Posted on 06/19/2003 10:29:24 PM PDT by JohnHuang2
Carl Levin is the ranking member of a powerful Senate subcommittee which he has used in the past to launch politically partisan investigations. The Enron investigation comes to mind, in which Mr. Levin, then chairman, sought to tie the Bush administration to Enron's fraud.
But when it came to light that former Clinton Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin had actually contacted the Bush Treasury Department in hopes of persuading a top official to help protect Enron's credit rating (to no avail, incidentally), Mr. Levin could think of no useful purpose to call Mr. Rubin as a witness before his committee.
Well, Mr. Levin's at it again. In Sunday's Detroit News, he wrote an opinion piece echoing what he said on "Meet the Press" a week earlier, and has been saying for two weeks now:
"While President Bush and other administration officials spoke with certainty about the imminent threat posed by Iraq's stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction -- and thus the urgent need to take military action to disarm Iraq -- there is growing evidence that the intelligence on Iraq's prohibited weapons was more ambiguous.
"Was there a shading of intelligence information to fit a particular administration policy? Did administration officials exaggerate or overstate the intelligence information to make a stronger case to the American public and the world for the need to end United Nations inspections for weapons of mass destruction and go to war against Iraq?"
The problem with Mr. Levin pointing a finger of accusation at the Bush administration is that he's also pointing three fingers at himself. You see, Mr. Levin also serves on the Senate Armed Services Committee, and has for some time. Presumably, he knows something about Iraq's weapons programs. So, when he repeatedly insisted that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction, was he "shading intelligence information" or did he "exaggerate or overstate . . . intelligence information?"
As recorded in the Congressional Record, on March 4, 1998, Mr. Levin told his Senate colleagues:
"During the course of [a] meeting [with United Nations Special Commission Chairman Richard Butler], we covered a host of issues concerning Unscom inspections relating to Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery . . .
"Chairman Butler confirmed that after Unscom became aware, despite earlier denials, that Iraq had possessed 2,100 gallons of anthrax and 3.9 tons of VX, Iraq claimed that it had destroyed those substances. He noted that first of all, that was a violation of the U.N. resolutions, since destruction of such substances is to be carried out by Unscom, and second, that Unscom was unable to verify that Iraq had destroyed them.
"Chairman Butler made the point that since 1995, Unscom had found important indicators of weapons of mass destruction programs that Iraq has sought to conceal and about which they have lied to Unscom. He noted, moreover, that Unscom has evidence of a connection of significant biological substances to Iraq's special security organization, thus demonstrating that Saddam Hussein uses the same apparatus to seek or manufacture weapons of mass destruction that he uses to keep himself in power."
On Oct. 9, 1998, Mr. Levin was one of several senators who wrote a letter to President Clinton urging military action against Iraq. They said:
"[W]e urge you . . . to take necessary actions (including, if appropriate, air and missile strikes on suspect Iraq sites) to respond effectively to the threat posed by Iraq's refusal to end its weapons of mass destruction programs."
On Dec. 17, 1998, Mr. Levin issued a statement supporting President Clinton's decision to bomb Iraqi weapons sites. He said:
"I support President Clinton's decision to undertake military operations against Iraq. President Clinton had no alternative because Saddam Hussein has left the world no alternative.
"Through U.N. resolution after U.N. resolution, the world community has repeatedly demanded that Saddam Hussein destroy his weapons of mass destruction and the means to deliver them . . .
"Since Saddam Hussein refuses to comply with the U.N. resolutions, I support the use of military force either to compel compliance or to destroy, to the best of our ability, Iraq's capability to build and deliver weapons of mass destruction and threaten its neighbors."
And as recently as Sept. 19, 2002, while chairing a Senate Armed Service Committee hearing on "U.S. Policy on Iraq," Mr. Levin said:
"We begin with the common belief that Saddam Hussein is a tyrant and a threat to the peace and stability of the region. He has ignored the mandates of the United Nations and is building weapons of mass destruction and the means of delivering them."
If there's to be a congressional investigation, so be it. But one witness any investigating committee will want to hear from is Carl Levin. After all, he, as much as any other member of Congress, has insisted for years that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction, or the means to build them. What did Carl Levin know in 1998 that he doesn't know now?
Mr. Limbaugh, a radio talk-show host, is author of "See, I Told You So!" (Pocket Books, 1994).
Times have changed and the dems can no longer say whatever they choose and not be held accountable for what they said the day before.
This is a totally new concept for them ... amazing ...??
They spew out the lies and revisions and expect no challenge. When challenged they then go to racism, sexism or some other ism card as their argument.
Now the Wall Street Journal has published what Rush documented re the lies and amnesia of Levin, they can't hide from it when we use that data. Ketchup Kerry looks like a liar and someone who has severe amnesia with his decade plus documentation of statements of concern re $oddomite's WMDs. Now when he tried a different tact, those statements expose him as a liar, a revisionist and someone with amnesis re his own remarks.
From top to bottom the Rats are still in an arrogant state of denial about the news no longer being controlled by them.
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