136th Year... and still on the job!	Sunday April 10, 2005

Army games

EDITORIAL
THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN

ONE PRECEPT of our republican form of government is that the military serves civilian authority. Another precept is that Congress passes the laws, and the executive branch - which oversees the military - is obliged to see those laws be faithfully executed.

This bit of Government 101 has been breached as the Army fiddle-faddles rather than destroy the chemical munitions at Pueblo Chemical Depot, as well as at a sister installation in Kentucky. Last year Congress allocated $100 million for demilitarization work at both installations, but the Army has stalled the work and instead has undertaken a study whether the munitions could be transported to an existing demil site, such as Deseret Chemical Depot at Tooele, Utah, for destruction.

Enough is enough. Last week Sen. Wayne Allard sponsored an amendment to a current appropriations bill ordering the Defense Department to spend the $100 million already allotted and to cease all studies of shipping the weapons to other sites.

Sen. Allard was joined in the effort by Kentucky Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell who, like Sen. Allard, is tired of the Army’s games.

Any proposal to ship the munitions appears to be a political dead-ender. Rep. Jim Matheson, a Utah Democrat, is strongly opposed to any such shipments to Deseret. And there is another bill in the congressional hopper to preclude the Army from any further study of transporting the munitions.

That bill, also sponsored by Sen. Allard, has the full support of Sen. Ken Salazar and 3rd District Rep. John Salazar. Like Sen. Allard, they have tired of the Pentagon’s procrastination.

The Pueblo demilitarization project has been a never-ending series of delays. Sen. Allard has noted that it was hardly a surprise when the president’s own management assessment last year labeled the Pentagon’s chemical weapons destruction program as being ineffective.

Last week, as he introduced the appropriations amendment, Sen. Allard observed:

“We have waited on the Department of Defense long enough. I thought it was time for us to take matters in our own hands and write into law what the Congress believes should be done to address the necessity of cleaning up these chemical weapons facilities, rather than tolerate any more foot-dragging by the DOD.”

He added, “It’s too bad the DOD has to be pushed by Congress to do the right thing.”

Amen to that.

We urge Congress to adopt Sen. Allard’s amendment. This whole fiasco has gone on way too long.