The New 'Giant Sucking Sound': Clinton's Crumbling Iraq and Russia Policies ~ from 1999....

Center for Security Policy ^ | 1999-02-16 | Center for Security Policy

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

(Washington, D.C.): It turns out there is a "giant sucking sound," after all. At the moment, it is not coming as Ross Perot suggested from the economic effects of North American Free Trade Agreement. Rather, the sound you can currently hear in official circles in Washington is the sharp intake of a collective breath as two pillars of what passes for a Clinton foreign policy come crashing down.

Unraveling Iraq Policy

Scarcely a day goes by without fresh evidence that, contrary to repeated Administration assurances, Saddam Hussein is not being "kept in his box." For example, on Monday he dispatched Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister, Tariq Aziz, to Ankara in a transparent attempt to drive a wedge between Turkey and the United States.

The Iraqis understand that there may be fertile ground for handing the Americans a severe diplomatic and strategic reverse: Turkey has lost untold millions of dollars in oil revenues by complying with the UN-mandated sanctions regime. Its public has become increasingly restive at Ankara's complicity in what is seen as economic warfare waged against the Iraqi people. And the American government's erratic behavior towards the Kurds of northern Iraq -- working closely with them one day, selling them out to Saddam the next -- has fueled Turkey's anxieties about the serious threat posed to its own internal security by the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) separatists operating from Iraqi territory. (It remains to be seen if this threat will be markedly alleviated now that Turkey finally has the leader of PKK, Abdullah Ocalan, in custody.)

To make matters worse, Turkey senses with good reason that its U.S. and European allies inadequately appreciate the importance of having that nation's democratic secular Muslim government and powerful military promoting Western interests in a very troubled region. Indeed, NATO member states -- largely in deference to the Greek's historic and abiding hostility towards their Turkish neighbors -- have repeatedly taken steps that give offense to the latter and that tend to drive them into the arms of common enemies like Saddam Hussein.

Against the possibility that shortsighted Western policies and Iraq's latest overtures prove inadequate to accomplish Saddam's objective of dividing-and-conquering in Turkey, the Butcher of Baghdad, had his vice president deliver a stern warning to the Turks on Monday (in the midst of Tariq Aziz's visit!): Turkey risked grave consequences should it allow the United States to continue to use its Incirlik air base for the purpose of enforcing the northern no-fly zone and destroying Iraqi air defense assets trying to down an American crew.

This warning that Turkey faced Iraqi attack came hot on the heels of similar threats issued over the weekend. Baghdad has served notice on Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and any Gulf State that permits the U.S. or Britain to make similar use of their military facilities may experience Saddam's wrath. Unfortunately, since the United States has thus far chosen not to field the means to deploy anti-missile defenses to protect these (or other) friendly states, such threats must be taken seriously.

Primakov's Malevolent Agenda

Which brings us to the Administration's second crumbling foreign policy pillar. Under Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov, the Russia that was supposed to be America's partner in international affairs is taking steps that will greatly increase Saddam Hussein's ability to inflict harm upon U.S. military personnel overseas and the allies they are defending.

That Primakov is so disposed should come as no surprise. Notwithstanding Madeline Albright's assurances that he is a man we can do business with, this lifelong KGB operative has made a career of implacably opposing the United States at every turn. According to press reports, he is now personally drumming up business for Russia's arms industry in ways calculated to conflict with American interests. A case in point was a meeting last month between Primakov and Tariq Aziz for the purpose of resuming Iraq's purchase of substantial quantities of front-line weaponry from Russia.

According to the London Sunday Telegraph, Primakov has authorized the sale of more than $100 million in advanced fighter aircraft, surface-to-air missiles and other hardware that Saddam can use to attack American and British pilots. If that were not bad enough, reflect on this reality: if the Kremlin is willing to transfer this sort of highly visible material to Saddam in violation of international sanctions regime, doesn't it stand to reason that it is prepared to sell know-how and equipment on which the Iraqi dictator places a special emphasis -- and that could be relatively easily concealed. Into the latter category would fall chemical, biological and/or nuclear technology and that associated with missiles capable of delivering these weapons of mass destruction over increasingly long distance.

Of course, Iraq is not the only tinderbox into which Russia is trying to introduce high-tech weapons. Primakov has tried to inflame Greek and Turkish enmity by inserting advanced S-300 surface-to-air missiles into Cyprus. He is actively negotiating with Syria for the sale of such missiles, Sukhoi-27 jet fighters and T-80 tanks. Meanwhile the preeminent pariah state, Iran, is obtaining nuclear- and missile-related technology from Moscow, in addition to an infusion of formidable conventional arms. The fact that such sales are going forward suggests that Primakov's Russia has completely discounted the U.S. government's appeals for these transactions to be suspended and its threats of modest sanctions if they are not.

The Bottom Line

With the bankruptcy of the present American policies towards Iraq and Russia now much in evidence, there is no choice but to adopt different approaches towards both. With respect to Iraq, time is clearly not on the United States' side. Saddam Hussein must not be given additional opportunities to exploit the combined effects of bribes and threats in eroding the Iraq sanctions regime, thereby providing a new lease on life and substantially enhanced military capabilities to his regime. Nothing less than a wholehearted, urgent U.S. effort -- undertaken in coordination with the Iraqi National Congress and, as appropriate, other opposition groups -- to create conditions leading to Saddam's removal from power will suffice.

Concerning Russia, the time has come to speak in the only terms that the likes of Yevgeny Primakov understand -- with the authority of power. The United States must make clear that Russia can no longer have it both ways, undermining American interests in the Middle East and around the world while benefitting from this nation's financial largesse and political consideration. An appropriate, if asymmetric, response would be to serve notice that the U.S. is going to proceed to deploy anti-ballistic missile systems on AEGIS fleet air defense ships at the earliest possible moment -- a step prohibited by the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty but urgently needed in light of Saddam's latest threats. Nothing would more clearly demonstrate to Moscow -- and the world -- that the United States is prepared to protect its vital interests, rather than rely on unrealistic expectations of other's good behavior to safeguard them.

[Grampa Dave]

The Clintoon's legacy with N Korea is another example of the messes the Clintoons have put us and the world into.

Link to You Tube: Starring Halfbright and Horney/Stinky Kim Che in Clinton's Latest Glow Job