Senators should’ve squawked long ago

I was a pilot in the Air Force for 24 years and flew the B-47, B-58 and the SR-71. All these aircraft required air refueling, so I spent many hours behind the KC-135 in order to complete my missions. I came up behind my first KC-135 in 1959, so that tanker is old, like me, and must be replaced.

I, too, am very unhappy with the Air Force’s decision to have EADS build the next tanker aircraft. My biggest complaint is that a foreign company is building aircraft for our military. However, in defense of the Air Force, I lay the blame at the feet of our Congress. Today Sens. Murray and Cantwell have criticized the Air Force on their decision, but who put the Air Force in the box that crated their EADS decision? Remember, Congress wanted a competition for this contract. So what companies were they to use, since there are only two major large aircraft manufacturers in the world?

Second, Congress enacted the Buy American legislation, but exempted many foreign countries. It just so happens that every one of the foreign countries that are manufacturing parts for the A-330 are on the exempted list. The reason I lay the fault at the feet of many of those in Congress is that all they had to do was take the reason our senators have now raised and allow the Air Force to go with a sole-source contract with Boeing. Now we have the result of a competition and the senators do not like it. The bottom line is: Why didn’t those in Congress stand up and shout their concerns that we are hearing today, when some in Congress directed a competition for the new tanker contract?

James H. Shelton Jr.

Snohomish