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EDITORIAL

NEW YORK POST

. . . Via Vieques


November 28, 2001
Copyright © 2001
NEW YORK POST. All Rights Reserved.

Memo to Mike Bloomberg: The election is over. You won.

Which means that there's no reason for the mayor-elect to keep pandering to special-interest groups - as he did so blatantly yesterday.

At a news conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Bloomberg endorsed demands by political activists that U.S. Navy jets stop using the local island of Vieques for practice bombing.

This on a day when U. S. naval aviators were in combat over two countries - Afganistan and Iraq.

And substantial is the likelihood that they'll soon be flying over such geographically diverse locations as the Horn of Africa and the southern Philippines. Maybe simultaneously - for such is the threat posed by international terrorism.

Actually, this is a debate that should have ended on Sept. 11.

And, to a large extent, it has.

Only those who have a clearly enunciated opposition to a vigorous American military - e.g., nutcases like Ramsey Clark - speak regularly on the subject.

So why does Bloomberg feel a need to toss in his two cents' worth?

More to the point, where does the mayor-elect propose that those pilots acquire the very special skills needed to fly their missions safely - to kill America's enemies without endangering their shipmates and U.S. troops on the ground?

No other location has been found that replicates Vieques.

Yes, Gov. Pataki also has weighed in on behalf of the anti-bombing crowd.

There's no honor in that, either - but it's understandable: The guv is headed into a tough re-election battle next year.

Mike Bloomberg has no such excuses.

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