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Posted on 11/17/2001 3:12:47 PM PST by TaylorRP

In the eyes of today’s nation, President Bush has proven himself a decisive leader, a prudent military commander, an unwavering patriot, a grieving American, and a statesman. It is hard to believe that less than a year ago, America was so divided across political lines that a roll of the dice could have determined our new leader as well as few Florida ballots.

Do you believe in the providence of God? I do. I believe that it was God’s providence that President Bush won the election. Would Al Gore have proven himself so great a leader?

As an U.S. Senator (1985 – 1993) and U.S. Representative (1977 – 1985) for Tennessee, Al Gore stood with the majority of Congress to eradicate international terrorism, a position few refused to take. His position remained relatively unchanged through his years in Congress, although in 1991 Senator Gore voted for an amendment banning the death penalty for convicted terrorists.

But in 1995, Vice President Gore put U.S. anti-terrorism efforts on the line when he entered into a covert agreement with Russia’s former prime minister, Viktor Chernomyrdin. At that time, it was known that Russia was selling threatening weapons – including weapons with serious biological, chemical and nuclear ramifications – to Iran, a country identified by the Department of State as the most active supporter of international terrorism, endorsing, among others, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the Hamas.

Russia is one of the largest supplier of dangerous arms to Iran. For example, Russia is constructing a nuclear powerplant in Bushehr, Iran, capable of generating 1,000 megawatts (the largest U.S. nuclear powerplant generates over 3,000 megawatts), and providing Iran with weapons-grade nuclear materials. Iran also has extensive access to Russian biological technology as a result of scientific research agreements between the two countries, assistance that involves making the transfer of biological agents possible through ballistic missiles. In February 1999, CIA Director George Tenet said that “expertise and material from Russia has continued to assist the Iranian missile effort...there is no doubt that it will play a crucial role in Iran’s ability to develop more sophisticated and longer range missiles.”

In the Gore-Chernomyrdin agreement, Russia agreed to stop selling dangerous arms to Iran after 1999, but continued existing sales of weapons to Iran up until that time. In return, Vice President Gore agreed to (1) protect Russia from U.S. penalties incurred by prior Russian-Iraq sales, (2) find new customers for the Russian weapon industry, and (3) make Russia eligible for the receipt of U.S. arms and free U.S. defense contractors to conduct business with Russian firms.

The agreement stated that the United States is “prepared to take appropriate steps to avoid any penalties” on behalf of Russia, referring to the penalties provided in the Iran-Iraq Nonproliferation Act of 1992. The act, passed by Congress and authored by Gore and Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, requires sanctions against governments providing “destabilizing numbers and types” of “advanced conventional weapons” to Iran or Iraq. Gore had essentially agreed to look the other way with regard to Russian sales of dangerous arms to Iran before 1999, sales that would have otherwise violated U.S. law.

Not only did Al Gore promise an unauthorized waiver of U.S. law, but he willfully concealed the agreement, never formally introducing the agreement to Congress. Legislators had never heard of the agreement until the New York Times disclosed it in October 2000.

In Senate hearings following the disclosure of the agreement, State Department Official Robert Einhorn and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Officer John Lauder acknowledged that the Gore-Chernomyrdin agreement has failed in many respects. Einhorn testified, “The situation with respect to Iranian procurement efforts in Russia is not satisfactory. The Russians know our frustration and disappointment about their response.”

Even the Clinton/Gore administration’s own Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, admitted the unlawful provisions of the agreement in a letter to the Russian foreign minister (Washington Post, October 17, 2000). Without the Gore-Chernomyrdin agreement “Russia’s conventional arms sales to Iran would have been subject to sanctions based on various provisions of our laws” Albright said.

The agreement was met with censure from a variety of top defense and national security experts, including former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, former Secretary of Defense James Schlesinger, former Secretary of State James Baker, and current Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. In a collective statement they said, “The President’s most important job is safeguarding our nation’s security...we are deeply disturbed by the agreement made between Vice President Gore and then Russian Premier Chernomyrdin in which America acquiesced in the sale by Russia to Iran of highly threatening military equipment.”

I don’t know how the Gore-Chernomyrdin agreement affected the September 11 attacks. But the agreement unquestionably represents a disregard and indifference to the security of the U.S., an inexcusable offense for a man who committed to protect the U.S.

We’ll never know how Al Gore would have responded to the terrorist strikes had he been elected President. Thank God.

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