Rumsfeld defends Army readiness
Despite the strains of the Iraq war, the Army today is “vastly better” and more capable now than it was two to eight years ago, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Wednesday.
“It has much more equipment, much better equipment, and it’s better trained and more experienced, and it is a better Army,” Rumsfeld said, at a briefing at the Pentagon.
Rumsfeld’s remarks came just one day after Lt. Gen. H. Steven Blum, chief of the National Guard Bureau, said that more than two-thirds of the Army National Guard’s brigades are not combat-ready, primarily because of a $21 billion shortfall in equipment – most of it lost in the war.
One defense analyst said Rumsfeld’s comments gloss over how badly the war has affected the Army.
“Rumsfeld’s assertion that this army is in a high state of readiness is yet another reflection of how detached he is from the realities of his own policies,” said Loren Thompson of the Lexington Institute, a policy research group in Arlington, Va.
But Rumsfeld suggested that the problem was all a matter of perception. Some units, he said, may have been judged by readiness standards for missions they were no longer performing.
WASHINGTON
Indian Affairs leader nominated
President Bush has nominated Carl J. Artman to oversee the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Interior Department agency that manages the 55.7 million acres of land held in trust for American Indians.
Artman, a member of the Oneida tribe of Wisconsin, serves as the Interior Department’s associate solicitor for Indian affairs.
Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne had promised earlier this year that an American Indian would be appointed to the post.
Bush sent the nomination to the Senate on Tuesday. If confirmed, Artman would replace Dave Anderson, who resigned in February 2005 to focus on business interests.
LOS ANGELES
Jury clears Merck in Vioxx lawsuit
A California jury on Wednesday cleared pharmaceutical company Merck & Co. of liability in the case of an elderly man who claimed his heart ailments were caused by the drug maker’s once-popular painkiller Vioxx.
After deliberating for about five hours in California’s first trial over the drug, the 12-person jury determined that Merck was not negligent, did not conceal information and that Vioxx did not cause Stewart Grossberg’s health problems.
Jurors, however, agreed that there were potential risks for users taking Vioxx based on scientific studies.
Grossberg, 71, had sought compensatory and punitive damages, and more than $214,000 for medical bills.
The two recent Merck victories bode well for the company at future trials because it shows that jurors are looking closely at the drug’s effects on users, legal observers said.