NEW YORK (CNN) -- Hillary Rodham Clinton is
calling for an immediate and permanent end to use of
a Puerto Rican island for U.S. military exercises, a
position that puts her at odds with the Pentagon.
The first lady said she was "disappointed" that a
Department of Defense special panel on Vieques
called for a five-year phase out of the Navy's training
there, and called for an immediate halt to its military
use.
Vieques is a small island off the coast of Puerto
Rico inhabited by 9,300 people. The Navy
acquired two-thirds of the 8,000-acre island in
1941 and uses it for live artillery fire and shore
bombardment training.
In April 1999, a Puerto Rican security guard was
killed and four other people were wounded in a
bombing accident during a training mission, sparking
protests on Vieques and a Pentagon review of the
use of the bombing range.
Protesters have camped out on the range since the
incident in a campaign to end to the Navy's use of the
island.
The Vieques issue has become a major political issue
in Puerto Rico and within the Puerto Rican
community in New York, where Mrs. Clinton is
considering a Senate run.
"Politically, it is the number one priority on our
agenda right now," said Rep. Nydia Velazquez
(D-New York).
New York has more than 1 million Puerto Rican
residents.
Island considered essential for
military readiness
The four-man panel, ordered by President Bill
Clinton, issued its findings early Monday and
reported the U.S. armed services considered the
resumption of training essential for military readiness.
"The panel concludes that at present there is a valid
requirement for the Navy to conduct combined arms
exercises involving live air-to-ground ordnance, naval
surface fire support and the combined arms live fire
training needed to provide combat ready forces for
deployment," the report stated.
Vieques is the only Atlantic Ocean facility where
"realistic combat training can be conducted in a
combined and coordinated manner," the report
concluded, mentioning the complex's daytime and
nighttime training capability and its amphibious
landing beaches.
However, the panel also recommended the Navy
assess alternative sites in order to be able to cease
training activity on Vieques within five years.
In the meantime, the panel recommended additional
talks between the Navy and the Puerto Rican
government to resolve the issue.
Cohen to defer recommendation
until after talks
Defense Secretary William Cohen, in a written
statement, called the panel's report "balanced" but
said he would defer making a recommendation to the
president until further dialogue occurred.
Asked about the matter while in New Jersey
Monday night, the president, referring to Cohen's call
for more talks, said that "ought to be done."
Mrs. Clinton, in a statement issued by her Senate
exploratory campaign committee late Monday, said
the cessation of military exercises should happen
now.
"There should be an immediate and permanent end to
the bombing. The use of live fire on the island has put
the people of Vieques at risk, degraded the
environment, and hampered economic development,"
Mrs. Clinton said in her statement.
"I believe continued military readiness is critical to the
security of the United States, and it is my hope that
the Navy will move quickly to find another location
to conduct this training," Mrs. Clinton said.
But Mrs. Clinton's position was not welcomed by
some of the people who would be her colleagues in
the Senate.
"I wonder what the first lady would have to say
about the rest of the portions of the United States of
America that do accept this as their contribution
toward national security," said Sen. John Warner
(R-Virginia).
Earlier this year, Mrs. Clinton stirred up another
controversial Puerto Rican issue, when she first
supported, then opposed President Clinton's grant of
clemency to 16 militant Puerto Rican nationalists,
most of whom were subsequently released from
prison.
Puerto Rican leaders support Mrs.
Clinton's stance
Even Mrs. Clinton's likely Republican opponent in
the Senate race, New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani
supports the end of the bombing.
I don't think bombing should be resumed," Giuliani
said.
Puerto Rican leaders welcomed Mrs. Clinton's
stance.
"Bombing for five more years and then finding a way
to leave is unacceptable, so she said the right thing,"
said Rep. Jose Serrano (D-New York).
Juan Figueroa, executive director of Puerto Rican
Legal Defense and Education Fund, a civil rights
advocacy group headquartered in New York, said,
"She got it right on this one. She got good advice."
But Figueroa said something is missing from Mrs.
Clinton's campaign.
"We don't see how she or her staff are connecting
this issue to the bread-and-butter issues that people
are concerned about, whether it's education, whether
it's housing, whether it's jobs and what-have-you,
and that's what's missing," he said.
Mrs. Clinton's spokesman, Howard Wolfson, said
she consulted with a variety of people in New York
and Washington.
"She wanted to make the most informed decision
possible. She wanted for the report to come out, she
wanted to see the report and issue a statement at that
point," Wolfson said.
"The Navy should not be using a small inhabited
island for live bombing training. The bombing should
end immediately and it should end permanently,"
Wolfson said.
One of the leading Puerto Rican elected officials
consulted was Bronx Borough President Ferdinand
Ferrer.
"I think Mrs. Clinton's statement is courageous and
appropriate," Ferrer said.
CNN's Phil Hirschkorn, Maria Hinojosa and The Associated
Press contributed to this report.