Nevada congressional delegates praise Bush

Benjamin Grove

Wednesday, April 11, 2001 | 10:39 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Nevada's delegation in Congress, in the state this week during a legislative break, were relieved today that 24 U.S. spy plane crew members detained in China appear to be headed home.

"I think the Bush administration did as well as they could do in this situation," Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., said. "We couldn't have issued an apology. We didn't do anything wrong."

Chinese officials agreed to release the U.S. crew after delicate negotiations over a U.S. "apology."

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., the Senate's No. 2 Democrat and a sometimes Bush critic, praised Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell.

"I said from the beginning that they had to be patient, and they were," Reid said. Reid approved of the language used by the Bush administration, which expressed "sincere regret" and said the United States was "very sorry" for the loss of the Chinese pilot.

"It was enough to get them home, so that was fine."

Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., said, "The language under the circumstances was appropriate, even though like most Americans I believe the United States was not at fault and no apology was necessary."

Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., a former Air Force combat pilot, said the Chinese fighter pilot who apparently crashed and died after the in-air collision with the much larger U.S. EP-3E Navy surveillance plane was "hot-dogging" and likely caused the accident.

"The American plane was doing a ordinary, day-in and day-out reconnaissance mission when the Chinese fighter made an aggressive maneuver and got too close to the airplane, and what resulted was a collision," Gibbons said.

"It wasn't a U.S. plane chasing down a fighter, I can tell you that. The U.S. plane could never make the maneuvers that the Chinese fighter could. In my view, the Chinese are at fault, not the U.S.

"The U.S. has nothing to be embarrassed about, ashamed of, or apologize for."

Gibbons said U.S. officials used language that they "technically" needed to use in order to bring the crewmen home.

Gibbons said the Chinese have almost certainly analyzed every inch of the U.S. plane by now, which he called "sovereign territory" of the United States. He demanded the Chinese give the plane back immediately.

Gibbons, who serves on the House Armed Services and Intelligence committees, said the only U.S. investigation to do at this point would be a possible review of international rules about emergency landings.