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| U.S. Air Force Top Weapons Buyer Quits |
| 2004-11-18 |
| The U.S. Air Force's chief weapons buyer on Wednesday said he was quitting to help free promotions held up in the Senate over a stalled $23.5 billion plan to acquire Boeing Co. KC-767 aerial refueling planes. Marvin Sambur told Reuters he had resigned as assistant secretary for acquisition effective Jan. 20 or sooner, should President Bush's next choice for the job be confirmed earlier. "It's becoming pretty apparent that if I stayed it would be very difficult for the Air Force to have anybody confirmed," he said in a telephone interview. He said he had not decided where he might work next. On Tuesday, Air Force Secretary James Roche resigned in a move aides said also was meant to clear the way for Senate confirmation of officers bottled up by Armed Services Committee member John McCain. McCain, an Arizona Republican, has blocked a range of promotions over the Air Force push to acquire 100 KC-767 aerial tankers, an idea he denounced as a government handout to Chicago-based Boeing... |
| Posted by:Anonymoose |
| #11 Captain America, this "Boeing Deal" would have a blatant rip-off of the taxpayers. The concept was hatched as a way to replace the seriously aging fleet of VietNam era KC-135 tankers without having to convince Congress to pony up the cash to buy new ones. In principle, it wasn't a bad idea. In practice, by the time the lobbyists got through with it, it was a scheme worthy of the Rent-to-Own electronics shops. It would have eventually cost the taxpayers about twice what it would have to have bought the planes outright. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A21044-2004Oct9_2.html The scandal comes in because Darleen Drunyon was negotiating for a job with Boeing while she was negotiating the tanker deal for the AF. On Oct. 1, Druyun was sentenced to nine months in prison after admitting that she inflated the price of the deal as a "parting gift" before her Pentagon retirement to ingratiate herself with Boeing. |
| Posted by: RWV 2004-11-18 11:39:25 PM |
| #10 B-a-r - I think the basic question is, "Do we need McCain or not?" He seems to have a square splintery broomstick shoved up his ass. |
| Posted by: .com 2004-11-18 7:57:43 PM |
| #9 McCain has a freaking screw loose. He's had a hard-on over this Boeing deal for months. Now that he has screwed up elections, it's time for the military acquisitions to feel his wrath. |
| Posted by: Capt America 2004-11-18 7:53:06 PM |
| #8 I am impressed by Mr. Sambur's selfless act on behalf of the country that is probably approrpiate if he did screw up or was responsible for one. Nonetheless, it is too infrequently that we see people accept responsibility forthrightly for their errors these days. He is at least to be saluted for that forthrightnes. |
| Posted by: Mrs. Davis 2004-11-18 4:15:58 PM |
| #7 McCain, an Arizona Republican, has blocked a range of promotions over the Air Force push to acquire 100 KC-767 aerial tankers, an idea he denounced as a government handout to Chicago-based Boeing... The basic question is, do we need these or not? If we need them, then buy them. I don't understand what this government-handout-to-Boeing crap is; it's not like the 767 is a concept aircraft and hasn't been produced yet. And what's the deal with EADS? What do they have to do with this? |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2004-11-18 4:13:13 PM |
| #6 It's where the phrase "An Officer and a Gentleman, by order of Congress" comes from, too. |
| Posted by: mojo 2004-11-18 4:09:14 PM |
| #5 I worked with Dr. Sambur in a previous life. He is a basically decent man, very intelligent but a little naive. I seriously doubt that he personally had anything to do with the hanky-panky involved in the Boeing deal, but since it happened on his watch, he gets to walk the plank. |
| Posted by: RWV 2004-11-18 4:05:12 PM |
| #4 When the Navy stonewalled Tailgate, they held up promotions for the service. Guys, this is the power of Congress under Article 1 of the Constitution. This is a legacy of the English Civil War which still echoed with the founding fathers. The Pres may be the commander in chief, but the legislative body maintains control over the purse and personnel management issues like overall pay, size and rank composition. |
| Posted by: Don 2004-11-18 3:07:37 PM |
| #3 Heyyyyy! Wasn't Linda Daschle the Boeing lobbyist for this deal? |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-11-18 2:58:57 PM |
| #2 Yup, no promotions and no replacements for those old KC-135's either. I'm thinking nothing is going to be done till one of them snaps a wingspar on takeoff and flops onto a shopping mall. That might get McCain's attention. |
| Posted by: Steve 2004-11-18 2:47:39 PM |
| #1 Hold on a sec... you mean McCain was freezing promotions of people unrelated to the tanker deal in order to protest the tanker deal? |
| Posted by: Phil Fraering 2004-11-18 1:32:53 PM |