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)

[Miss Marple]

Look here! Mr. Clarke has a pattern of behavior!

[Howlin]

Somewhere tonight I heard that Clark demanded a meeting with Bush -- he got it -- and he discussed CYBER SECURITY.

[prairiebreeze]

Yes, they certainly did. How is it the media conveniently doesn't bring any of that up?

Prairie

[Indy Pendance]

Is that the next vacation destination for Kerry? Not my work, but I have it readily available. Need it often nowadays.

[Howlin]

Wesley Clark on MSNBC; GAWD......I'm going to LKL for Scott Peterson coverage!

[Miss Marple]

OMG! Dennis Miller is going to interview Medea Benjamin!

[arasina]

Did you catch the bit on O'Reilly where Kerry met with members of the press (New York Times, et al) at one of their homes? I'm going to have to watch that segment again to get the full details. Media not biased? HAH!

[Miss Marple]

Dennis Miller is on CNBC right now!

[Howlin]

Wesley Clark now saying that it doesn't matter what Clinton did -- this is ALL about Bush's qualifications for reelection!

[Will_Zurmacht]

The funniest thing about this whole Dickie Clarke nonsense....it will end up blowing up on the dems, again,

Why? We're back to talking about the War on Terror.
Not the Economy, Scare the Seniors, Corporate Greed, Environment...etc. For some reason these guys keep stumbling into our issues. Fine, I guess. If you wanna run this campaign on who makes a better commander in chief, then knock yourselves out.....

The only time the left picked up any traction at all is when they went on their "you're all going broke under W" blues.

As an added bonus, we get to examine Dickie Clarkes resume...hmm, EIGHT years leading the terror war under CLINTON??? WTF was he doing? Did he not notice the FIRST WTC attack, embassy bombings, USS Cole...? Lets discuss the Clinton Era response to terror....and contrast it with W's...hehe.

I can just hear the Dem Elite screaming STFU!
Talk about Jobs, Medicare, Schools....Anything but TerrorWar and ANYTHING BUT CLINTON!!!

[Indy Pendance]

Sorry Avis.....

"At the DNC, we tie try harder"

[Howlin]

What?

[Miss Marple]

Yes. Here are the names I remember: Frank Rich, Howard Fineman, Eric Alterman. Apparently this was in the Times Sunday magazine.

[MJY1288]

Yup, The guy has an Axe to grind, The problem is, the truth is getting in the way for Richard Clarke

[arasina]

That was the month I spent in my pajamas

LOL! Same here. I thought I was going to have a nervous breakdown but I made it through it.

[Indy Pendance]

The Bush Admin knows he is incompentent, that's why they removed him from his position, and gave him access to powerpoint..... hahaha! and eventually was dissed from the admin completely. Clarke is trying to set himself up as a player, possibly a cabinet position, if Kerry wins.

[Carolinamom]

Kerry's latest ad trades on his Vietnam "experience" (naturally), but the ad is about jobs, health insurance, blah, blah......and not a word about the war on terrorism.

[Dolphy]

Thanks for the ping. I took the day off to spend time with my niece on her 6th birthday so I am catching up here. But it's clear to me that the left is so obsessed with the neo-con secret (even though it was a published document) plan to go after Iraq that they still can't see straight. This is all they want to prove regardless of what Clinton, Gore, Kerry and all the rest had to say about Iraq in the 90s and regardless of the Iraq Liberation Act that made regime change in Iraq the policy of this country.

[Spotsy]

I would like to see a full psychological examination done on this Clarke fellow.

[arasina]

Coordination all right, Howlin. Kerry met with leftist press media in NY, per Bill O'Reilly. A little coordination of slanting "news stories" to the left. (Was this meeting mentioned on FR and I missed it?)