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War is an ugly thing but not the ugliest of things; the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feelings which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. A man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.
- John Stuart Mill

Those that say that the actions of the Commander in Chief are just and right may be correct. However, fact and circumstance of the actions of our President provide a correlation that cannot be ignored. Do not be swayed by the opinions of others. Seek the truth. Actions speak louder than words. Knowing how one has acted can tell you volumes more than anything they will say to you.

Here are the facts linked to the indisputable spectrum of time. Decide for yourself the intention and motivation behind the action. No claims are made here.

Before you are the facts as understood at this time. Please contact me if any of the information presented is disputed or inaccurate. I only seek to present the truth.

Below a table is presented. Three columns provide detailed data. A row represents a moment in time, a specific day. A Willie's Wiggles is the day during which information about a Clinton scandal was disclosed. Wag the Willie states the foreign policy action taken by the United States government.

These are the facts: don't listen to the fiction. Use your mind don't be blind.

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Date	Willie's Wiggles	Wag the Willie
November 1996 Day before the election	5th, The Presidential Elections - Bill Clinton wins despite a late rally and a final grueling 96-hour campaign tour by Robert Dole.	4th, Two U.S. F-16 pilots fire missiles at Iraqi radar sites near the 32nd parallel in the southern no-fly zone.
Saturday, Jan. 17, 1998	Lewinsky Scandal Breaks
January 26, 1998	Denies ever having any relationship with that woman, Monica Lewinsky	Clinton intensifies U.S. pressure on Iraq to open all sites, warning Saddam Hussein not to ``defy the will of the world.''
February 23, 1998		Annan and Iraq sign a deal allowing full access to suspected Iraqi weapon sites. New conditions are added to where UNSCOM can go.
June 30, 1998	Tripp first testifies before the grand jury. U.S. District Court Judge Susan Webber Wright ordered Mr. Clinton’s deposition in the Paula Jones case to be made public.	F-16 fighter fires a missile at an Iraqi surface-to-air missile battery in southern Iraq after Iraqi radar locks on four British patrol planes. Iraq denies any aggression. The first time since jets did so in November 1996.
August 5, 1998		Iraq announces it's cutting ties with weapons inspectors, saying it sees no move toward lifting sanctions. It leaves long-term monitoring in place.
August 6, 1998	Lewinsky Testifies Before Starr Grand Jury
August 17, 1998	President Clinton's admission of an inappropriate relationship with Monica Lewinsky
August 20, 1998	Monica Lewinsky testified before the federal grand jury and described how the president had encouraged her to continue denying the relationship and to submit a false affidavit. NYT breaks story about Gore's fund-raising memo.	Clinton ordered the attack on “terrorist facilities” in Sudan and Afghanistan.
August 26, 1998	Starr report to allege Clinton power abuse	Scott Ritter quits UNSCOM Sudan indicts Clinton as a war criminal
September 21, 1998	Starr Delivers Report to Hill Monday,
Wednesday, Sept. 9, 1998	Tripp-Lewinsky Phone Tapes Released
Saturday, Oct. 31		Iraq suspends all cooperation with U.N. weapons inspectors. The United States and Britain warn Iraq of potential military action to force cooperation.
November 13, 1998	Clinton settled the lawsuit with Ms. Jones by paying her $850,000 Judge Starr delivered to Congress an additional 4 boxes of evidence against Clinton
Saturday, Nov. 14, 8 a.m.		Clinton orders a massive strike against Iraq
Sunday, Nov. 15, 3:00 a.m.		Clinton calls strike off.
Tuesday, Nov. 17, 1998	Impeachment Hearings Begin Starr to testify
Friday, Dec. 11, 1998	The Committee Votes
December 13, 1998		President Clinton issued a highly classified order to the Pentagon on Sunday morning that began a 72-hour countdown to the air assault on Iraq.
December 15, 1998	CLINTON TOLD ON AIR FORCE ONE THAT HE CURRENTLY DOES NOT HAVE THE VOTES TO DEFEAT IMPEACHMENT IN THE HOUSE.	Clinton makes final decision to undertake military action after he had holds a discussion aboard Air Force One [Tuesday] with Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and a half-dozen members of Congress who traveled with them to the Middle East."
Wednesday, Dec. 16, 1998	Impeachment Eve	President Clinton and British Prime Minister Tony Blair order ``a strong, sustained series of air strikes'' to attack Iraq's nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs.
Saturday, Dec. 19, 1998	2:21 PM ET Clinton Impeached on 2 out of the 4 articles.	Pentagon To Recommend End Of Iraq Strikes - Officials 5.38 p.m. ET
January 14, 1999	Trial begins in Senate	Iraq is bombed through out the trial
March 23, 1999	Nato begins the Kosovo Crisis	Two days later the Cox Report was to be released. Its release is suddenly delayed.

Costs Associated with US Military Engagements
Cost of Gulf War to US	$7.4 billion
Iraqi Build up 91-11/98	$7 billion
Desert Fox	$1 billion
Bosnia	$9 billion
Kosovo	$13 billion
Cost of Cruise Missile	$1 Million aprox.
Aug 20	100 Missiles
Dec 16	400 Missiles

Costs Associated with Starr Investigation
Lewinsky Investigation	$4.8 million
Starr Investigation	$40 million

