CLARKE IN 92: BUSH WAS LAX ON IRAQ

The Washington Post (BRIEF EXCERPT ONLY, IN COMPLIANCE WITH COPYRIGHT LAW AND LAT/WP VS FR] | JUNE 5, 1992 | R. Jeffrey Smith

[Wallaby]

Memo Says U.S. Was Lax on Iraq; 'No One Was Paying Attention' to Arms [EXCERPT] The Washington Post R. Jeffrey Smith, Washington Post Staff Writer FIRST SECTION; PAGE A1 June 5, 1992, Friday, Final Edition A senior State Department official concluded in a secret memorandum after Iraq invaded Kuwait that "no one was paying attention" to blocking Iraq's purchase of Western equipment for weapons of mass destruction during the previous decade, according to a copy obtained by The Washington Post. [According to Clarke's memo,] "no one was paying attention" to blocking Iraq's purchase of Western equipment for weapons of mass destruction during the previous decade. . ." The official, Assistant Secretary of State Richard A. Clarke, made the claim in a memo declassified yesterday and provided to Congress along with 53 other State Department documents concerning U.S.-Iraqi relations that were requested by a congressional committee investigating U.S. policy toward Iraq before the Persian Gulf War. The documents, which were made available to The Post by a U.S. official, provide fresh details about the administration's monitoring of Iraq's nuclear and chemical weapons programs and the controversial U.S. pre-war push to ease controls on high-technology exports as part of an attempt to cultivate better relations with Iraq before it invaded Kuwait in August 1990.

(snip) President Bush last night defended the effort toward better relations with Iraq against this congressional criticism, saying that the United States tried to work with Saddam "on grain credits and things of this nature to avoid aggressive action. And it failed. . . . " "That approach, holding out a hand, trying to get him to renounce terrorism and join the family of nations, didn't work," Bush told a White House news conference. "And the minute he moved aggressively, we moved aggressively and set back aggression." One undated memo summarizing U.S. nonproliferation activity aimed at Iraq indicates that the Bush administration moved slowly to constrain Iraq's mass-destruction weapons programs after a Iraqi long-range missile launch in 1989 caught officials by surprise. The memo states that Clarke sought in an interagency meeting that December "to get at why U.S. intelligence didn't know Iraq had such capabilities beforehand and to galvanize the interagency community into more effective [action] against the Iraqi missile program." (snip) Clarke's memo referring to Washington's record of failure on the issue was written after the invasion. . . (snip)

[StriperSniper]

trying to get him to renounce terrorism

Imagine that.

[pushforbush]

How do we get this out to the media?

[Rocko]

Good job, Bro!

[Howlin]

Well, look what Wayne Downing said on MSNBC just now........!!!

[Rocko]

What he say?

[StriperSniper]

This guy just keeps getting better.

[auboy]

Pattern bump.:-)

[Wallaby]

excellent find

It was too easy. About 2 minutes of searching for articles in the 90s on "Richard A. Clarke" and "Iraq".

[Miss Marple]

What did he say? I am watching O'Reilly and he is showing examples of the Sudanese bin Laden fiasco.

[Miss Marple]

Gerald Posner is attacking Madeline Albright. HA!

[nopardons]

Sheeeeeesh......these people are such liars and frauds!

FLIP-FLOP is their middle names. Their motto should be "open mouth,insert both feet,and jump."

[Howlin]

Retired General Wayne Downing is on MSNBC; he is saying that Clarke HIRED him........and he is surprised at what Clarke is saying; he said his experience with Bush has been the exact oppositing; he said EGO is involved -- and that Clarke might have been upset because he didn't have the access that he had in the Clinton administration.

And he said it very clearly without whining to Keith Olbermann; if you can catch the rerun, he said a LOT more supporting Bush and making Clarke sound like a spurned lover.

[axel f]

You might find this interesting.

[deadhead]

Excellent, Wallaby

[Political Junkie Too]

How do we get this out to the media?

It just did. Where do you think they do their research these days?

-PJ

[Howlin]

Madeleine Albright told Bill O'Reilly last week that SHE thought Saddam Hussein had WMDs. I heard her say it.

[kayak]

ping-a-ling

[Howlin]

OMG.....CNN has drug out BOB GRAHAM and HIS conspiracy theory!

[Miss Marple]

I SAID THAT GRAHAM WAS WHERE THIS ALL STARTED!!!!

[ThreePuttinDude]

you still have cnn programed into your remote??