-Caveat Lector- from: http://www.aci.net/kalliste/ <A HREF="http://www.aci.net/kalliste/">The Home Page of J. Orlin Grabbe</A> ----- ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Impeachment Bombing Ex-U.N. Weapons Inspector Says Iraq Crisis Provoked by U.S. Butler & Clinton co-ordinated to justify bombing Former chief U.N. weapons inspector Scott Ritter says U.S. officials prodded inspection teams to return to Iraq last month to provoke a crisis to justify bombing. "What [chief U.N. weapons inspector] Richard Butler did last week with the inspections was a set-up," Ritter told The Post yesterday. "This was designed to generate a conflict that would justify a bombing." Ritter said U.S. government sources told him three weeks ago when the inspections resumed that "the two considerations on the horizon were Ramadan [the monthlong Muslim holiday beginning this weekend] and impeachment. "You have no choice but to interpret this as 'Wag the Dog.' You have no choice," he said. "If you start assessing what's happened since November 19 [when inspectors resumed their work in Iraq], you have to wonder if the U.S. isn't perverting a good cause." Ritter's comments - and his reference to the movie about a president who created a phony war to divert attention from his domestic problems - came hours before U.S. military forces struck in the Persian Gulf, destroying suspected biological and chemical weapons sites in Iraq. In mid-November, U.S. and British forces were on the verge of massive bombing attacks on Iraq. The attacks were called off at the last minute after Saddam Hussein reversed Baghdad's Oct. 31 refusal to cooperate with U.N. weapons inspectors. After Saddam capitulated, inspectors were rushed back in to resume their duties. "UNSCOM [the U.N. Special Commission] knew there were no weapons at the sites they were sending their inspectors to. We've been doing this for seven years. We know that when the inspectors leave, Iraq shuffles up the deck, moves the weapons." "Why then did the U.S. urge these inspectors to carry out immediate inspections?" Ritter assailed Butler's report, released late Tuesday night, that said Iraq was not complying with the inspections. That report was in contrast with one released by the International Atomic Energy Agency which said Iraq was complying. Ritter insists Butler's report - while necessary - was politically motivated. "If you dig around, you'll find out why Richard Butler yesterday ran to the phone four times. He was talking to his [U.S.] National Security adviser. They were telling him to sharpen the language in his report to justify the bombing." Ritter quit the inspections team in August, saying the Clinton administration and the United Nations had stymied the efforts of inspectors to uncover Saddam's weapons of mass destruction. He said that before he quit, inspectors had acquired detailed information about where weapons were hidden - but the Iraqis have since had time to move them and probers will have to begin the process all over again. Yesterday, Ritter charged that the only way to achieve the objective of disarming Iraq is to demand - under threat of a crippling, large-scale military attack - that they not only turn over their weapons, but detail for inspectors exactly how and where they diverted the weaponry to avoid detection. A limited air attack on Iraq will achieve very little, Ritter said, though he said it would be in keeping with the Clinton administration's latest policy of containment with Iraq. "No inspector should go back until Iraq admits it has lied and details how they hid their weapons. "Instead, we send inspectors back in to continue the failed process of inspections. There are still weapons in Iraq. There's no doubt about that. "But we've been doing this since 1991 and its not working." New York Post, Dec. 17, 1998 Impeachment Bombing Pentagon Questions Timing of War Clinton decision not related to noncompliance report 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." The Washington Times, Dec. 17, 1998 Impeachment Watch Impeachment Debate Starts Today Democrats say impeachment is un-American WASHINGTON - After a 24-hour pause while missiles rained onto Iraq, House Republicans and Democrats engaged in a furious clash Thursday over whether to proceed with impeachment proceedings while air strikes ordered by President Bill Clinton continue. The speaker-designate, Representative Bob Livingston, Republican of Louisiana, had postponed the impeachment showdown scheduled for Thursday morning out of reluctance to send a message that might be seen as undercutting the military. But amid deep Republican skepticism about Mr. Clinton's motives, Mr. Livingston was unwilling to wait long