Wag the Dog Wiggles
Through the Timeline
November 1996
ABCNews.com 8/31/96 Saddam sends Iraqi forces into northern Iraq, capturing a key city inside the Kurdish “safe haven” protected by U.S.-led forces.
ABCNews.com 9/3/96-/9/4/96 "U.S. ships and airplanes fire scores of cruise missiles at military targets in a move to punish the Iraq military and discourage it from following Saddam. Clinton extends the southern no-fly zone to the suburbs of Baghdad."
Electronic Telegraph 9/4/96 Hugh Davies "ROBERT DOLE, the Republican Party's presidential candidate, scrambled yesterday to counter an expected surge in the popularity of President Clinton for confronting Saddam Hussein with military action. All he could think of was to urge the leader to increase the pressure on the Iraqi dictator. He trusted that the missile attacks marked "the beginning of decisive action" to curtail Saddam's power. Mr Dole was shackled by his past as a Senate leader who has never questioned the President during an operation abroad. A grumpy Mr Dole made a point of ignoring the role of Mr Clinton, even though the President had mentioned George Bush's Gulf war leadership. Mr Dole declared that he stood "four-square" behind the US military. "America and its allies can no longer tolerate Saddam's repeated attempts to erode the restraints placed on his regime and to violently assert his authority." The Republican's problem is that the operation, as planned at the moment, is virtually risk-free for Mr Clinton. Few US casualties are expected as no ground action is being considered. The outcome, of course, could be a bombing in America. The FBI is certain that Saddam was behind the World Trade Centre explosion in New York. But so far Mr Clinton seems to be sitting pretty. A Gallup poll yesterday, taken before the air strikes, gave him a 21-point lead in the presidential race...."
The New York Times, Sept. 11, 1996 -- Iraqi forces fire a missile at two F-16s in the northern no-fly zone. The United States responds by sending more bombers, stealth fighters and another aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf region. Iraq accuses Kuwait of an ``act of war'' for allowing U.S. jets into Kuwait.
The New York Times, November, 1996 -- Two U.S. F-16 pilots fire missiles at Iraqi radar sites near the 32nd parallel in the southern no-fly zone. (The day before the election)
Electronic Telegraph 11/04/96 Iraq denies jet incident, IRAQ is denying Pentagon reports that a US F-16 fired a missile at an Iraqi radar site after the jet was targeted in the no-fly zone over southern Iraq. A Foreign Ministry spokesman described the report as "absolutely baseless" and part of "American-style electioneering".
Electronic Telegraph 11/05/96 Stephen Robinson "AMERICA votes today in an election that seems certain to return President Bill Clinton to the White House for another four years.Unless every opinion poll proves to be wrong, Mr Clinton will become the first Democrat to win two terms in office since Franklin Roosevelt. The President appears to be heading towards victory despite a late rally and a final gruelling 96-hour campaign tour by Robert Dole, the Republican contender. The final opinion polls showed that Mr Dole had reduced Mr Clinton's once huge lead. But the White House entourage remained confident as the President wound down his re-election effort. Most polls showed that the lead was more than 10 points, narrowing slightly...."
Electronic Telegraph 11/27/96 Christopher Lockwood "IRAQIS danced in the streets yesterday at the news that the first step in ending the country's international isolation, a limited oil-for-food deal, had been agreed in New York..."
The New York Times, Oct. 7, 1997 -- U.N. arms inspectors tell the Security Council that Iraq still refuses to disclose full details of its banned weapons programs and is imposing restrictions on the inspections.
The New York Times, November, 1997 -- Iraq orders American weapons inspectors to leave the country immediately, accusing them of spying. President Clinton orders aircraft carrier to the Gulf to join a military force already in place.
Las Vegas Sun 01/13/98 Mrs. Tripp wears a hidden microphone for the FBI and records a conversation with Ms. Lewinsky.
The New York Times, Jan. 13, 1998 -- Iraq effectively blocks a U.N. weapons inspection team led by an American, failing to provide escorts needed to enter sites.
ABCNews.com 01/14/98 Lewinsky hands Tripp a three-page document of "talking points," the last contact between the women.
ABCNews.com 01/16/98 Prosecutors approach Lewinsky and unsuccessfully seek her cooperation.

more likely to impeach him, Clinton might expect to come under unprecedented pressure to resign and spare the nation a protracted trial in the Senate. A Washington Post-ABC poll published Tuesday found that 58 percent of respondents thought Clinton ought to resign rather than fight removal in a Senate trial. But several political analysts and pollsters contacted by Reuters predicted that public support for Clinton might harden if he is impeachment, and said he would have many reasons to fight on. ``We're all looking for some softening in support for Clinton but it's not there yet,'' said Andrew Kohut of the Pew Research Center, who criticized the wording of the Washington Post-ABC poll question as confusing. ``You can't take the public for granted. Things might change. But the public has stuck with him through everything throughout this scandal,'' Kohut said....

Reuters 12/15/98 U.S. military forces in the Gulf have been put on high alert based on significant, credible evidence'' of possible imminent terrorist action against Americans in the area, the Pentagon said Tuesday.The statement by Defense Department spokesman Ken Bacon in response to questions from reporters came a day after the State Department said U.S. diplomats and citizens in seven Gulf states could be in danger from attack, possibly in the next 30 days. Most of our forces in the Gulf are now in a threat condition called 'Charlie', which is the third out of four threat conditions,'' Bacon said. The definition of 'ThreatCon Charlie' is that an incident has occurred or intelligence has been received indicating that some form of terrorist action is imminent.''...

Drudge Report 12/15/98 Matt Drudge 22:29:48 UTC SOURCES: CLINTON TOLD ON AIR FORCE ONE THAT HE CURRENTLY DOES NOT HAVE THE VOTES TO DEFEAT IMPEACHMENT IN THE HOUSE. 223 MEMBERS ARE NOW PREDICTED TO VOTE FOR ONE OR ALL OF COMMITTEE ARTICLES. NUMBERS COULD STILL SHIFT, WARN CONGRESSIONAL COUNTERS. BUT IT BECAME CLEAR LATE TUESDAY THAT A MAJORITY HAS LIKELY BEEN REACHED.

FOX 12/15/98 Chief U.N. arms inspector Richard Butler apparently has concluded that Iraq has not restored full cooperation with his weapons experts, diplomats said Tuesday.Butler, ..., hand-delivered his crucial report to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan late Tuesday. Diplomats described the document as drawing negative'' conclusions about Iraq's cooperation with arms inspections, which Baghdad first limited on Aug. 5 and halted on Oct. 31. The inspectors returned to Iraq on Nov. 14. Butler's report could provide a basis for possible U.S.-British air strikes against Iraq, which both countries have said could be conducted without any further diplomatic consultations or warnings. In contrast, the diplomats said a report from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), responsible for nuclear disarmament, gave a positive evaluation of Baghdad's compliance in allowing inspections. Butler's report, expected to be released late Tuesday or Wednesday, is to determine whether the Security Council will conduct a comprehensive review of its relations with Iraq that Baghdad hopes will eventually lead to a lifting of U.N. sanctions in force since its 1990 invasion of Kuwait. Baghdad has allowed a number of inspections without incident, but it halted three of them and has turned over only one of the 12 weapons-related documents Butler requested. The most serious standoff was on Dec. 10 when UNSCOM contended it was blocked from entering the ruling Baath party offices unless it limited inspectors to four and said in advance what the group was seeking. UNSCOM has also complained it was barred on Nov. 26 from a military base of the People's Mujahedeen, an Iranian opposition group. And Friday, a Baghdad-based chemical monitoring team was prevented from inspecting a warehouse on grounds that it was the Muslim Sabbath. In Washington, State Department spokesman James Foley, in apparent anticipation of Butler's report, said all of these incidents are simply unacceptable.'' Iraq submitted its own detailed analysis of the inspectors' actions Monday, saying that the teams were able to interview all individuals required and to reach all the sites they wished to inspect.'' But the report, obtained by Reuters, accused several teams, including one led by Australian Roger Hill, in charge of concealment activities, of carrying out its work in an ''intrusive and provocative manner,'' even inspecting a private residence in an effort to provoke Iraq. Baghdad halted cooperation with UNSCOM on grounds that it served Washington's interests by refusing to declare that Iraq's forbidden chemical, biological and ballistic potential had been eliminated. Clearances from UNSCOM and from the Vienna-based IAEA are a key requirement for ending the stringent economic sanctions.

