02:52 PM ET 10/20/98

U.S. military moves to stem criticism of Clinton

	 
	    By Charles Aldinger
	    WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. military has moved to stem
public criticism by some officers of President Clinton over the
Monica Lewinsky affair, warning that military law forbids such
attacks, defense officials said Tuesday.
	    A top general sent a warning to Marine Corps officers this
month.
	    Other service chiefs do not plan a formal admonition, but
officials said the issue would be watched after attacks on
Clinton by a Marine major and a just-retired Army colonel in
military newspapers.
	    Article 88 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice -- the
''UCMJ'' by which the armed forces are governed -- warns that an
officer ``who uses contemptuous words'' against the president or
other national or state official could be court-martialed.
	    Assistant Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Terrence Dake sent a
computer e-mail message to Marine generals earlier this month
warning them to stay out of the public debate over the White
House sexual scandal, including charges that Clinton lied about
his relationship with former White House intern Lewinsky.
	    Dake's message was sent out before a commentary by Marine
Maj. Shane Sellers in Monday's Navy Times newspaper.
	    ``One should call an adulterous liar exactly what he is -- a
criminal,'' wrote Sellers, a 20-year veteran who rose from the
enlisted ranks in the Corps.
	    The Los Angeles Times Tuesday first reported the Dake
message and said he had been alerted about an e-mail petition
circulated on the Internet by a group of Marine officers calling
for the president's impeachment.
	    Clinton has also been mocked in jokes making the rounds on
military Internet traffic, the Los Angeles Times added.
	    ``The Dake message was sent to remind them (senior officers)
of their obligation to the nation as Marine officers and their
obligation to the UCMJ,'' Army Col. Richard Bridges, a Pentagon
spokesman, told Reuters.
	    White House spokesman Joe Lockhart played down the
controversy Tuesday when asked about the Times report.
	    ``I think the president has enormous respect for the men and
women in uniform in this country and I think that respect is
reciprocated,'' he said.
	    Pentagon spokesman Ken Bacon said Defense Secretary William
Cohen did not feel there was a need to remind officers not to
criticize their civilian leaders and stressed that U.S. troops
were more concerned with the issues of pay, quality of life and
other matters.
	    ``You're focusing on a drop of water out of the ocean,''
Bacon told reporters. He added it was up to individual services
to determine any punishment for violation of the rules.
	    Marine officials said no decision had been made on whether
or not to discipline Sellers, who wrote that Clinton should be
held to the same standards that would apply to military officers
and others in positions of responsibility.
	    The Los Angeles Times noted that Clinton came under fire
when Army Col. John Baer wrote a letter to the Army Times,
published Oct. 12, urging Clinton to stop issuing signed letters
of appreciation to officers when they retire.
	    At his own recent retirement, Baer wrote, mention of the
certificate brought only scorn from soldiers who were there.
	    Baer said he sent back his certificate, torn in four pieces,
with a letter telling Clinton that ``character is important and
you've negotiated yours away.''
	    The Los Angeles Times reported that in 1993 Air Force Maj.
Gen. Harold Campbell was forced to retire after criticizing
Clinton in public comments as a draft dodger, womanizer and drug
user.
	    Air Force, Navy and Army officials said no formal reminder
was being planned to the services, but all of the officials
noted officers were well aware of the wording of the UCMJ.
	    An article written last month by an Air Force legal officer
in the base newspaper of F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming
explaining obligations to support Clinton under Article 88 has
been widely circulated on the Internet.
	 ^REUTERS@