Posted on: Monday, June 20, 2005

Inouye critical of plan to move fighter jets from Alaska

Associated Press

FAIRBANKS, Alaska — Hawai'i Sen. Daniel Inouye contends the Department of Defense made a mistake by recommending the gutting of Alaska's Eielson Air Force Base.

Inouye, the ranking Democrat on the Defense Appropriations subcommittee, told Pentagon staff at a banquet in his honor last week that it would be a mistake to shift fighter jets and airmen away from Eielson.

Inouye spoke Tuesday when he was receiving the Arleigh Burke Award from the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Some of the Department of Defense's top officials attended.

"I concur with the idea of realigning our forces in Alaska, but they should have been realigned in the other direction," Inouye said. "We should be moving more aircraft to Eielson."

The speech focused on what he sees as the strategic value of bases in Alaska given potential conflicts in Asia — particularly with North Korea and China.

Military analysts at Washington think tanks contacted last week mostly supported the Defense Department's pullback in Alaska. They said the few hours shorter flying time offered by Alaska's bases was not of great strategic significance.

Inouye said that approach sends the wrong message.

"It is clear that the nations of the region ... keep an eye on the location of U.S. forces, our bases, to measure our resolve," he said.