December 16, 1998

AP 12/16/98 Waiel Faleh Anti-aircraft guns opened fire in Baghdad early Thursday, and U.S. and British officials announced they had launched a series of airstrikes. No attacking planes or missiles were immediately seen over the Iraqi capital. The Iraqi blasts created loud explosions, violently shaking the glass windows of the Information Ministry building near the center of Baghdad where foreign reporters are based. Orange glows streaked toward the sky as the anti-aircraft guns let loose volley after volley of shots. The explosions begin about 12:49 a.m. Thursday (4:49 p.m. EST Wednesday). A barrage of blasts lighted the sky several hours after the Clinton administration warned that it would make a military strike against Iraq at any time. President Clinton ordered airstrikes on Iraq over a protracted impasse with Iraq over U.N. weapons inspections just minutes before the blasts began. Less than an hour later, Prime Minister Tony Blair announced the British had participated in the airstrikes. Earlier in the day, long lines formed outside Baghdad gas stations and customers cursed Clinton for planning an attack before the holy Islamic month of Ramadan, which is expected to begin Sunday....Few people were out at the time of the explosions and and few cars were on the streets of the capital. Air raid sirens sounded briefly in Baghdad shortly before midnight local time. Earlier, Iraqi television interrupted regular programming to play patriotic music and footage of Iraqi commandos training with machine guns, hand grenades and rocket-propelled grenade launchers. Any strike would come from the Persian Gulf, where the United States has 24,100 military men and women. There also are 22 warships, including eight with Tomahawk cruise missiles, and 201 aircraft, including 72 on the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise. Britain has 22 strike aircraft in the region. Earlier Wednesday, three trucks loaded with luggage left the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad. About a half-hour later, three busloads of weapons inspectors also left the U.N. compound, followed by four white U.N. cars carrying spare tires on top. ...Iraq says it has complied with every U.N. demand, and accuses Butler of prolonging the inspections at the behest of the United States.On Tuesday, Butler gave a report to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan in which he said Iraq's claim to be free of banned weapons cannot be accepted without further verification.'' But verification is impossible as Iraq is obstructing the inspectors, he said.

Reuters 12/16/98 The air strikes against Iraq will probably give President Clinton a brief boost in U.S. public opinion, but while they will delay the process of his impeachment, they will not derail it, analysts said Wednesday. There will be a 36-hour bounce for the president as the nation rallies around our military personnel, but it will only be temporary, and we will then get back to business in the impeachment debate,'' pollster John Zogby said. Clinton ordered the air strikes on Iraq after Baghdad refused to cooperate with U.N. inspectors trying to find and destroy Iraq's chemical, biological and nuclear weapons. The strikes began a day before the House of Representatives was due to debate and vote on articles of impeachment charging Clinton with perjury, obstruction of justice and abuse of power. Republican leaders decided to delay that debate for a day or two. But some senior Republicans, including Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, immediately questioned Clinton's motives in launching the attack. I cannot support this military action in the Persian Gulf at this time,'' Lott, a Mississippi Republican, said. Both the timing and the policy are subject to question.'' He was supported by some House Republicans and Georgia Sen. Paul Coverdell. But most other Republican senators said they strongly backed the military action.... Political scientist Gary Jacobson of the University of California, San Diego, said Lott's attack demonstrated the level of distrust between Clinton and Republicans, which he said was virtually unprecedented in U.S. history.... If the Republicans do face a backlash, it will be in elections of the year 2000,'' he said. Pollster Andrew Kohut of the Pew Research Center said Republicans were taking a big risk by questioning the president during a military operation. Lott's statement was very ill-advised and won't help the Republicans. Americans want bipartisanship to prevail during foreign crises,'' he said. He said he did not expect much change in Clinton's already high approval ratings but thought Republican unpopularity, already growing in recent weeks, could deepen. Clinton seemed certain to face criticism, both at home and abroad, for the timing of the Iraq attack. Former Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger, who served in the Republican administration of George Bush, said that even if the attack was necessary, the timing was questionable. Texas Republican Rep. Ron Paul went so far as to say that Clinton's action in attacking Iraq was itself illegal and possibly impeachable. This is an outrage, and we shouldn't be participating in it. We should not permit our president to do this. It's very dangerous. It has nothing to do with national security,'' Paul said. As a matter of fact, I think waging war without congressional approval is an impeachable act.''

AP 12/16/98 Darlene Superville Rep. Bob Livingston knew he wouldn't have a trouble-free move into the House speaker's chair, but the explosion of events Wednesday quickly brought home the magnitude of the role he is about to assume. As the House began to complete plans for a debate Thursday on articles of impeachment against President Clinton, the White House ordered military airstrikes on Iraq for Saddam Hussein's repeated defiance of U.N. weapons inspectors. The decision pre-empted the impeachment debate for the time being as House Republicans reluctantly agreed to a brief delay. It also left Clinton's GOP critics frustrated by the fact that he may have outsmarted them yet again. Livingston, R-La., said that while Clinton may have won for the moment, the impeachment process will move forward in the House and soon. The coincidence of that legislation and the action of our government is unique. That's all I'll say about that,'' a displeased Livingston said after emerging from a closed meeting with the GOP rank-and-file. But in the interest of support of our troops, we think that tomorrow the only thing that we need do is go forward and pass a resolution of support for our troops.'' Instead of a debate heavy with the constitutional and other implications of impeachment, the House on Thursday will vote on a resolution supporting U.S. troops participating in Operation Desert Fox.'' Republicans support the effort to contain Saddam, Livingston said. But he made it clear that the impeachment process would not be derailed. We reserve our right to take our constitutional action under the impeachment clause of the Constitution, and we reserve our right within the next few days to complete the business that brought us here in these last few hours,'' he said. Livingston tried, albeit unrealistically, to assume the speaker's post without controversy. The action against Iraq was unforeseen, but impeachment was shaping up to be all his, particularly since the current speaker, Rep. Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., practically withdrew from the scene after announcing he would leave Congress. Livingston appeared to have succeeded in his plans to lie low during the impeachment debate until last weekend, however, when he said the House would not vote on any resolution to censure the president. He said such action would violate the careful balance of separation of powers.''

12/17/98 Freeper GoodSense, MSNBC, On thursday nights broadcast, Tibble, the on-the-spot fireworks commentator for MSNBC remarked that he had just arrived across the border just seven days ago.

AP 12/17/98 VIENNA, Austria -- Not all U.N. weapons inspectors are down on Iraq. The agency investigating Iraq's nuclear program says it has run into far fewer problems than Richard Butler's inspection teams. Butler's U.N. Special Commission, known as UNSCOM, rejects Baghdad's claims it has destroyed all of its weapons of mass destruction, and he accuses Iraq of obstructing teams trying to verify their elimination. UNSCOM inspects and monitors chemical and biological weapons programs as well as those involving long-range missiles. The International Atomic Energy Agency, on the other hand, has said it believes Iraq no longer has much to hide in the area of nuclear weapons. The IAEA, based in Vienna, has given Iraq fairly good marks, saying it has provided ``the necessary level of cooperation'' to enable the nuclear inspectors to complete their work ``efficiently and effectively.'' But IAEA officials say their job has been easier than that of UNSCOM, and therefore less confrontational....

NY Times 12/18/98 JOHN M. BRODER with BARBARA CROSSETTE ...The president and senior administration officials said that Clinton had not made the final decision to unleash a barrage of missiles and bombs on targets across Iraq until Tuesday, hours after receiving the report by Richard Butler, the weapons inspector. But a full two days earlier, Butler had informed Clinton what he intended to say in his report, and when he would say it. And the president issued a highly classified order to the Pentagon on Sunday morning that began a 72-hour countdown to the air assault....But Butler's report was in many ways a simple formality. Officials in New York and Washington said that there was little in the Butler report that had not been available to American officials days, even weeks, earlier. Military plans and hardware were already in place for raids that could have come at any time after Dec. 1....

