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)

[A Citizen Reporter]

There is an interesting connection! I want to know that too!

[Miss Marple]

Well, I am glad Howlin does have CNN on, or we wouldn't know about Graham!

[Howlin]

I always LOOK to see who the opposition is!

Oh, look...Joe Klein is on saying that Richard Clarke FINALLY came up with a plan for AQ in...........are you ready for it? want to know when???

DECEMBER OF 2000!!!!

He gave it to the Bush team in January of 2001 -- and now they are claiming that if Bush had followed THEIR plank, all of this could have been avoided!

[hoosiermama]

Even with it on Fr, it wouldn't hurt to send to a couple of talking heads, a few newspapers, A networks or two........Just to see who picks it up the first.....Sorta like a race.....Ready, Get set......GO!

;^)

[Howlin]

Don't be too modest; you always find "the good ones."

[A Citizen Reporter]

DECEMBER OF 2000!!!!

That was the month I spent in my pajamas, waiting for an end to the nightmare that the Gore campaign was putting us through. But Richard Clarke came up with a plan for AQ then???

[Howlin]

Yes, he did. So said Joe Klein on CNN just now!

[A Citizen Reporter]

And after running this story continuously on FoxNews today, not ONE Fox News producer found it. Excellent work!

[Miss Marple]

Yes, and what a plan it was! ABout 5 suggestions on one piece of paper!

[Howlin]

What rotten luck, heh? Working for Clinton for 8 years and finally coming up with a plan as they're walking out the door?

UTTER BS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Miss Marple]

Yes, but don't forget, Sandy Berger backs Clarke up! Doesn't that add to his credibility?

[Carolinamom]

Any chance of getting that ONE piece of paper w/FIVE suggestions (Ha-ha...no doubt filled w/details) up on this thread?

[prairiebreeze]

Brit Hume kept reporting that Clarke will be given lots more time to testify to the 9-11 committee than Tenet, or other Bush admin members. FWIW RAT shenanigans, I suppose.

Prairie

[Miss Marple]

No, I think it is classified. Condi said some of the suggestions they did follow...like more funding for counter-terorism. BUT she said President Bush wanted a different, more effective approach.

[McGavin999]

OMG, OMG, OMG! Someone get this to FOX immediately! Someone should also send it to the Washington Post and ask them why they didn't know what was in their own newspaper!

[Carolinamom]

Somebody on TV today said something about a non-effective "briefing" being done w/slides. Does anyone know about this?

[Howlin]

You know what this is all about (besides money)? This is all about DEFLECTING attention away from what Clinton did/didn't do in the upcoming hearings on 9-11.

I haven't seen this much coordination since we watched this:

[Miss Marple]

HA!!

[kayak]

LOL!

[Carolinamom]

I think the media should be paying JimRob monthly fees for the investigative and analytical source material provided by Freepers.