and decided to bring the four articles of impeachment to the floor Friday morning for a lengthy debate and vote on Saturday. Angry Democrats, however, used procedural maneuvers to block Mr. Livingston's plans for the debate, complaining that it would be un-American to impeach the commander in chief with troops in the field. The two-day debate schedule outlined by Mr. Livingston requires unanimous consent to waive the rules, which Democrats refused to give. As a result, Republicans said they would go ahead with the debate on Friday morning, but under the ordinary rules that allow only a single hour of debate and do not need consent of the minority. ''This is a terribly unpopular measure and no one wants to deal with impeachment, but it is before us and we must deal with it,'' Mr. Livingston said on the floor, noting that impeachment proceedings went forward against President Richard Nixon during the Vietnam War. ''There's no way to know when the troops will have completed their mission.'' ''We cannot refrain from advancing the people's business,'' he said. The House minority leader, Representative Dick Gephardt, Democrat of Missouri, said he was worried about the morale of the 24,000 U.S. soldiers, pilots and sailors engaged in hostile action. ''I want them to see nothing from us but support and unity of purpose,'' he said. During an earlier appearance with fellow Democrats, he denounced the idea of proceeding with impeachment now. ''That is wrong!'' he shouted. ''That is wrong! That is wrong! That is wrong!'' The White House reserved judgment on the new scheduling plans, saying that it was up to lawmakers to decide. Because neither side wants to hold an impeachment debate in just an hour, though, they were hoping to find some accommodation before the House resumes Friday morning. With the impeachment debate off the table for the day, the House briefly put aside its partisan skirmishing to approve on a 417-to-5 vote a resolution expressing support for troops in the Gulf. Voting against were Representatives Ron Paul, Republican of Texas; John Conyers, Democrat of Michigan; Mark Sanford, Republican of South Carolina; Barbara Lee, Democrat of California, and Cynthia McKinney, Democrat of Georgia. Representative Elizabeth Furse, Democrat of Oregon, voted ''present.'' The outgoing speaker, Representative Newt Gingrich, Republican of Georgia, spoke out strongly in favor of the strike against Iraq, diverging sharply from the Senate majority leader, Trent Lott, Republican of Mississippi, the House majority leader, Richard Armey, Republican of Texas, and other Republicans who raised suspicions about the timing of the bombing on the eve of impeachment. ''We have a chance to say today to the world: No matter what our constitutional process, whether it is an election eve or it is the eve of a constitutional vote, no matter what our debates at home, we are, as a nation, prepared to lead the world,'' Mr. Gingrich said on the House floor. For his part, Mr. Clinton tartly dismissed the criticism from Mr. Lott and others, calling his decision on Iraq ''the right thing for the country'' and denying on Thursday that he would ever order military action to help shore up his crumbling domestic position. ''I don't think any serious person would believe that any president would do such a thing,'' he said before an Oval Office meeting with Defense Secretary William Cohen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Henry Shelton, and other advisers. ''I don't believe any reasonably astute person in Washington would believe that Secretary Cohen and General Shelton and the whole rest of the national security team would participate in such an action,'' the president continued. The decision to defer the impeachment vote by a day may only postpone the inevitable. So few undecided members were left that White House strategists could figure no plausible way to forestall impeachment and the Senate trial to follow. ''It's fair to say it's over,'' said a White House adviser. ''It's an illegitimate partisan vote and we'll win it in the Senate.'' The sudden eruption of war with Iraq touched off a fierce debate at a closed-door caucus meeting of House Republicans on Wednesday evening at which dozens of members stood up to talk about what they should do about impeachment. Underlying the discussion was a strategic concern over whether a delay would alter the political equation that has turned so drastically against Mr. Clinton in recent days. The cynicism about his motives was palpable, particularly given that the House that takes office next month will have five more Democrats than the present one. ''Some members felt that the president's goal or intent was to get beyond Jan. 6 