Bush continues offensive on military readiness and morale issues

Gore calls for understanding, better treatment of mentally ill

May 31, 2000
Web posted at: 6:24 p.m. EDT (2224 GMT)

ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico (CNN) -- Texas Gov. George W. Bush continued his strategic military affairs campaign against Vice President Al Gore on Wednesday, telling an audience of veterans that perhaps the best way to improve the morale of U.S. military personnel is to upgrade their weapons systems.

"Even the highest morale is eventually undermined by back-to-back deployments, poor pay, shortages of spare parts and equipment, and rapidly declining readiness," Bush said in remarks at the New Mexico Veterans Memorial Park, nestled just under the shadows of the Sandia Mountain range.

"The best way to keep the peace is not to match every conceivable threat weapon-for-weapon or division-for-division," Bush continued. "That means giving United States troops the technological superiority they need to prevail."

By boosting weapons systems research and development, Bush has argued in recent days, the U.S. military can be transformed from a 20th century conventional force to one that is well-armed, light and easily deployed.

"Our military is still organized more for Cold War threats than for the challenges of a new century -- for industrial age operations, rather than for information-age battles," he said. "America's forces in the next century must be agile, lethal, readily deployable, and require a minimum of logistical support."

Bush said Wednesday that if elected president, he would set aside some $20 billion over five years for weapons systems research and development, and a full 20 percent of the yearly military procurement budget would be reserved for modern weapons systems.

The presumptive GOP nominee for the presidency has steadily leveled fierce broadsides at the Clinton-Gore Administration in the course of the last two weeks, blasting the current president for cutting back on military budgets, cutting personnel levels, "overdeploying" remaining forces and purportedly refusing to outline clear missions and roles for those forces that have been sent overseas.

Bush added Wednesday that one of his first acts as president would be to initiate a top-to-bottom review and assessment of the entire U.S. military, including an audit of the many ongoing international troop commitments -- not the least of which include participation in peacekeeping arrangements in Bosnia and the Yugoslav province of Kosovo.

The Bush campaign has become intent on recasting the governor's foreign policy and military affairs image in the face of sharp criticism of his lack of experience in both areas.

He has surrounded himself with a high-profile cadre of foreign and military affairs experts, including one-time Defense Secretary Dick Cheney, former Gen. Colin Powell and former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.

Seldom a discouraging word

"We've got to bring the West home again," one Bush aide said Wednesday, meaning that states such as New Mexico, Arizona, and Nevada will have to be carried by Bush if he is to stand a strong chance of defeating Al Gore in the general election.

In fact, the 13 states that make up the western United States possess 152 electoral votes -- more than half the amount needed to win the presidency. With polls showing the popularity levels of Gore and Bush on par from Oklahoma to California -- Bush is a lock in his home state -- this son of a former president has his work cut out for him.

"Now is the time for me to put an electoral base in place, with the West being part of the anchor of that base," Bush said Wednesday. "I think I'll do well out here."

Bush hoped to do well Wednesday evening, when he planned to attend two fund-raisers in Phoenix at the exclusive Arizona Biltmore Resort Hotel -- one of them expected to generate $750,000 in unregulated "soft money" contributions.

One prominent Arizonan will not be on hand for either of the events -- McCain. Bush's once bitter rival and more recent reluctant endorser will not attend because he does not wish to be connected to a soft money event.

Campaign finance reform was the central plank of McCain's presidential campaign, and he continues to do battle with members of his own party over the issue in the Senate.

"He has stated all along that he will do everything he can for the Republican Party and for Bush, but he will not help to raise soft money," McCain spokesman Todd Harris said Wednesday.

Gore says mental illness still stigmatized

Bush's chief rival appeared in suburban Washington on Wednesday with his wife Tipper to call for insurance coverage of mental health services for children, and for additional training of teachers to help them recognize the signs of mental illness in their young charges.

The insurance coverage should be provided, Gore insisted, under the same co-payments and deductibles covering regular medical treatments.

Gore said he would make long-term care services more affordable for families caring for a member with long-term needs, including mental illness, by providing a $3,000 tax credit.

The idea behind the proposals, Gore said, was to create "parity" in insurance coverage and treatment of mental illness, whose victims are still stigmatized and discriminated against, he argued.

"Step by step, we will break this cycle of silence, poor information and stigma," the Democratic White House hopeful said Wednesday morning in Chevy Chase, Maryland. "We will replace it with more understanding, more tolerance and a truly healthier future.

The Gores rarely appear as a campaign team, though Tipper Gore spends much of her time stumping for her husband. But Wednesday's joint appearance was intended to give the vice president's pronouncements a personal edge.

Mrs. Gore fell into a deep depression in 1989, when their young son, Albert III, six years old at the time, was struck by a car and nearly died from his injuries.

She recovered after undergoing a treatment regimen that included counseling and medication, and the unwavering support of her husband, she said.

"He was personally supportive of me at a time when I needed it," Mrs. Gore said. "He has provided support for me and for our family at a time that was critical for us, and a time of particular sacrifice in his life in terms of aspirations."

"Everything I'm going to tell you this morning, I learned from Tipper," Gore told his community center audience. "When mental illness goes untreated and undiagnosed and unmentioned, the strain on a family can become unbearably painful."

"If I'm entrusted with the presidency, I will move this country toward the day when mental illness is treated like every other illness by every health plan," Gore declared.

Gore is scheduled to announce a series of initiatives to fight the spread of cancer on Thursday in Atlanta. Gore's sister Nancy died of lung cancer in 1984.

Wednesday and Thursday's announcement are part of the vice president's "Family Agenda," which he is unveiling in bits and pieces throughout the week.

CNN's Jonathan Karl,Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report, which was written by Ian Christopher McCaleb.