Democrats Question Cost of Bush's Sea Landing

Reuters
Wednesday, May 7, 2003; 6:47 PM

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrats
in Congress on Wednesday demanded
to know the costs of President Bush's jet landing on an aircraft carrier last week that
they branded a costly political stunt.

The Bush administration disclosed on Tuesday that Bush insisted on landing on the
USS Lincoln in a S-3B Viking jet even though the carrier was within helicopter range
because he wanted to share the pilots' experience. The ship was returning from the Gulf
region after the U.S.-led war in Iraq.

Democrats on the House of Representatives Appropriations Committee said costs
could top $1 million. They included delaying the USS Lincoln that was steaming from
the Gulf to San Diego, California, an extra day of air patrols, keeping the crew at sea,
presidential security and flying Bush to the ship.

The Democrats issued a news release headed 'shameless' in large red type that cited the
'nerve required to delay the return of 4,000 sailors to their families after 10 months at sea
in order to stage (a) photo-op.'

Bush, wearing a flight suit, made a jet landing and posed with crew members to mark the
end of major combat in Iraq. The landing was widely televised and received extensive
media coverage throughout the day.

Rep. Henry Waxman of California, the House Government Reform Committee's top
Democrat, called for the General Accounting Office to examine the costs.

A Navy official, speaking on condition of anonymity, disputed that Bush's visit added
significant costs, and said it did not delay the carrier's return to its home port in
Washington state.

'The operating cost of an aircraft carrier is about a million dollars a day. But it got to
where it was supposed to be on time,' he said.

The White House said the Lincoln had made faster progress than expected and was 30
miles offshore for the presidential visit.

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer rejected charges that the jet landing was political
theater.

'I think that the 5,000 sailors on that ship recognized this for what it was, the president
going out there to say thank you to those who risked their lives,' Fleischer said.

On Tuesday, he said Bush wanted to land by jet to 'allow him to see an aircraft landing
the same way that the pilots saw an aircraft landing.

Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia, the Senate's senior Democrat, said: 'I am loath to
think of an aircraft carrier being used as an advertising backdrop for a presidential
political slogan.'