Former US defence chief Caspar Weinberger dies

WASHINGTON - Caspar Weinberger, who as Ronald Reagan's defence secretary oversaw a massive US military buildup, died on Tuesday at age 88.

Caspar Weinberger Jr. said his father had been suffering from pneumonia and high fever for about a week and died in the intensive-care unit of Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, about 64 km from his home in Mount Desert.

Weingberger's wife of 63 years, Jane, his son and daughter, Arlin, were at his bedside when he died.

"He was just a worn-out guy," his son, Caspar Weinberger Jr., told Reuters.

As head of the Pentagon, Weinberger strongly opposed concessions to Moscow in arms control negotiations and pushed hard for increased defence spending, such as Reagan's Strategic defence Initiative, a programme to develop a land-and space-based missile shield commonly known as "Star Wars."

"He should be remembered as a world statesman, a great American patriot," the son said.

"What he did with Reagan really brought down the Soviet Union. They stuck to their plan and simply outspent the Soviets despite all sorts of doubts here."

Weinberger became caught up in the Iran-Contra scandal that bedeviled the Reagan administration. He resigned the defence secretary job in 1987 and afterward was indicted on felony counts of lying to the independent counsel investigating the administration's programme for selling missiles to Iran and giving the proceeds to the right-wing Contra forces fighting Nicaragua's socialist Sandinista government.

He was pardoned by the first President Bush in 1992 days before he was to go on trial.

In 1985 Weinberger had called the Iran missile plan "absurd" but supported Reagan a year later after the president decided to send missiles and spare parts to Tehran.

Weinberger, who presided over an unprecedented peacetime military buildup costing more than US$1 (NZ$1.67) trillion, began his government career as a cost-cutter.

When he took the defence post in January 1981, Weinberger soon erased the nickname of "Cap the Knife" that critics had pinned on him in his penny-pinching days as federal budget director under President Richard Nixon.

Weinberger performed with gusto the task of persuading the US Congress to spend more than $1 trillion on arms in Reagan's first term and billions more after that.

He also steadfastly opposed concessions to Moscow in arms control negotiations advocated by Secretary of State George Shultz and other more moderate members of the Cabinet.

He made himself unpopular with many lawmakers by his unbending, often contentious push for funds for arms and for Reagan's Strategic defence Initiative - a programme, commonly known as "Star Wars," to develop a land- and space-based shield against incoming ballistic missiles.

A longtime member of Reagan's inner circle of California friends, Weinberger was one of the president's strongest supporters in the Cabinet.

"He was just a great American," the son said. "He was a respected world diplomat, a member of 'the greatest generation,' as Tom Brokaw called it." The younger Weinberger said his father was "first and foremost a Californian" but had moved to Maine for the benefit of his wife, a native of the state. The Weinbergers first bought a summer home in Maine in the mid-1970s and had lived their full time for the past few years.

Weinberger was a Harvard-educated lawyer and serve on Gen. Douglas MacArthur's intelligence staff during World War Two, his family said.

His funeral will be held at Arlington National Cemetery.

- REUTERS