- Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Deputy Secretary
Paul Wolfowitz undertook a full-fledged lobbying campaign in 1998 to get
former President Bill Clinton to start a war with Iraq and topple Saddam
Hussein's regime claiming that the country posed a threat to the United
States, according to documents obtained from a former Clinton aide.
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- This new information begs the question: what is really
driving the Bush Administration's desire to start a war with Iraq if two
of Bush's future top defense officials were already planting the seeds
for an attack five years ago?
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- In 1998, Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz were working in the private
sector. Both were involved with the right-wing think tank Project for a
New American Century, which was established in 1997 by William Kristol,
editor of the Weekly Standard, to promote global leadership and dictate
American foreign policy.
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- While Clinton was dealing with the worldwide threat from
Al-Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden, Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz wrote to Clinton urging
him to use military force against Iraq and remove Hussein from power because
the country posed a threat to the United States due to its alleged ability
to develop weapons of mass destruction. The Jan 26, 1998 letter sent to
Clinton from the Project for the New American Century said a war with Iraq
should be initiated even if the United States could not muster support
from its allies in the United Nations. Kristol also signed the letter.
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- "We are writing you because we are convinced that
current American policy toward Iraq is not succeeding, and that we may
soon face a threat in the Middle East more serious than any we have known
since the end of the Cold War," says the letter. "In your upcoming
State of the Union Address, you have an opportunity to chart a clear and
determined course for meeting this threat. We urge you to seize that opportunity,
and to enunciate a new strategy that would secure the interests of the
U.S. and our friends and allies around the world. That strategy should
aim, above all, at the removal of Saddam Hussein's regime from power."
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- "We urge you to turn your Administration's attention
to implementing a strategy for removing Saddam's regime from power. This
will require a full complement of diplomatic, political and military efforts.
Although we are fully aware of the dangers and difficulties in implementing
this policy, we believe the dangers of failing to do so are far greater.
We believe the U.S. has the authority under existing UN resolutions to
take the necessary steps, including military steps, to protect our vital
interests in the Gulf. In any case, American policy cannot continue to
be crippled by a misguided insistence on unanimity in the UN Security Council,"
says the letter.
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- The full contents of the Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz letter
can be viewed at http://www.newamericancentury.org/iraqclintonletter.htm.
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- Clinton rebuffed the advice from the future Bush Administration
officials saying he was focusing his attention on dismantling Al-Qaeda
cells, according to a copy of the response Clinton sent to Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz
and Kristol.
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- Unsatisfied with Clinton's response, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz,
Kristol and others from the Project for the New American Century wrote
another letter on May 29, 1998 to former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and
Senate Republican Majority Leader Trent Lott saying that the United States
should "establish and maintain a strong U.S. military presence in
the region, and be prepared to use that force to protect our vital interests
in the Gulf - and, if necessary, to help remove Saddam from power."
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- "We should take whatever steps are necessary to
challenge Saddam Hussein's claim to be Iraq's legitimate ruler, including
indicting him as a war criminal," says the letter to Gingrich and
Lott. "U.S. policy should have as its explicit goal removing Saddam
Hussein's regime from power and establishing a peaceful and democratic
Iraq in its place. We recognize that this goal will not be achieved easily.
But the alternative is to leave the initiative to Saddam, who will continue
to strengthen his position at home and in the region. Only the U.S. can
lead the way in demonstrating that his rule is not legitimate and that
time is not on the side of his regime."
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- The letter to Gingrich and Lott can be viewed at http://www.newamericancentury.org/iraqletter1998.htm.
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- The White House would not comment on the letters or whether
Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz possessed any intelligence information that suggested
Iraq posed an imminent threat to the United States at the time. The letters
offered no hard evidence that Iraq was in possession of weapons of mass
destruction.
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- The Clinton aide said the former President believed that
the policy of "containing Saddam Hussein in a box" was successful
and that the Iraqi regime did not pose any threat to U.S. interests at
the time.
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- President Clinton "never considered war with Iraq
an option," the former aide said. "We were encouraged by the
UN weapons inspectors and believed they had a good handle on the situation."
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- Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz and Kristol, however, disagreed;
saying the only way to deal with Hussein was by initiating a full-scale
war.
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- "The policy of "containment" of Saddam
Hussein has been steadily eroding over the past several months," Rumsfeld,
Wolfowitz and Kristol wrote in their letter to Clinton. "As recent
events have demonstrated, we can no longer depend on our partners in the
Gulf War coalition to continue to uphold the sanctions or to punish Saddam
when he blocks or evades UN inspections. It hardly needs to be added that
if Saddam does acquire the capability to deliver weapons of mass destruction,
as he is almost certain to do if we continue along the present course,
the safety of American troops in the region, of our friends and allies
like Israel and the moderate Arab states, and a significant portion of
the world's supply of oil will all be put at hazard. The only acceptable
strategy is one that eliminates the possibility that Iraq will be able
to use or threaten to use weapons of mass destruction. In the near term,
this means a willingness to undertake military action as diplomacy is clearly
fai
- ling. In the long term, it means removing Saddam Hussein
and his regime from power."
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- Those alleged threats posed by Iraq and the advice Rumsfeld,
Wolfowitz and Weekly Standard Editor William Kristol first offered the
attention of the Clinton Administration five years ago have now become
the blueprint for how the Bush Administration is dealing with the Iraq.
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- The existence of the Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz "war"
letters is just another reason to question the Bush Administration's desire
to go to war with Iraq now instead of dealing with other pressing issues
such as Al-Qaeda. Because the letters were written in 1998 it proves that
this war was planned well before 9-11 and casts further doubt on the claims
that Saddam Hussein was involved in the 9-11 terrorist attacks.
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- Jason Leopold can be reached at: jasonleopold@hotmail.com
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