Minneapolis Star Tribune 12/18/98 Acting on early word from the chief weapons inspector in Iraq, President Clinton set in motion Wednesday's military strike two days before Richard Butler formally told the Security Council that Saddam Hussein again was in defiance of the United Nations, senior administration officials said Thursday. They said that Clinton had not made the final decision to attack Iraq until Tuesday, hours after receiving Butler's report. But two days earlier, Butler had informed Clinton what he intended to say and when he would say it. And the president issued an order to the Pentagon on Sunday morning that began a 72-hour countdown to the assault. The report was delivered to the Security Council and U.S. officials as Clinton was flying home Tuesday from the Middle East. About two hours into the 10-hour flight from Jerusalem, he gave the order to U.S. forces to be prepared to strike within 24 hours But Butler's report was in many ways a formality. Officials at the United Nations and in Washington said that there was little in it that had not been available to U.S. officials days, even weeks, earlier. Military plans and hardware already were in place for raids that could have begun at any time after Dec. 1. The timing of the strikes - on the eve of the House impeachment vote - sparked protests by Republicans who accused Clinton of orchestrating a crisis to slow the momentum toward impeachment

AP 12/18/98 ... The calls went out to Capitol Hill. From Hillary Rodham Clinton. From Vice President Al Gore. From President Clinton himself. White House officials could not - or would not - say whether the trio's high-powered telephone lobbying campaign won over any House members contemplating a ``yes'' vote on Clinton's impeachment...Much like her efforts at earlier crisis points in the Lewinsky scandal, Mrs. Clinton joined the White House telephone campaign to beat back a surge of impeachment sentiment in Congress.... By day, she consulted with historians and constitutional experts, her spokeswoman said, but was not preparing to make any public appeal on the matter. ``She's talked to members'' of Congress, said spokeswoman Marsha Berry. ``She's talked to folks who are experts on our Constitution and historians, other folks in that area. She's concerned. It's an issue she takes seriously. She's one who likes to have a lot of information.'' Gore also went back to the phones lobbying House members, an aide said, for ``a good chunk of the morning.'' Clinton himself called a handful of House Democrats to discuss their strategy for the debate and vote. Clinton would not concede defeat in the House until the final roll call, press secretary Joe Lockhart said. ``On a vote this important and this solemn, yes, there's always a chance.'' Today, official duties would offer distraction from his peril on Capitol Hill. The president was meeting with European Union leaders to review trade tensions, working on next year's budget with his economic team and meeting with his HIV/AIDS advisory panel....

Saturday, Dec. 19, 1998

AP 12/19/98 William Jefferson Clinton will be forever marked as only the second president ever impeached, struck low by sexual indiscretions and many months of legal deception. The legacy he fretted over so much and worked so hard to build is indelibly stained. The president's struggle for achievements in his last two years in office - if he survives at all - will be waged against long odds and a backdrop of unrelenting partisanship that strike many Americans as spinning out of control. Surely history will be struck by the bewildering hostilities that strew casualties across the political battlefield of 1998, Republican and Democrat alike. ... The House impeached Clinton on Saturday for perjury before a grand jury and obstruction of justice and sent his case to the Senate for trial. It rejected articles accusing him of perjury in a civil lawsuit and abuse of power. Can Clinton wage a successful battle for survival in a Senate trial as did President Andrew Johnson in 1868? Will the public turn and clamor for his resignation, forcing him to resign as Richard Nixon did 24 years ago even before the House took up articles of impeachment against him? Will political wisemen - a Bob Dole, Bob Strauss or other elders - emerge with a compromise of censure to save the country from more tumoil? With an impeachment vote that seemed unthinkable after Republican election losses in November, the nation plunges into uncertainty - unlike anything Americans have seen in 130 years. The stakes are huge.... Already a bipartisan tradition on national security has been strained by GOP suspicions of Clinton's motivation in Iraq policy.... The capital's bitter mood was underscored by the sour cynicism that greeted Clinton's decision to launch airstrikes against Iraq on the eve of the scheduled impeachment vote. Even with Clinton tarred by impeachment, there is debate about the future of his presidency and what he can accomplish. ``He's had nine lives or 12 lives or 14 lives,'' said Tom Cronin, president of Whitman College in Walla Walla, Wash. ``Clinton watchers are not going to rule him out. He's maybe a lame, lame duck but he's still president. In three months he'll be viewed as a different president because he's been impeached but we'll be back to business as usual.'' But historian Dallek said, ``For the last two years of his presidency, his authority is largely shot. Of course he has the nominal powers of the office. He can veto bills. He is commander in chief. ``Can he achieve anything of a far-reaching nature? It's hard to believe this Republican Congress is going to follow his lead on anything important,'' Dallek said. ``In the long term, his legacy is blighted by this scandal....''

AP 12/19/98 Jocelyn Noveck Throwing stones, burning flags and even breaking into a U.S. ambassador's home, protesters throughout the Arab world joined Saturday in a bitter wave of anger over the airstrikes on Iraq. A common theme of the protests was that all Arabs — not just Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein — are being targeted by the U.S. and British attacks. The aggression on Iraq is an aggression on the whole Arab nation,'' said Aziza Fadhel, a university student in the Syrian capital, Damascus ..In a rare protest in the Syrian capital, thousands marched through downtown Damascus on Saturday, and about 1,000 people — most of them students — attacked the U.S. Embassy, its nearby residence and the American Cultural Center

Reuters 12/19/98 FoxNews U.S. and British forces launched a fourth night of air strikes against Iraq Saturday, the first day of Islam's holy month of Ramadan, as Baghdad vowed to resist the attacks until its last citizen.'' Anti-aircraft fire lit the sky over the Iraqi capital, mostly over its southeastern outskirts, for about 30 minutes, ending around 7.15 p.m. (1615 GMT). It resumed around two hours later and witnesses reported at least one missile hitting the city. I tell you all that Iraq will continue to defend its land, policy and dignity...We will fight until the last citizen,'' Iraqi Vice-President Taha Yassin Ramadan told a news conference in Baghdad. He also said the mission of U.N. inspectors charged with destroying Iraq's weapons of mass destruction was over. It was Baghdad's alleged obstruction of the inspector's work that triggered the U.S. and British strikes

AFP 12/19/98 TEHRAN .British and US troops entered Iraqi territory on Friday night across the Saudi border, the official Iranian news agency IRNA reported Saturday. Citing informed sources in Khoramshahr, a town bordering Iraq in southwestern Iran, the news agency said the troops had advanced five kilometres (three miles) into Iraqi territory. The sources, which were not further identified, were unable to say whether or not the troops had remained in Iraq. An Iraqi information ministry official said Friday that Saudi armoured units had advanced to the Iraqi border the previous day on an apparent reconnaissance mission before pulling back

