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Jewish World Review May 28, 1999 /13 Sivan 5759
Cal Thomas
(JWR) ---- (http://www.jewishworldreview.com)
In conversations following the release of the Cox report, Gingrich and Kirkpatrick spoke in somber terms about the potential injury to American interests and American security by the Clinton administration's failure to stop the export of our best nuclear technology. Not only will we suffer because of what the Chinese now possess, said Kirkpatrick, but "proliferation proceeds geometrically. What China has, China sells.'' Indeed, China is a top proliferator of weapons of mass destruction, and some of its customers are North Korea, Iraq and Iran. Both Kirkpatrick and Gingrich believe the Chinese are capable of launching a missile at American troops, allied targets and even American cities. Kirkpatrick said the Chinese do not value human life and might be willing to suffer retaliatory consequences for the psychological benefit of striking American soil with a missile. Gingrich worried that our military and intelligence capabilities are in disarray because of Clinton administration policies. "I see a country with a president who has overused the military while under-investing in it. We're losing a lot of our best people, who are leaving. Our equipment is wearing out. The intelligence community is over-extended and under-funded. They missed the Chinese embassy bombing in Belgrade and the Indian nuclear tests, among other things, because they don't have enough analysts to look at all the photographs.'' Gingrich said, "It further exposes the Janet Reno Justice Department as probably the most disgraceful Justice Department since the Teapot Dome scandal of 1923 when the attorney general had to resign because of corruption.'' While Congress should fully investigate all of the issues raised by the Cox committee, the likelihood of President Clinton being held accountable while still in office is remote. That is why the public should make Vice President Gore the target of any moral retribution. "If you want political accountability, defeat Gore,'' said Gingrich, and added: "Any citizen who cares about America's survival knows you cannot have eight more years of this administration. You have a president who is totally mendacious. You have a vice president who can't even recognize monks when they're wearing saffron robes. Gore succeeding Clinton would be a commitment to the decay of America. You've never had 16 years in a row that would be as bad as Clinton followed by Gore, undermining American defenses and allowing the Chinese to become a genuine threat.'' The Clinton administration's response to the Cox report is wholly inadequate. The administration admits to no mistakes and certainly no wrongdoing. In a familiar exercise of hubris and spin, it claims to have already been working on security concerns long before the Cox committee began its investigation. And it asserts that Department of Energy Secretary Bill Richardson is "aggressively implementing'' a presidential directive to strengthen security and counterintelligence at U.S. National Laboratories. Why is it, then, that Chairman Cox says security breaches continue and probably will not be fixed until next year? The nuclear horses are gone, and only now does the president express interest in closing the barn door.
The administration's claims are as credible as Beijing's assertion that China stole nothing. The
Clinton legacy may be that he helped begin a new cold war for the sake of his preservation in
office. The spying may have started 20 years ago, but it was discovered and ignored on this
president's watch. The Chinese now have everything they need to make the world an unsafer
05/26/99: 'A turning point for our country'
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