-Caveat Lector- WJPBR Email News List [EMAIL PROTECTED] Peace at any cost is a Prelude to War! Conduct unbecoming By David H. Hackworth ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -- In early November, a Pentagon general whispered in my ear, "SecDef William Cohen is spending 250,000 defense bucks to throw a farewell party for himself at the Beverly Hilton on the 30th." The general, who asked that his name not be used in fear of being shot at dawn, was outraged. "Why should U.S. taxpayers shell out for the SecDef's job search?" The word on Cohen was hardly a shocker, just more of the same. But at least there are still top brass around who haven't sold their souls to the company store. The Hilton staff quickly confirmed the general was on target -- Pentagon plastic was covering 17 rooms at $400 a night for five nights. Another "deep throat" told me Cohen was indeed throwing the party, "personally orchestrated in minute detail by Mrs. Cohen," who apparently really digs Hollywood. Then the lies, obfuscation and cover-up began. Now I've been there/done that when it comes to dealing with the Pentagon spin machine. Under the Clinton administration, they lied to me about a general who flew his enlisted sweetie from Italy to the United States and about every fight our troops have been in from Somalia to the recent disaster involving the USS Cole. They lied about Russian merchant ships spying on U.S. nuclear subs and again over Adm. Mike Boorda and his undeserved valor awards, to mention a few of the more public whoppers. Not only were they caught red-handed in every one of these instances, the Air Force general's "Come Fly With Me" case is actually being used in a class for press officers on how not to do damage control! Per protocol, I called a Pentagon flack; four days and six phone messages later, nada. Another four days passed, still nada. Only after I arc-lighted that five-sided House of Deception was a flack suddenly on the horn. Two days after I gave him my questions and deadline -- and two hours after my deadline -- another Pentagon flack rang and read me answers directly from the office of chief Pentagon liar Ken Bacon. Further questions got "someone will ring you in the morning," then stonewalling for three more days, until I finally threatened to firebomb the place. The first cover-up took the form of a press release announcing that Cohen and his ex-TV anchor trophy wife would host a dinner honoring Bob Hope and the USO "for their contributions to entertaining troops." When I checked with Hope contacts in Los Angeles, no one knew about the event, and a guy close to him said, "Why? He'd have to be brought in a stretcher, and believe me, he wouldn't remember a thing." This was passed to a Pentagon flack with more questions. A week later another Pentagon press release announced: "Secretary of Defense to Honor Jack Valenti with Citizen Patriot Award." My question -- "What's Valenti done to deserve this kind of royal treatment over millions of other World War II heroes?" -- still goes unanswered along with others regarding this blatant waste of defense dollars. Nearly 100 military musicians, entertainers, a drill team and color guard will be flown from all over the country to Beverly Hills on our nickel. There they'll perform for Valenti and a roomful of Hollywood VIPs in the plush, palm-tree-studded Coconut Room, where the champagne will be flowing at your expense. Meanwhile, the Pentagon isn't making it on the more than $300 billion a year we presently give it. Moms tell me they mail their kids toilet paper; sergeants say there's no money for ammo; and Navy chiefs, pilots and tank commanders say there's no dough for training or spares. But, boy, can Cohen -- who's spent too many years inside the beltway living high on the public teat -- throw a party. It may be just petty cash to "Daddy Warbucks" Cohen, but $250,000 sure could fill a warehouse full of toilet paper. As for the Pentagon Pinocchios, they keep tripping over their crook stories with absolutely no shame, cranking out more case studies for that damage-control class. And I'm left wondering how these sorry double-talkers -- who somehow are supposed to live by the honor code when lying's what they do for a living -- can look their kids in the eye. � 2000 2000 David H. Hackworth Distributed by King Features Syndicate Inc. *COPYRIGHT NOTICE** In accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. 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