Electronic Telegraph 12/20/98 Mark Steyn FOR months now the refrain of Bill Clinton's defenders has been: everyone does it. Birds do it, bees do it, even Republican Speaker nominees do it. And Bob Livingston doesn't do it by halves: as it emerged this week, he's committed not one but a ton of infidelities. Let him who is without sin cast the first stone, cried the Democrats. And yesterday Mr Livingston did, casting his stone smack in his own crotch and resigning the Speakership. For two days, Democrats had denounced the Republicans for leading a Right-wing coup d'etat . But when was the last time a coup leader assassinated himself? ...But that is what it has come to in the Lyin' King's Washington: you can't tell the difference between the President of the United States and the publisher of Hustler. Somehow all political life has now taken on the character of Mr Clinton's sexual proclivities. There is going to be a trial, declared Gloria Borger on CBS News. It may not go to completion. Completion is not a legal term but the Starr Report's formulation for what the President, er, rarely reaches. Likewise, for a couple of days we had a war, but that too is not going to completion. That's why Saddam, also taking his cue from Mr Clinton's sexual behaviour, declined to reciprocate. Why waste your own men and resources when the Great Satan's just going through the motions for a few nights? Though both men would be insulted by the comparison, they're not dissimilar: one scoffs at Unscom inspection requests, the other at the Independent Counsel's subpoenas. One pretends to be surprised when chemical weapons suddenly turn up, the other when Whitewater billing records or White House coffee-morning videos suddenly turn up. The only difference is that Bill Clinton's weapon of mass destruction has been turned against him and that Saddam isn't so foolish as to let UN inspectors come across a cocktail dress with a telltale anthrax stain. Yet in one crucial respect Mr Clinton has reached completion: his credibility has been well and truly spent. The White House, suddenly fearful of Senate numbers, is now scrambling for any compromise: my own choice is the Canaan Banana solution, whereby the President grabs a false beard and forged papers and hightails it. Meanwhile, Mr Clinton is running out of distractions. What was interesting this week was how quickly the novelty of bombing Saddam wore off. Forced to choose between air strikes on Baghdad and the ongoing consequences of his glandular urges, caught between Iraq and a hard place, most news organisations quickly decided the real story was the impeachment. You can't blame them. In January, just after Monica broke, the Commander-in-Chief, with his loyal sidekick Tony the Boy Wonder, gave Saddam an ultimatum and ordered a billion-dollar build-up in the Gulf in August, after his historic First Apology flopped, he bombed a Sudanese aspirin factory this week, he ordered air strikes against Baghdad. No doubt, on the first day of the Senate trial, he'll launch all-out nuclear Armageddon. But, for the most part, you can't help noticing how ineffectual these curiously timely initiatives are. The Middle East peace accords he staged before November's elections are all but dead. The Palestinians waving American flags on Monday had by Thursday reverted to their traditional pastime of burning them. Something else changed this week. Bob Livingston's fleet of mistresses may sell a few extra copies of Hustler, but the revelations only emphasised how Bill Clinton is still fighting the last war. Even before yesterday's bombshell resignation, the Republicans' big success in Friday's debate was in finally making the issue not the sex, not the lying about sex, but the crimes. Indeed, throughout this long first year of post-non coital investigation, Mr Clinton has given respectable old-school adulterers such as Mr Livingston a bad name. It may be time for sexist swingers to explain that his behaviour is not consistent with minimum standards of philandering....

Newsletter 12/20/98 Mr. Kim Weissman More than two years ago, Jerome Zeifman, the democrat chief counselto the House Judiciary Committee which acted to impeach President Nixon,came to the conclusion that there is now probable cause to consider ourpresident and first lady as felons , he saw a pattern or deceit and corruption , he saw his party, the Democratic Party, as defenders of acorrupt administration , and he concluded that there was a cancer on the Clinton presidency painfully reminiscent of the cancer that broughtdown Nixon . Two years after Jerome Zeifman made his disillusionmentpublic, the democrat party, in Zeifman's prophetic words spoken twoyears ago, continues the folly of marching in lockstep in support of acorrupt president in the name of party unity. On a completely partisanvote, virtually every democrat marched in lockstep in defense of BillClinton, voting on the Articles of Impeachment

New York Post 12/20/98 Dick Morris There is no functional difference between initiating bombing and continuing bombing during Ramadan. So why did he bomb before the impeachment vote? Clinton knew that it wouldn't sway any votes, and he knew that delaying the impeachment vote by a few days would have no consequence. But two political reasons now come into focus for his decision to bomb when he did. Clinton knew that after the impeachment vote, demands for his resignation would mount. He likely has been thrown into a panic by polls which showed the sentiment for resignation would rise after impeachment. By demonstrating his retention of presidential authority and willingness to use it dramatically, he could defuse the case for resignation. In addition, the prolific use of the don't impeach while the bombs are falling argument by House Democrats in the impeachment debate raises suspicions that he may have initiated the bombing to give the Democrats a talking point during the debate. That way, they would spend less time talking about sex or perjury and more time talking about patriotism. In general, Bill Clinton has tried to project the image of being very busy .How can you even think about asking him to resign? Don't you see how busy he is? Don't you see how fully engaged he is as president despite the specter of impeachment? Are you a fool? A few weeks ago, Clinton likely decided that impeachment was inevitable, but so was Senate acquittal ..

The Orlando Sentinel 12/20/98 Charley Reese In a season in which Christians celebrate the son of God's message of peace and love, Clinton has forced the American military to kill innocent people in Iraq to distract the American public from Clinton's own law-breaking Clinton is an evil man. His administration is corrupt from one end to the other and is riddled with liars. The decision to bomb Iraq was clearly designed to postpone the impeachment vote. It was a put-up job from start to finish. Note these facts: Iraq did not throw the arms inspectors out. Richard Butler, the little weasel and stooge for Clinton, deliberately set up a confrontation by trying to crash his way into the Ba'ath political party headquarters, knowing that he would be refused. What, after all, did he expect to find? A missile in a file cabinet? Then Butler ordered his minions out of the country on his own, without consulting the United Nations Security Council or the secretary-general, and filed a one-sided report. Clinton then ordered the attack before the Security Council could even finish discussing the report. In a demonic way, Clinton is sewing the seeds of war, hatred and death. The bombing of Iraq is an act of American terrorism, pure and simple. Unfortunately, innocent Americans will reap the bloody harvest. Clinton has no policy .. More and more America seems surreal. People no longer know right from wrong. Television treats war like just another show ( We'll be right back to tell you more about the killing after these messages. ) Ignorance and malice have replaced education and civility. A recent survey showed a huge majority of American high-school students are liars, cheats and thieves. Absent a religious revival, I wouldn't give you 2 cents for the future of this country. Merry Christmas

E-Mail 12/20/98 Charles Smith The Pentagon -U.S. war-planners are not all that happy with operation DESERT FOX. The strike was telegraphed to Iraq far in advance and mostof the Iraqi mobile Surface to Air missile (SAM) units escapeddamage. The prime target for U.S. strikes, the IraqiIntegrated Air Defense network (NATO code-name Tiger Song ), suffered no major damage and appears to have lost no missile units. The only real hard target kills that can be claimed are a few attack helicopters destroyed at a northern Iraqi air-base. Ironically, the Iraqi Tiger Song system was built using American and French parts exported to China. Iraq purchased the encrypted - secure - fiber optic system from the Chinese Army in 1996. The Clinton administration authorized the exports of a secure, fiber optic, communication systems to China in 1994. According to the GAO, Clinton also authorized the export of an encrypted - secure - air control system directly to the Chinese Air Force using a Presidential waiver

