Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, June 19, 1993 TAG: 9306190019
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Merrill McPeak told a Pentagon news conference that despite the general's honorable 32-year career, such comments were "wrong and cannot be tolerated."
Maj. Gen. Harold Campbell was found by an Air Force investigation to have made disrespectful comments about Clinton at a European awards dinner in May.
Newspaper reports and Pentagon sources have quoted the general as calling Clinton a "pot-smoking," "womanizing" and "draft-dodging" commander-in-chief, but McPeak said he could not specify the exact words Campbell used.
Campbell agreed to leave the service as of July 1 and will be fined "in the neighborhood of $7,000," the Air Force said in a statement.
The letter of reprimand, which was not disclosed, will remain in the permanent file of the 53-year-old general who flew 100 combat missions over North Vietnam.
"He deeply regrets that the incident occurred, and he realizes this is not the greatest thing that has happened to the Air Force," the four-star general said. "He is remorseful and fully understands he made a mistake."
But McPeak said the two-star general did not explain why he made the comments in the first place.
The punishment Campbell agreed to is far less harsh than what McPeak had desired, one Pentagon official said.
"He wanted to court-martial the guy," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
However, the decision was made not to draft the incident out since the highly decorated general had decided to leave the service.
Campbell's military awards and decorations include the Distinguished Service Medal, Silver Star, Legion of Merit with two oak leaf clusters, Distinguished Flying Cross with four oak leaf clusters and Bronze Star Medal.
by CNB