Posted at 11:25 a.m., Thursday, June 14, 2001

Navy to stop training at Vieques

• Vieques decision may affect Makua

Associated Press

WASHINGTON — President Bush said today the Navy will end its bombing exercises on Vieques Island off the coast of Puerto Rico, a decision that may play well with Hispanics but not the military.

The exercises could end as early as May 2003.

"These are our friends and neighbors, and they don't want us there," Bush said at a news conference in Goteborg, Sweden, during a European Union gathering.

"My attitude is the Navy ought to find somewhere else to conduct its exercises," Bush said.

In Washington, Pentagon and Navy officials would reveal few details about the idea.

Pressed by reporters at the Pentagon, Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld said little more than "I am in full agreement with the president of the United States."

Though officials were expected to announce the establishment of a panel to look for an alternative to training on Vieques, none materialized, and the Navy and Department of Defense each referred reporters to the other.

Around the Pentagon, officials said Bush's decision was a big disappointment, and wondered why he didn't wait for a November referendum in which residents of the island are to vote on the Navy presence.

The Navy has called Vieques the "crown jewel" of its Atlantic training sites, which it has used for six decades. It has said repeatedly that its range on the island is vital to national security. Critics say the bombing poses a health threat to the island's 9,100 residents, a charge the Navy denies.

Earlier, a Defense Department official said on condition of anonymity that Navy Secretary Gordon England had recommended to Bush that planning begin for an end to the bombing within two years.

He said Navy officials wanted to make the decision public, because they felt the situation was growing more volatile.

Officials said England cannot promise a replacement range will be found within two years.

The Navy owns two-thirds of Vieques, and its bombing range covers 900 acres — less than 3 percent of the island. It used live bombs until two went astray in a 1999 practice and killed a civilian guard on the bombing range, igniting protests and calls for the military to leave. It since has used dummy bombs.

About 75 protesters dem onstrated peacefully outside Camp Garcia's gates on Vieques yesterday as a fresh round of Navy exercises began offshore. In earlier demonstrations in April and May, 180 people were arrested on trespassing charges during previous bombing exercises.

Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., who was arrested in one of the earlier protests, said Bush's move offers little new to Vieques residents in light of the scheduled referendum, and falls well short of their demands that the bombing stop immediately. "My position has been, and remains, that not one additional bomb or bullet should fall on the island of Vieques," Gutierrez said.