The Sunday Times 12/20/98 William Rees-Mogg Nobody can be sure what the bombing campaign will achieve in Iraq there is some evidence, however, of what it is doing to a much more open society, the United States of America. The president raised the question in his address to the nation on Wednesday. He said the bombing was essential to the credibility of US power . A Washington Post opinion poll has already given part of the answer: 80% of Americans support the bombing 62% of Americans believe that the president's decision to bomb was influenced by the imminent threat of impeachment. The psychological state of the American people is more subtle and more complex than is shown either by the opinion polls or by the politicians. Both conservative Republican and liberal Democrat views of the president are minority opinions and these minorities are probably quite small

AP 12/20/98 The airstrikes on Iraq boosted Saddam Hussein's standing among fellow Arabs and made a dangerous conflict potentially more so, Arab commentators said Sunday in a rare consensus. From former U.S. allies in the Persian Gulf War to hard-liners, there was clear agreement in the Arab world that the U.S.-British operation was a big mistake. ``The strike ends, but Saddam remains,'' said the Saudi newspaper Okaz. A cartoon showed Saddam in an underground bunker, relaxing in an armchair with a cigar while watching TV coverage of the bombardment. Reaction elsewhere was muted at best, with leaders mostly expressing relief that the strikes were over and concern that the essential problem of containing Saddam remains. Only Japan and Australia expressed clear support for the mission. Even Kuwait - whose invasion by Iraq in 1990 triggered the Gulf War - refrained from outright support, saying merely that it ``welcomed the announcement'' that hostilities were over

The Pioneer 12/20/98 Shubha Singh Among the hundreds of cruise missiles that were fired at Iraq on Wednesday night, a couple of them fell in Khorramshahr town in Iran's Khuzestan province. There was some damage to property, but fortunately no resultant casualties in Iran. That is one of the problems of these high-tech weapons, fired from afar, they are not as accurate as their users would want them to be. Fired at Iraq, they land in Iran. Aimed at Afghanistan, they drop down in Pakistan. And then there is what the Americans term collateral damage. The ugly phrase meaning civilian deaths Bombing Iraq is an abuse of power, in the belief that there can be no retribution. This is the first time that the Security Council has been sidetracked so blatantly. Washington was so quick o send out its missiles that it did not even make the effort of getting support from anyone other than its closest ally, Britain, at the time of the attack. Even the other permanent members of the Security Council, which forms the elite core group, were not consulted

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE 12/21/98 Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr had, but declined, a chance to trap Bill Clinton in such a stark lie that it could have destroyed the president overnight, Time magazine reports this week. In its annual Man of the Year issue -- this year presenting the honor to men of the year Starr and Clinton -- the prosecutor told the magazine he passed up the chance because it seemed like the right thing to do. Before Clinton testified to the grand jury, Starr had received the results of DNA tests on the infamous stains from Monica Lewinsky's blue dress but was not legally obligated to inform the president he had them. The prosecutors had a choice: keep secret the results of the DNA analysis until after the president's testimony, or ... tip off the president before he swore his oath, Time said ..

World Net Daily 12/21/98 My additional concern is one which bothers many who care about our nation's security, he wrote. It is a concern for the effect which the pattern of deception by the president has had upon our military capability, and the effect it may have in the future if not checked. There is mounting evidence that this misleading of the nation is not confined to this one matter of sexual transgression and the ensuing cover-up. If the lack of veracity is allowed to stand unpunished, will not the president be emboldened to assume that he has successfully hamstrung the constitutional check and balance upon his power which would prevent betrayal of the country's trust? Would he then no longer need to fear exposure of far more serious matters whose possible presence is now only beginning to be revealed due to his skillful obstruction of their being fully known before now? Is there not evidence even now of such matters affecting national security?

USA TODAY 12/21/98 Jack Kelley ...BETHLEHEM, West Bank - The U.S. flags that lined the streets last week have been torched. The pictures of...Clinton that graced the walls of homes and shops have been ripped in two. Even the Christmas decorations that the first family hung on a tree have been taken down and smashed....''This honeymoon is over,'' said Jamal al-Hussein, 26, as he taped a poster of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to his store wall....''Clinton told the Palestinian and Arab people 'America is with you.' Yet 48 hours later, he bombs Iraq. What a hypocrite. I'd like to slash his throat.''... Less than a week after his historic visit to Palestinian-controlled territories,...Clinton is being branded as ''Islam's No. 1 enemy'' here and across the West Bank for the U.S.-led airstrikes on Iraq....The four-day missile strikes, which ended Saturday, have touched off passionate feelings of Arab solidarity among Palestinians who, as in the 1991 Persian Gulf War, are openly supporting Saddam Hussein....

Washington Weekly 12/21/98 Marvin Lee As Congress prepared to vote on impeachment, the president took hostages in a bid to save his skin. Using the defiance of Saddam Hussein which he had tolerated for so many months, he ordered U.S. soldiers in harms way. While the president did not say so specifically, his allies in Congress did: if Republicans went ahead with their plans for impeachment, they would put the lives of U.S. soldiers at risk. In the end, Republicans delayed their impeachment vote by just one day. In a 1995 interview, former Arkansas Supreme Court Justice Jim Johnson said about President Clinton: You are not dealing with a normal person when you are dealing with Clinton. He is not controlled by character and truth, but by cunning instincts for survival and political expediency. Give him and inch and he will beat your brains out! He is capable of causing a Third World War, martial law, or whatever to maintain his position of power While the Russians were left in the dark, Clinton's allies at CNN had been told well in advance to have their star reporter at Baghdad with a nightscope camera and a satellite link to Atlanta. As the movie Wag the Dog illustrated, a war has no propaganda effect unless carefully choreographed for TV consumption

Washington weekly 12/21/98 Peter Mulhern The Clinton presidency grinds on toward its sordid conclusion. Bill Clinton barricades himself in the White House defying the forces of the law, firing missiles at Baghdad and shooting slime at his tormentors. James Cagney must have played this scene a dozen times. Clinton's degrading scene won't end, like a B Movie, in a hail of bullets. Instead it will end in a flurry of votes, the first of which will have been taken by the time you read this, unless, of course, the president declares martial law and invades Mexico. Since 1992 Democrats have been telling us that Bill Clinton's character flaws don't matter. Sure he's devious, dishonest, self-centered and sexually incontinent, but he's good for the economy and nobody bites their lower lip with more conviction. ..Clinton and his minions claim that we are bombing Iraq for reasons unrelated to the president's impeachment. Doubtless a good case can be made for the bombing without reference to domestic politics. But anyone who believes that this president did not attack Iraq for petty, personal reasons is a fool When the Clinton administration arranged to receive a report on Iraq's cooperation with UNSCOM that same week, the president knew that report would provide an excuse for military action. An honest report filed at any time in the last several years could not fail to provide such an excuse. In sum, Clinton arranged to have a reason for attacking Iraq at the very moment he might badly need a diversion to help him fight impeachment. He went to great lengths to avoid attacking Iraq for years, until such an attack served a compelling political purpose. Then he reversed field, manufactured a timely casus belli, and he struck ..

