newsday.com
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Several retired military commanders, including some nominated to top posts by President Clinton, plan to endorse Republican George W. Bush for the presidency on Friday, according to the Bush campaign.
They include just-retired Persian Gulf commander Gen. Anthony Zinni; Adm. Jay Johnson, who retired as head of the Navy this summer; Gen. Ronald R. Fogleman, who resigned as Air Force Chief in 1997; former Air Force chief Gen. Merrill McPeak; and former Marine Commandant Gen. Carl Mundy, the campaign said.
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A survey in October of 3,000 leading military officers showed eight Republicans for every Democrat. About a fourth of those surveyed said they are independent or gave no preference in the mailed survey by the Triangle Institute for Security Studies.
Gen. Ronald R. Krulak, a former Marine commandant who leads a veterans group for Bush, told The Washington Post that 85 high-ranking veterans are among those who will be added to the Bush camp.
Many of them, he said, were upset by comments made by Gen. Henry H. Shelton, Joint Chiefs chairman, in defending the readiness of the military against criticism by Bush and running mate Dick Cheney, former defense secretary. |
