I disagree with the main thesis of this article.
A few observations, if I may. Please note, a virus wiped out my system and I am doing a lot of this from memory, but AlamoGirl will attest to my credentials as I am one of the people who put together Free Republic's Chinagate Report.
First, within months of the Clinton Administration coming into office, they began focusing on the Commerce Department (remember John Huang?). Dual use technology tranfers were, at that time, under the direction of COCOM (Coordinating Committee for Multilateral Controls), a set of standards established by friendly nations during the Cold War. COCOM expired, and the Commerce Department (then under the direction of Clinton cronies) implemented GLX instead (general license transfer) which SIGNIFICANTLY eased export guidelines.
In excrutiating detail, here is what transpired:
http://www.freerepublic.com/china/11.htm
In short, the continual easing of restrictions by Clinton appointees, and through direct and continual action by the President (in the form of waivers and EOs), made is possible for China to LEGALLY purchase exactly what they needed to eventually produce launch vehicles for their payloads.
Second, China's legal purchase of and then illegal transfer of dual-use technology to unapproved countries was public knowledge. The Federation of American Scientists had copies of Congressional Research Service Reports (available on line at www.fas.org) detailing many of these exchanges long before they hit the papers. This information was not necessarily secret, it simply wasn't trumpeted by the media. They are too busy promoting their leftist agenda to be bothered reading anything as tedious as CRS reports or nuclear threat assessments.
How do we know? China violated every single nuclear non-proliferation treaty it ever signed, including its own White Papers. The Clinton Administration had the ability to end these tranfers and impose sanctions, but only chose to do so three times - despite REPEATED violations - once against China (which would have prevented purchases and transfers), and twice against individual companies, and only for very short periods of time. Bottom line, our intelligence folks were telling the White House about the violations, and the White House said, "So what?"
My point is this: the "wall of separation" was not necessary to allow China its access to our information and technology. Clinton's cronies were selling it wholesale to the Chinese, ignoring repeated warnings by DOD and other agencies, and issuing special waivers in exchange for campaign cash. What they weren't selling, they were declassifying like crazy and giving away for FREE. Finally, whatever else China needed, they STOLE (see Slow Poke nuclear reaction for a prime example).
Here's the kicker. A few years back, China launched a vehicle into orbit, and everyone in the media fawned over how they were joining the "space age." Very few bothered to make the connection that the separation technology required to launch this vehicle was almost identical in nature to an ICBM.
What really hurt our intelligence gathering and led to the travesty that was 9-11 was Congress' overreaction to the Aldrich Aimes spy case, and a certain Senator (whose name escapes me) making such a fuss about "dirty sources" that the focus went from shoes on the street to eyes in the sky. Also, more Clinton appointees did a hatchet job at the CIA and cut field staff to the bare bones. Morale at the CIA dropped to an all-time low during The Rapist's Romp in our White House. Finally, Clinton's complete unwillingness to effectively address almost a decade of terrorist attacks against Americans at home and abroad emboldened Al Queada and other groups. Bin Laden thought America would fold like a house of cards after 9-11, but THANK GOD we had Bush in the White House, instead of a sh*t-for-brains TRAITOR.
Lots of great details in this article though. Excellent research!
mark
Great post. I'll re-read this tomorrow when I am sober :-)
Islamocommienazis within and without America all have one goal in common: our utter destruction. They all need to be dealt with, neutralized or smited.
Could it have to do with the Sandy Berger whitewash and absolute inactivity on massive democrat voter fraud.?.
Foggy Bottom smells like skunk.. with tracks galore..
And nobody can find the skunk... amazing..
I wonder if skunks can smell skunks..
This certainly makes sense.