Clinton wags the dog WASHINGTON (South News) - President Clinton's military strike on Iraq, parallels the ``Wag the Dog'' scenario aimed at diverting attention from an imminent impeachment vote. The similarities between Washington life and Hollywood art have attracted attention since ``Wag the Dog''premiered on Dec.17, 1997, and the Monica Lewinsky scandal erupted a month later. Clinton risks impeachment because of his attempts to hide his affair with Lewinsky, a former White House intern. Ironically, Robert De Niro, one of the stars and producers of ``Wag the Dog,'' was lobbying members of Congress against impeachment this week. ``This was something that he did on his own. He was not asked to do it,'' De Niro's spokesman Stan Rosenfield said in a telephone interview. In the movie, De Niro plays a behind-the-scenes spin doctor who mobilizes a squadron of media specialists to make up the distracting war. ``Wag the Dog'' was mentioned last February as charges of sex and perjury were lobbed at Clinton while a possible U.S. attack on Iraq loomed because of the inability of U.N. weapons inspectors to gain access to suspectedweapons sites. The same thing happened in August, when the United States launched air strikes on ``terrorist'' bases in Sudan and Afghanistan after the bombing of U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. The U.S. air attacks came just days after Clinton's grand jury testimony in the scandal. The House Judiciary Committee voted last week to approve four articles of imp eachment -- two counts of perjury and one each of obstruction of justice and abuse of power -- sending the matter to the full House for a vote scheduled for Thursday. Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List http://www.alexia.net.au/~www/mhutton