Robert Novak 12/21/98 On Dec. 9, United Nations weapons inspectors from UNSCOM, acting on a tip, showed up without notification at the Baghdad headquarters of the ruling Baath Party to search for ballistic missile components. The Iraqi escorts, citing a 1996 agreement, said only four inspectors could enter. Richard Butler, the imperious Australian who heads UNSCOM, ruled that the agreement was no longer in force and terminated the inspection because he wanted more inspectors to enter.That is the quality of six complaints cited by Butler in the report Clinton used as cause for war. Iraq barred a Dec. 4 inspection because it was the Muslim Sabbath (though previous inspections had gone forward on Fridays). Two weeks earlier, an UNSCOM helicopter was buzzed by an Iraqi helicopter ...These incidents reflect Saddam Hussein's obnoxious style but do not compare to more than 400 unimpeded inspections reported by Iraq since cooperation resumed Nov. 14. And they do not prove the existence of weapons of mass destruction claimed by the president but still not discovered by UNSCOM. Butler indignantly denied last week that he carries water for the Americans, but the U.S. government was alerted in advance to what last week's UNSCOM report would contain, As Clinton took Palestinian applause in Gaza last Monday, secret plans were underway for an air strike coinciding with the House impeachment vote. The president had time to consult with Congress and the U.N. Security Council but took no step that might stay his hand. As whenever a president pulls the trigger, Clinton's top national security advisers supported him. But majors and lieutenant colonels at the Pentagon, whose staff work undergirds any military intervention, are, in the words of a senior officer, 200 percent opposed. They disagree fundamentally. They know the attack on Iraq was planned long before Butler's report and consider it politically motivated

Meet The Press Transcript 12/21/98 ...MR. RUSSERT: When you say “ degraded,” what does that mean? He s— means he still has them, he still has biological and chemical weapons. SEC’ Y ALBRIGHT: Well, it’ s hard for us to say that everything is gone. But let me just go through some of the things that happened. There were 100 targets that were hit over four nights. There were 650 strike sorties, there were 400 cruise missiles delivered, and the destruction was heavy and devastating, as I said, to most of the targets that he holds the most dear, so that there were nine missile R& D facilities hit, 18 out of 19 of his weapons of mass destruction security aspects— that’ s the Republican Guard and his special concealment units— were destroyed. Twenty to twen— out of 21 command and control areas were damaged severely or destroyed and eight palaces. So when he claims he’ s victorious, that is sheer propaganda. MR. RUSSERT: But he has the capacity to rebuild very, very quickly. And if he, in fact, rebuilds all those sites, six months from now, up and running, what do we do? SEC’ Y ALBRIGHT: Well, we’ re back. And we have said very clearly that we reserve the right to use force again. And I think we’ ve proven our ability to deliver a very tough blow. MR. RUSSERT: The U.N. weapons inspectors were removed from Iraq. Saddam says they will never be allowed back in. That’ s real blow to us. SEC’ Y ALBRIGHT: Well, the truth, Tim, is that they have not been able to do their job effectively for the last eight months. They did a tremendous job before and, as we said many times, they were able to destroy more weapons than the Gulf War. But they have not been able to do their job effectively, and the truth is that if there is no way for the international community to monitor what he’ s doing through UNSCOM, then the sanctions will remain in place, and Saddam has to take some affirmative actions in order to let UNSCOM and the IAEA, the International Atomic Energy Agency, people back in.

Boston Globe 12/21/98 Fred Kaplan One question has emerged in the aftermath of President Clinton's four-day bombing campaign against Iraq: What was that all about? If his aim was to put a dent in Saddam Hussein's ability to produce chemical, nuclear, and biological weapons, the dent was not a large one. If, as some of the air war's targets suggested, Clinton was trying to destabilize Hussein's regime, he did not hit its foundations hard enough. Speaking of the Pentagon's estimates of damage, John Pike, a specialist with the Federation of American Scientists, said Saturday night, ''It doesn't look like they did anything on what they said they were going to do, and not enough on what they were actually doing.'' According to the Pentagon's most recent figures, the attacks hit a total of 97 targets over the four days. The strikes damaged beyond repair only a few of the targets - the weapons sites, military headquarters, and industrial facilities that Pentagon planners thought had to be hit to accomplish the mission. ''I'm mystified why they stopped the campaign just as they had amassed sufficient force to complete the job,'' Pike added. More forces, including another aircraft-carrier battle-group and more than 70 additional combat planes, had just arrived Friday. ''You don't deploy 70 aircraft halfway around the world just so they can fly one combat sortie,'' Pike said. Iraq's nuclear and chemical materials were not attacked. Part of the reason might have been that nobody knew where these materials were. Andrew Cockburn, ... noted that the UN inspectors themselves ''couldn't find the stuff because Saddam kept moving it.'' So, Cockburn asked, ''If a bunch of people on the ground couldn't find it, how could some generals target it from the air?'' There are some well-known, immovable sites where chemical weapons could be built, but these are ''dual-use'' facilities - places with civilian functions as well, such as a chlorine plant vital to Baghdad's drinking water. Defense Secretary William S. Cohen said the campaign was avoiding these targets so Iraqi people would not be hurt. The concern was laudable, but, given these limitations, it again raises the question: What did Clinton expect the bombing would accomplish? Cruise missiles and laser-guided bombs did strike some factories involved in producing missiles that could theoretically deliver chemical or nuclear weapons. The Pentagon said that 11 such targets were attacked. None were destroyed, one was damaged severely, five moderately, and four lightly. The damage to one target had not yet been assessed....General Henry Shelton, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Saturday that even these attacks had set back Iraq's ability to produce long-range missiles ''by at least a year.'' However, General Thomas Wilson, the Joint Staff's director of intelligence, said that even without the strikes, Iraq was a couple of years away from acquiring this ability....Missiles were also fired at facilities for the security forces that have guarded and hidden Hussein's weapons. These were the people who obstructed the UN inspectors. However, if the inspectors are no longer in Iraq - and it is doubtful that Hussein will let them back in soon - then their functions are no longer so vital. Furthermore, just because their facilities - barracks, headquarters, and so forth - were bombed does not mean the guards themselves were killed. Everyone agrees Hussein has become resourceful at moving his assets around on short notice. William M. Arkin, a military historian and former US Army intelligence officer, said of the strikes, ''I think we're hitting a lot of empty buildings.'' Strikes were also aimed at Hussein's command and control, TV and radio transmitters, Republican Guard facilities, private security forces - in other words, the apparatus that keeps him in power and maintains his links with the Iraqi army. These attacks, too, seemed fairly light. Of 20 command-control targets hit, seven were destroyed, four damaged severely, four moderately. Of nine Republican Guard targets hit, none were destroyed, three damaged severely, five moderately. Of 18 security targets hit, two were destroyed, five damaged severely, six moderately. Bombing rarely has much effect on these sorts of targets, no matter how heavy. During the 1991 Gulf war, American-led air forces mounted 500 strikes on command-control and 260 strikes on Iraq's leaders. Yet, ''despite the lethality and precision of the attacks,'' concluded the US Air Force's official five-volume ''Gulf War Air Power Survey,'' Hussein's ability to command his forces ''had not collapsed... The system turned out to be more redundant and more able to reconstitute itself.'' Perhaps Operation Desert Fox was called off for diplomatic reasons. British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Saturday night that he and Clinton ''always envisaged it would last four days ... because such a campaign is the right and proportionate response to Saddam's breach of UN obligations and also because of our sensitivity to the holy month of Ramadan.'' This claim is confusing, however, because the bombing continued into Ramadan, and it leaves unexplained the costly deployment of vast additional forces that did not arrive until the third and fourth days. In any event, yesterday morning, Hussein, who lived through it all once again, claimed victory - which, from his point of view, might outweigh Clinton's claim that the Iraqi leader stands ''degraded'' and ''diminished.''

