Retired Military Brass Back Bush
WASHINGTON — More than 300 retired admirals and generals endorsed President Bush for reelection Friday and said Democratic rival Bill Clinton was unfit to be commander-in-chief.
Adm. Thomas Moorer, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who organized the opposition to Clinton, said he believed the Arkansas governor was unpatriotic.
“I am greatly disturbed by Clinton’s claim that he is supported by the military,†Moorer said at a news conference. “This is a blatant lie, similar to the lies he tells about his string-pulling to get out of service to his country during the Vietnam War.â€
The retired military chiefs who joined with Moorer included Gen. William C. Westmoreland, who commanded U.S. forces in Vietnam, and Adm. Elmo R. Zumwalt Jr., former chief of naval operations. Gen. James Doolittle, who led an early bombing raid on Tokyo during World War II, and retired Air Force Lt. Gen. James Abrahamson, first director of the Strategic Defense Initiative popularly known as “Star Wars,†also were on the list.
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