Quote:
Originally posted by SlaveNoMore
AAAARRRRRGGHHHH!!!!
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Jesse Helms, Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, commented:
"This bill will begin the long-overdue process of ousting Saddam. It will not send in U.S. troops or commit American forces in any way."
According to Senator Bob Kerrey:
"Second, this bill is not a device to involve the U.S. military in operations in or near Iraq. The Iraqi revolution is for Iraqis, not Americans, to make. "
Some interesting reading:
However, according to clandestineradio.com (
http://www.clandestineradio.com/dossier/iraq/mess.htm), "U.S. Congress also pursued a bill dubbed the Iraqi Liberation Act of 1998 to force the White House into supporting the INC. Passed with bipartisan support, it promised the INC US$97 million in aid to create an administrative infrastructure fund broadcasting efforts, and also to buy light armaments. The President and his advisers, however, were not amused. Bill Clinton dragged his heels for weeks before signing the bill, and once signed on December 31, 1998, it languished in layers of bureaucracy in Foggy Bottom. Without cash, the INC could not begin to rebuild itself yet the U.S. Department of State refused to disburse the funding.
"In fact, only US$20,000 had been provided between January 1999 and July 2000 to train three Iraqi exiles in non-lethal measures at the Pentagon. If provided with funding, Ahmed Chalabi told U.S. Congressmen on June 28, 2000, 'we can begin humanitarian relief projects within 45 days and begin broadcasting operations in less than 30.'
"'I cannot understand why President Clinton signed the Iraq Liberation Act when he had absolutely no intention of implementing the provisions of that law,' Sam Brownback, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee on the Near East, commented during a 2000 hearing on the issue. Chalabi, speaking during the hearing, went even further, saying that the INC has been 'routinely disparaged by adminstration officials from the National Security Council (NSC), the CIA, the State Department and the Department of Defense. And, while blaming the victim may provide temporary political cover for betrayal of US interests, ideals and commitments, it has done little for the confidence of the Iraqi people or Iraq's neighbors.'"
http://www.sourcewatch.org/wiki.phtm...on_Act_of_1998