and force another impeachment resolution,'' said Representative David Joseph Weldon, Republican of Florida, who supports impeachment. ''Others felt that the national mood or momentum had been moving toward impeachment and if we did not move tomorrow, that momentum would be lost.'' The House had planned to convene at 10 A.M. Thursday to begin considering four articles of impeachment alleging that Mr. Clinton committed perjury, obstructed justice and abused his power in concealing his affair with Monica Lewinsky in civil and criminal proceedings. If the House approves any of the articles on a majority vote, it would send the matter to the Senate for a trial, with a two-thirds vote required to convict and remove Mr. Clinton from office. The Senate majority leader, meanwhile, ruled out a deal short of a Senate trial, such as censure. ''We will go to a trial and there won't be any deal-making,'' Mr. Lott said in an interview with CNN. International Herald Tribune, Dec. 18, 1998 Impeachment Terrorism Clinton Prepares for Terrorist Action Domestic bombing to be blamed on Iraq WASHINGTON — Federal buildings were placed on a maximum state of alert and authorities tightened security at airports around the country Thursday, bracing for any potential retaliation for U.S. and British air raids against Iraq. The General Services Administration (GSA), which oversees federal buildings, said security had been raised to a maximum state of alert from a heightened security alert. Security was visibly tighter up on Capitol Hill where regular workers noticed more guards on duty and inspections of car trunks taking place in House and Senate parking lots. Justice Department officials said extra security would vary from building to building. Some workers might be asked to lower their blinds or close curtains. In other cases concrete barriers might be placed to keep traffic at a distance. Anti-terrorism experts said the measures were prudent and necessary despite the infrequency of attacks on U.S. soil. "The suicide attacker who is truly determined and prepared to sacrifice himself in his quest is extremely difficult to guard against,'' said Kroll Information Services Director Ellen Tidd. Security in the United States was last tightened a notch in August when the U.S. launched missile attacks at alleged terrorist sites in Afghanistan and Sudan. Attorney General Janet Reno, the nation's top law officer, described the latest measures as common-sense. "We are trying to use whatever resources we have within the law and in an appropriate common-sense way to protect our institutions and our people,'' Reno told her weekly news conference. GSA spokesman Bill Bearden said the public should anticipate slight delays because of the measures. Larry Johnson, a former State Department security expert, said the United States was more vulnerable to retaliation than during the 1991 war against Iraq because fewer countries supported the latest action. If bombing continued through into the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan or if Iraqi casualties started to pile up then the risk would escalate further, he said. "If it's perceived the United States is beating up on Iraq without international support then the United States is putting a big target on itself,'' said Johnson, now a managing partner with security consultants, Berg Associates. A retaliatory attack by individuals sympathetic to Iraq could come anywhere in the world or the domestic United States, experts said. "Including Washington D.C., for show,'' Kroll's Tidd said, ''because of the huge news play that would get and the symbolic power of such an attack.'' The State Department said it was closing 40 embassies in Africa for the next two days as a precaution. "All the police officers on staff are more alert and ready,'' said Washington Metropolitan Airports Authority spokesman Tom Sullivan. The authority, that manages both Washington Reagan-National and Dulles airports said particular attention would be paid to unattended bags and motor vehicles. "Officers are not going to be as forgiving of some of the lapses of concentration that passengers make,'' Sullivan said. The Air Transport Association that represents major U.S. airlines said the next four days would be the busiest of the winter holiday season with planes averaging 84 percent full. At Chicago's O'Hare the visibility of security was raised. Police who were usually in plainclothes had gone into uniform, said city aviation spokesman Dennis Culloton. Fox News, Reuters, Dec. 18, 1998 ----- Aloha, He'Ping, Om, Shalom, Salaam. Em Hotep, Peace Be, Omnia Bona Bonis, All My Relations. Adieu, Adios, Aloha. Amen. 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