| Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, post-Sept. 11, held up a New
York Post headline, "Bush Knew." "Bush knew," said Sen. Clinton. "The
president knew what?"
Then Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, D-Ga., on a radio talk
show, insisted that Bush not only knew, but intentionally avoided taking
action so as to enrich his friends in the military business. "We know there
were numerous warnings of the events to come on Sept. 11th. . . . What did
this administration know and when did it know it, about the events of Sept.
11th? Who else knew, and why did they not warn the innocent people of New
York who were needlessly murdered? . . . What do they have to hide?"
Switch scenes to Baghdad. Congressmen Jim McDermott, D-Wash.,
and David Bonior, D-Mich., traveled to Baghdad. Standing in Iraq, McDermott
incredibly insisted that Americans "have to take the Iraqis on their face
value."
ABC's George Stephanopoulos asked McDermott, "Before you left
for Baghdad, you said the president of the United States will lie to the
American people in order to get us into this war. Do you really believe
that?" Following a rambling reply, McDermott finally said, "I think the
president would mislead the American people." Thus, Congressman McDermott
delivered this attack on the president's credibility, not in the
congressman's home state of Washington, nor in Washington, D.C., but right
there in Baghdad.
What about Khidhir Hamza, the Iraqi president's former chief
nuclear weapons engineer? For 20 years, before defecting, Hamza worked on
the dictator's nuclear weapons program. In testifying before Congress, the
scientist said, "The Iraqi nuclear weapon program is a very serious one. It
is built around turning Iraq into a nuclear power in the region. Buying
materials on the black market is not a sure thing to do -- to carry this
program through. So, Iraq built a large portion -- 90 percent -- of its
program to actually manufacturing the fissile material locally. . . . My
estimate is that Iraq is within two years of completing putting together
enough facilities for full-scale production and within three years it will
have enough for two to three nuclear weapons. . . . If Iraq is serious about
allowing the inspectors back in to check its work under mass destruction
program, it should allow the inspectors to take the Iraqi scientists into a
neutral territory and allow them also -- if it has nothing to hide -- to
take their families with them and the members they designate as their
immediate families, and allow them -- in a neutral territory without Iraqi
minders -- to be debriefed and talk to inspectors. My bet is Iraq will
refuse this. . . . My guess, any of these scientists, taken to a neutral
territory with its family, would ask for asylum somewhere. Ninety percent of
them would."
About McDermott's statement, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., a
Vietnam POW, said Jane Fonda's support of the Viet Cong is one thing. In
Fonda's case, you can write it up to her status as a misguided actress. But
how to excuse the behavior of McDermott? A member of U.S. Congress on enemy
soil, declaring greater trust and faith in the enemy than in his own
president!
The give-inspections-a-chance-first crowd now adopts a new
tactic -- calling those who disagree "chicken hawks," as in people
advocating military action against Iraq, yet who never served in the
military. Odd, the charge "chicken hawk" never seemed to stick to former
President Bill Clinton, who clearly evaded the draft by promising the board
to join the ROTC, yet failed to do so. Clinton pushed military action in
Bosnia and in Kosovo, the latter with neither congressional nor United
Nations resolutions.
McDermott played this game while in Baghdad, implying superior
understanding, expertise and appreciation of the consequences of military
action because, as he put it, "Both David (Bonior) and I were in that
(Vietnam) War." In the Vietnam War?
Actually, according to the Detroit Free Press, "(Bonior)
enlisted in the Air Force after receiving his draft notice because enlisting
meant he had more control over where he might be stationed; getting drafted
most likely would mean being sent to Vietnam. He served in California in
1968-72 and earned his master's degree at the same time." As for McDermott,
he served stateside as a psychiatrist in the mean streets of Long Beach,
Calif. Meanwhile, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, described by some as
a hawk on Iraq, served as a Naval aviator.
McDermott damaged America's credibility, and presented a picture
of a lack of American resolve. Imagine, during the war in Kosovo, a U.S.
member of Congress, standing in Kosovo, suggesting Milosevic more
trustworthy than Clinton. Politicians love television face time, and
McDermott certainly received loads of it. Smile, Congressman, you're on
Al-Jazeera.
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