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Joseph Lopez Replaces
Leighton Smith as NATO Commander in Bosnia
Defense Secretary William Perry told reporters on his plane returning from a European trip that Smith had not been pressured to retire. On the contrary, he said, Smith had been asked to stay on the job past April. "But we didn't see the basis for extending it indefinitely. I think Adm. Smith did a first class job and is doing a first
class job ... We are grateful to him for having done that," Perry said.
The announcement followed flat denials in Europe, Bosnia and Washington of a report that Smith had already resigned.
Smith himself denied the report but, presumably aware of the announcement about to be made, added that any word on his future would come from Washington. "I serve at the pleasure of the president," Smith said after talks with Croatian President Franjo Tudjman in the presidential palace. "That is my duty. That is what I signed up to do 34 years ago, in fact 34 years on this very day, and I am perfectly delighted with what I've done so far."
White House officials said the Defense Department recommended Lopez' nomination about three weeks ago and Clinton approved it and sent it on to NATO leaders who approved it within hours of Thursday's announcement. Lopez, 56, was a river division commander in the Vietnam War and led a joint U.S.-Vietnamese naval assault into Cambodia in May 1970. He wears medals with three combat V for valor pins.
He was commander of the U.S. 6th Fleet in Europe and NATO's strike and support forces in southern Europe from July 1992 to December 1993 and is now deputy chief of naval operations. |
WASHINGTON, June 6 (Reuters) - President Clinton has nominated Vice Adm. Joseph Lopez to replace Adm. Leighton Smith as commander of NATO forces in Bosnia and southern Europe and of U.S. naval forces in Europe, the Pentagon announced Thursday. Capt. Mike Doubleday, a Pentagon spokesman, said Smith had already served well beyond the normal end of his tour in April and Lopez would probably take over in a matter of weeks.
Clinton nominated Lopez to replace Smith as commander of NATO's Southern Command, commander of the NATO peacekeeping force in Bosnia and commander of U.S. naval forces in Europe. Doubleday said he did not know how soon the Senate would confirm Lopez so he could take command. "I believe that you could anticipate it would be weeks rather than months but I don't have an exact timeline," he said. He said Smith, 56, would remain in the job until Lopez took over but then would likely retire.
Berserkistan, May 14 · Lopez May Replace Smith as NATO Commander
Interview with Vice Adm. Joseph Lopez Navy Editor Service
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