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)

[DallasMike]

But ... but... Iraq didn't have WMDs.

Good find.

[AmishDude]

Man, the credibility of these guys doesn't last very long under scrutiny, does it?

[yeswecan]

Anyone see a pattern here?

[Columbine]

Is this online anywhere?

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

we have some more here:

Report Details Saddam's Support for Terrorists Who Killed Americans

The above link is the FreeRepublic discussion thread.

The actual article is :

"Saddam Hussein’s Philanthropy of Terror"

It is a pdf document with substantial footnotes and put together by Dewey Murdock of the Hudson Institute.

[Wallaby]

Not for commercial use. Solely to be used for the educational purposes of research and open discussion.

[Howlin]

Is there an echo in here?

[stylin19a]

Clarke's memo referring to Washington's record of failure on the issue was written after the invasion. . .

Hell, even I could have wrote that memo AFTER.....

[Wallaby]

It's on Lexis-Nexis. Any newsroom could pull it up.

[Howlin]

Man, the credibility of these guys doesn't last very long under scrutiny, does it?

Evidently these people are not familir with this little ditty:

[eddie willers]

Hell, even I could have wrote that memo AFTER.....

I agree.
Put your name in for the next Asst. Sec. of State opening..

[Howlin]

This is TOO FUNNY!!!!

[Howlin]

This is an excellent find, Wallaby.

[tubebender]

Little Dickie Clarke and his appearance on 60 Maggots got hammered on talk Radio today. Great post...

[maggief]

Excellent find.

[Wallaby]

FYI

[AmishDude]

It's really over for the Dems, isn't it? Ordinary people do research on the WWW and Fox News picks up the story. No more media blackouts.

[nunya bidness]

Wallaby bump!

[Miss Marple]

I want to know if Dick Clarke hangs around with Kevin Phillips.