Hawk strong militaryindustrial complex critic
WASHINGTON: Few United States lawmakers have ridiculed wasteful Pentagon spending or scolded military officials from the Senate floor, hearing rooms, campaign events and in reports as often as Senator John McCain did.
In December 2011 — the 50th anniversary of President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s warning about the power of the ‘‘ militaryindustrial complex ’’— McCain took to the Senate floor to criticise lawmakers backing pet weapons projects, saying that ‘‘ in the military industrialcongressional complex, earmarks are the currency of corruption ’’.
That day McCain reserved particular scorn for one of the US Air Force’s most prized programmes: the radarevading F22 jets the military service fought vigorously to keep buying even as problems with the planes’ onboard oxygen systems forced the entire fleet to be grounded. The defence secretary at the time, Robert Gates, was also arguing to halt the programme.
McCain said ‘‘the 168 F22s, costing over $200 million each, may very well become the most expensive corroding hangar queens in the history of modern military aviation’’.
But McCain was no dove. He remained a vigorous advocate for injecting American military force to shape the outcome of conflicts from Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, to Libya, North Korea and Ukraine, sometimes to the chagrin of his own party. In recent years, the Arizona senator also helped lead the push for a reorganisation of the Pentagon offices responsible for weapons research and purchases.
McCain administered most of his verbal lashings in the preTwitter era when shame at being publicly called out for wasting taxpayer dollars appeared to be more effective than since. But as the son and grandson of fourstar admirals, and as a former Navy pilot who was shot down over Hanoi, captured and tortured for five years before being released, McCain’s words carried more sting than they would rolling off the tongue of any other lawmaker.
Dov Zakheim, who served as the Pentagon’s comptroller under President George W. Bush, said: ‘‘I always have felt, and one of the things I’ve always admired about him, is he has a phenomenal sense of right and wrong.’’ — Reuters
❛ . . . the 168 F22s, costing over $200 million each, may very well become the most expensive corroding hangar queens in the history of modern military aviation