-Caveat Lector-
At 01:03 PM 12/17/98 -0500, you wrote:
> -Caveat Lector-
>
>In a message dated 12/16/98 9:23:19 PM Eastern Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>writes:
>
>> >
>> > They don't have to strike today, tomorrow or next month.
>> > The people have no where go . EXCEPT TO PUT UP A
>> > SMOKE SCREEN to cover up for a criminal politician, there
>> > is no reason why this must be done today,
>> >
>
>The UNSCOM report had just come out stating that there is every sign that
>Saddam is going ahead with his WMD program. In the meantime, Saddam had shut
>the UNSCOM down so surveillance was no longer taking place. Since Iraq could
>develop a major capability in just a few months, Clinton had to act fast.
>Since launching an attack during Ramadan would be awkward, Wednesday was a
>good choice.
>
>I trust you are not like Trent "draft dodger" Lott who complained a short
>while back that Clinton missed an opportunity to bomb Iraq. Now, of course,
>he is in a rage over the bombing. Could it be that Lott is so unprincipled
>that his stance merely depends upon what political wind seems convenient?
>Incidentally, Lott was full of praise for the racist group that Bob "family
>values" Barr recently keynoted for.
>
>I do agree that innocent people will be injured and killed in addition to
>their property destroyed and they will be indirectly harmed by destruction of
>utilities. That is why people like Lugar, Gingrich, and Lott should not
be so
>eager for war as a way to prove their manhood, i.e. show machismo by sending
>other to die. Strange how on the right, with people like Safire who have
been
>screaming for the US to bomb Iraq, there are now only pacifists.
>
>Jerry harp
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------
Apparently, some persons disagree.......
Barb
Pentagon officials dispute timing
The Washington Times
12/17/98 Rowan Scarborough
The White House notified the Joint Chiefs of Staff on Sunday that President
Clinton would order air strikes this week, 48 hours before he saw a United
Nations report declaring Iraq in noncompliance with weapons inspectors, it was
learned from authoritative sources last night.
Several Pentagon officials have questioned Mr. Clinton's timing to order
strikes on the eve of the House impeachment debate.
Pentagon sources said National Security Council aides told the Joint Chiefs to
quickly update a bombing plan that was shelved in mid-November and were told
that a strike would be ordered in a matter of days.
Israeli spokesman Aviv Bushinsky said yesterday in Jerusalem that President
Clinton discussed preparations for an attack with Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu just minutes before Mr. Clinton flew home from Israel's
Ben-Gurion Airport on Tuesday, ending a three-day peace mission.
White House spokesman Joe Lockhart insisted that Mr. Clinton made the strike
decision yesterday based on the U.N. finding of noncompliance.
Nevertheless, a senior congressional source, who asked not to be named, said
senior Pentagon officers expressed great skepticism to him about the raids.
This source said that the White House eagerness to launch air strikes grew
with intensity as a parade of centrist Republicans announced they would vote
to impeach the president, in a vote originally scheduled for today.
"I have had senior flag and general officers question the timing," the
congressional source said. "I have had senior military officers laughing. I
hate to say that. ... Why now? He hasn't built a coalition. He hasn't done
anything. Why this timing?"
Reporters and others traveling with the president in the Middle East remarked
during last weekend that the president seemed uncharacteristically unconcerned
about events unfolding in Washington, and several White House aides expressed
puzzlement that the president seemed to have lost his "fighting spirit." Mrs.
Clinton was noticeably cool to the president as their visit there continued
and drew away from him on several public occasions.
The Joint Chiefs were described as strongly supporting yesterday's attack.
They wanted to launch missiles in mid-November, after Saddam Hussein evicted
inspectors. The president called off the attack just minutes before "H hour"
after Saddam promised to cooperate with inspectors.
Defense Secretary William S. Cohen yesterday strongly disputed charges the
attack is linked to impeachment.
"The only factor, from my point of view ... or for anyone else's point of
view, was what is the national security interests of the United States," Mr.
Cohen said. "We are convinced. We have absolutely no doubt this is the right
decision."
Mr. Cohen also said war planners preferred not to attack during Ramadan, the
monthlong Islamic observance beginning this weekend.
This is the second time military officers and experts have questioned whether
Mr. Clinton timed U.S. military action to take attention away from the Monica
Lewinsky scandal.
In August, as Miss Lewinsky finished testimony before a federal grand jury,
Mr. Clinton ordered missile strikes against terrorism training camps in
Afghanistan and a pharmaceutical plant in Sudan in retaliation for the bombing
of two U.S. embassies in Africa.
Mr. Clinton's aides initially said the plant produced precursors to VX nerve
gas and had ties to Osama bin Laden, the exiled Saudi Arabian who has vowed a
reign of terror to rid the Persian Gulf region of Americans.
But administration officials later backed off some claims, saying that
precursors were found only in tested soil at the site. Sudan has denied the
plant was anything more than a pill factory and invited reporters and
international officials to inspect the bombed building.
Republican sources said Congress' near-unanimous support for the August
strikes emboldened the White House to use the military again. "Now they feel
they have nothing to lose," the source said.
As planning intensified Monday, one officer said, the White House was
particularly interested in a statement made Sunday by House Majority Whip Tom
DeLay, Texas Republican.
Asked on NBC's "Meet the Press" if he would believe Mr. Clinton's
justifications for an attack, Mr. DeLay answered: "No, because he hasn't done
that all this year. Remember about the time he was supposed to give the [Paula
Jones] deposition in January, he sent the troops and rattled his sabers at
Saddam Hussein? Nothing happened. ... I'm suggesting that the president of the
United States cannot be believed, and I think it's reflective in his foreign
policy. ... Saddam Hussein knows it, and that's why he jerks his chain all the
time."
Said John Hillen, an analyst at the Council on Foreign Relations, "You know
this is a 'Wag the Dog.'" He was referring to the movie about a fictitious
U.S. president who stages a war in the Balkans to divert attention from a sex
scandal.
"The same conditions that existed yesterday will exist tomorrow, will exist
next week," Mr. Hillen said. "The U.S. still lacks a strategic goal. We still
only have a rudimentary military plan. I'm hard pressed to figure out in my
mind some strategic calculation that necessitates an attack tonight, tomorrow
or this weekend."
>
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DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER
==========
CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic
screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soapboxing! These are sordid matters
and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright
frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects
spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL
gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers;
be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and
nazi's need not apply.
Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.
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