Wag the Dog Wiggles

Through the Timeline

December 22 1998 - January 14 1999

The Indian Express 12/22/98 TEHRAN: Another stray cruise missile from the U.S.-British strikes against Iraq has been found in Iran, a newspaper reported today. The missile landed in a barren area in the Southwestern border province of Khuzestan, the Jomhuri Islami newspaper reported. Iran, which condemned the four-night strikes that ended on Sunday, had strongly protested the accidental landing of another Iraq-bound missile on its territory last week, reports PTI

Reuters 12/22/98 China on Tuesday trumpeted its role in ending U.S. and British air strikes on Iraq and urged a return to negotiations with Baghdad aimed at resolving the U.N. arms inspection crisis. China made positive efforts in urging the U.S. and Britain to put an early end to the military action, said Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao. President Jiang Zemin delivered an oral message to President Bill Clinton and exchanged views over the telephone with Russian President Boris Yeltsin, elaborating on China's opposition to the use of force, Zhu said. He added that China opposed the use of force in international relations and called on the U.S. to seek a political solution to the crisis

Reuters 12/22/98 The United States is amenable to increasing the amount of oil Iraq can sell under the oil-for-food program, a U.S. official said Tuesday. Oil-for-food ... would be the one area where we could see perhaps the possibility of more forward movement, particularly if the humanitarian report indicated there was a greater need for food,'' Under Secretary of State Thomas Pickering told a briefing on U.S. policy toward Iraq. Pickering noted that with the decline in the world price of oil, Iraq could not buy as much food at the same export level Freeper spartacus notes Let me see. We just bombed the hell out of them, (supposedly), now we agree to increase the amount of oil Saddam can sell

The Orange County Register 12/22/98 Alan W. Bock, Senior Editorial Writer One of the most over-the-top expressions of presidency worship came from retired New York Episcopal Bishop Paul Moore at a save-the-president rally in New York last week. I think of the millions of people who will suffer and die because the Republicans want to get President Clinton for a personal sin, said the apparently daft ecclesiastic a couple of days before the renowned peacemaker launched missiles

Reuters via Newsmax.com 12/22/98 Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov called yesterday for a strategic triangle with India and China, after Russia's bitter criticism of the four-day US and British blitz of Iraq. Primakov made clear that Russia would not back down from its condemnation of the strikes, and that it would also condemn any future offensive against Baghdad. ''We will never change our position. We are very negative about the use of force bypassing the Security Council,'' Primakov said in New Delhi. He said Russia, China and India should form a ''strategic triangle'' as a counterweight to US influence in the world. The decision by the United States and Britain to launch air raids without seeking approval from the UN Security Council infuriated Russia, which jealously guards its position as a permanent Security Council member.

Freeper Sandi 12/22/98 Center For Security Policy Decision Brief No.98-C 202 At present, it is unclear whether President Clinton's 'dog-wagging' bombing campaign against Iraq actually did degrade Iraq's weapon of mass destruction (WMD) programs. It certainly did not accomplish the systemic change -- the toppling of Saddam Hussein's regime -- that would be necessary for any bomb-inflicted degradation to be more than a temporary setback for the Iraqi despot. What the seventy-hour air campaign did do, however, is: shatter the last vestiges of the Desert Storm-era coalition united in opposition to Saddam and end, apparently permanently, the on-the-ground inspections performed by the UN Special Commission on Iraq (UNSCOM). As a result, it seems likely that the United Nations' mandated international sanctions regime -- a product of the former and renewed on the basis of unfavorable reports by the latter -- will not long survive.

The Village Voice 12/23-29/98 Jason Vest Was that a tomahawk missile in his pants or was Bill Clinton just happy to see Richard Butler's report? Even before the bombs actually rained down on Baghdad, cries of wag the dog went up from Capitol Hill to Dag Hammarskjö ld Plaza, and accusations characterizing the UNSCOM chairman as a geopolitical handmaiden to his beleaguered American patron began to fly like lethal airborne ordnance. Such speculation was hardly untoward: As former UNSCOM inspector Scott Ritter ably demonstrated earlier this year, Butler does seem to take the Clinton administration's input more seriously than that of his UN bosses. In another vein, it was on the same day Monica Lewinsky gave her grand jury testimony that Clinton commenced an utterly unnecessary bombing of Sudan and Afghanistan under the pretext of immediate clear and present danger. And, if we reach a little further into the recess of memory, we recall that it was on the eve of Gennifer Flowers's revelations in 1992 that then governor Clinton returned to Arkansas to preside over the execution of a retarded African American .It's always been hard to say what's more amazing about Clinton: his willingness to use his office for self-gain, or his ability to simultaneously co-opt Republican positions and get his fellow Democrats to abandon traditional principles in the name of defending his perpetually imperiled posterior. During the Judiciary Committee's proceedings, for example, New York's Jerrold Nadler held that LBJ should have been impeached for deceiving Congress into passing the Gulf of Tonkin resolution rather than publicly pondering if a similar standard might apply to Clinton's attacks on Iraq and Sudan, Nadler, like so many other Democrats, rallied round the flagpole

AFP 12/25/98 Iraq wants Arab governments to take heed of demonstrations of support for Iraq which have taken place in their countries, the official INA news agency reported. The official Arab position should reflect the slogans chanted by Arab masses, INA said, in its report on the meeting. The participants expressed profound satisfaction at the position demonstrated by the masses against the agression - an allusion to four days of air strikes by US and British planes against Iraq last week. Also on Thursday, Iraq vowed never to allow the return of UN arms inspectors in the face of deep rifts at the UN Security Council over how to deal with Saddam Hussein....

Wag the Dog Wiggles

Through the Timeline

December 15 -21 1998

Operation Desert Fox

December 15, 1998

UPI Spotlight 12/15/98 Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., says (Tuesday) the momentum in the House is in favor of impeaching President Clinton. Lieberman says he himself would favor a Senate trial even though he acknowledged that a senator could offer ``a motion to dismiss or adjourn.'' He would not do so, he said, adding, ``I want to review the evidence.''

Reuters 12/15/98 Alan Elsner Throughout his six years in office, President Clinton has lived and died by public opinion polls but his dependence on popular support will become more critical than ever if he is impeached this week. With the House of Representatives seeming more and more likely to impeach him, Clinton might expect to come under unprecedented pressure to resign and spare the nation a protracted trial in the Senate. A Washington Post-ABC poll published Tuesday found that 58 percent of respondents thought Clinton ought to resign rather than fight removal in a Senate trial. But several political analysts and pollsters contacted by Reuters predicted that public support for Clinton might harden if he is impeachment, and said he would have many reasons to fight on. ``We're all looking for some softening in support for Clinton but it's not there yet,'' said Andrew Kohut of the Pew Research Center, who criticized the wording of the Washington Post-ABC poll question as confusing. ``You can't take the public for granted. Things might change. But the public has stuck with him through everything throughout this scandal,'' Kohut said....