European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 28, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Tuesday december 28, 1998 commentary the stars and stripes Page 13background needs scrutiny William Safire i my first run in retired with adm. Bobby Ray Inman came after i praised him in a 1980 column. As America s chief eavesdropper he  a suspicious Call by president Carter s brother Billy to the Libya embassy and properly brought the wiretap of the attorney general for criminal investigation. But Praise from me brought him glares from the White House and Inman a recorders whirring a called me to denounce Quot irreparable harm you have done by revealing our sources and  it was hard to believe that the libyans did not know that All embassy phone lines were routinely tapped but i respectfully asked if he would entertain one question. Icily Inman informed me he never talked to the Eress but what was it i wanted to know i asked him of a growth Man could go through life calling himself a a Bobby he slammed Down the phone. Downhill from there. As Barry Goldwater a Man at the Cia he became convinced that former director William j. Casey and i were conspiring to Block his advancement. This was because i reported that Inman in a not for attribution session at Cia Headquarters had planted a false Story with a group of newsmen that Israel was the source Orr mors that a libyan a hit team was on its Way to the United states operating from ambush As an a informed source a Inman charged that Israel was trying to provoke an attack on libyan president Qadhafi. He was displeased at having his cover blown and anti Israel Bias shown. Years later leaking Many secrets to get favourable treatment in Bob Woodward a Book veil Inman told the author that he a Felt this attack personally. He had not planted anything exposure of his charge a was obviously a leak to Safire from a pro Israel source who was smarting Over Inman s insistence that Israel not get any satellite photos.,. A Ltd. Untrue. Inman despite having what time Magazine gushes is a a memory that is close to total recall misled Woodward. An ear witness who was in the room reconfirms that Inman planted that false Story on that Day in december 1981. Inmans animus also later contributed to the excessive sentencing of Jonathan Pollard but that a another Story Here is someone i know from personal experience to be manipulative and deceptive nominated by Clinton to be Secretary of defense. The. Reader can balance this personal judgment against inmans Good acts notably his Billy Carter report and his later rescission of a nutty Casey surveil Lance orders Well As the acclamation of a charmed Washington press and the support of sen. Sam Nunn breathless with adoration. Inman lost a few of those rooters at his curious Quot Comfort level news conference in which the arrogant retired Admiral humbled the president and held himself out As a selfless Patriot who was interrupting a successful business career As a big favor to All of us. Lets see about that 1. As an executive he s a Flop. In his decade away from the Public trough Inman bought a defense contractor named tractor and ran it into bankruptcy As stockholders suppliers and employees suffered he walked off with $1 million compensation. 2. As a judge of character he is a Naif. After he quit the Cia Inman went on the a proxy Board Quot of International signal and control to manufacture Cluster bombs for the Pentagon. The company was run by James a Guerin a longtime Inman intelligence source now in a Florida Pris on convicted of transferring military technology to Iraq and South Africa. Inman s 1992 letter to the sentencing judge which can be found in appendix b of Alan Friedman s spider s web attests to this con Many a Quot patriotism toward our country.�?�3. As a taxpayer he is a cheat. In the year of Zoc Baird nobody can plead ignorance t6 the requirement to pay taxes for household help. Why did Inman try to beat the government out of $6,000? because the White House press Secretary was corrupted into saying Quot there was a desire to Sec whether the simplification process would go , that a a transparent lie if the Law is changed he would still owe the $6,000 for past years. Confirmation hearings of Clinton a worst Cabinet nomination begin in . Senate investigators have much work to to. C Tho now York Liim Clinton administration in vets the appointment of retired adm. Bobby Ray Inman to succeed Les Aspin As Secretary of defense was at least in part an acknowledgement by president Clinton of the tenuous relationship he has with the uniformed military As the first president in almost half a Century not to have worn the country a uniform Clinton has endured More than his share of put Downs from the military. The joint chiefs of staff objected to his original Gays in the military policy. When he visited the Vietnam Veteran memorial in Washington last memorial Day he was booed by Many of the veterans. Inman will probably be a reassuring figure to the military professionals some of whom clearly had a problem adjusting to Aspinw a academic seminar style. But the appointment May not get to the heart of Clinton a problem with the military. This is a sensitive question but it is being. Raised by men who have both the personal and political credentials to do so a Vietnam vets who campaigned with and for the president. What Jack Wheeler and Lewis Puller or. Are asking of Clinton is some serious soul searching on the subject of what they fear May be an anti military and ant Veteran mindset in the White House. Wheeler a Man i met during his leadership of the struggle to get the Viet Nam memorial built campaigned for Clinton and wrote oped articles urging David s. Broder fellow Vietnam vets to show their understanding of Clinton a decision to oppose the War while pursuing his education rather than accept military service. Puller who was severely wounded by a land mine in Vietnam and who won a pulitzer prize for his account of his spiritual struggle with the painful legacy of the War not Only spoke for Clinton in the Campaign but joined him at the Vietnam memorial in a silent rebuke to the hecklers. What disturbed Wheeler and Puller was their sense that their contemporaries forgiveness Clinton according to exit polls won a plurality of the votes of the Vietnam veterans was not being matched by a similar open mindedness toward the military from the Clinton administration. Although Clinton had chosen Vietnam Veteran a1 Gore As his running mate and had made him a fall partner in government the White House and administration appeared to them to be singularly Short of others who had fought in americans last major War. When the White House could not Supply the numbers Wheeler undertook his own Survey of presidential appointments. He search 1 the Public record called offices and assembled the picture As Best he could. What he found was that of the first 66 men named to the White House staff Only three had served in Vietnam and Only seven had Ever been in uniform. In the Pentagon and veterans affairs 16 of 34 male appointees to jobs requiring Senate confirmation were veterans including Aspin. But aside from those two enclaves Wheeler could find Only two of 213 male appointees who were veterans. Those findings Are far from definitive but it is the White House reaction that is significant. More than  ago Wheeler sent a  findings to the thee Vietnam vets he knew were in the White House arguing that the seeming pattern created the impression among both Vietnam veterans and members of the Active duty military that Quot the Clinton administration is largely a networked clique of people who were anti military and anti War during the 1960s and carry their biases with them still.�?�. For More than , Wheeler and Puller rugged their while House contacts hoping for a response to their plea that the administration conduct its own Survey and weigh the implications they heard nothing. It was not until this reporter started making inquiries hat the office of presidential Counselor David Gurgen one of the Vietnam vets Wheeler had contacted began to stir. In the pre Christmas Rush officials told me the Best the White House could do was to estimate that of the roughly 1,000 male appointments Clinton has made at All Levels of responsibility about 100 Are veterans a maybe one third of them serving in jobs important enough to require Senate confirmation. Wheeler a backed by Northwestern University sociologist Charles mos Kos an expert on the military a says the figures claimed by the White House Are roughly one third of what they ought to be in an administration that mirrored America. In such a government about 10 percent of the male appointees should be Vietnam veterans and 33 percent of the men should have worn the uniform at some time in their lives. The White House can Tell you with precision that 47 percent of its appointees Are women and proudly affirms that record numbers of minorities Are on Board. A bit mor it attention to enlisting Vietnam veterans a and including their views in the policy mix a might do More for military civilian relationships than the Inman appointment. Catho Wasl Wilson Post a /