2 spot on the GOP ticket, as suggested Monday by Hatch. “Should I be fortunate enough to earn my party’s nomination and win the presidency, I won’t hold all his years of experience against him in Washington,” Bush quipped.

O’Connor reported from Los Angeles and Barabak from Phoenix.