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*Saturday night on CNN, Sam Nunn ( D ), former chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, on our undeclared war on Yugoslavia, thought " we are not well positioned ". He continued, " we have turned this into a humanitarian war ", where " we have less than a vital interest ". He opined that Russia has been humiliated, and because we didn't even make a ceremonial contact with them for their advice, " we are alienating Russia " even further.
*On ' Beat The Guests ', Tim Russert asked some tough questions, including some about espionage by the People's Republic of China during the Clinton administration. First up was NATO commander, U.S. Army General Wesley Clark. When asked if the campaign could last months, Clark replied, " I am not going to predict how long it is going to go on ". He gave the three conditions for the bombing to stop. " 1) Cease aggression in side Kosovo against his own people. 2) Admit the refugees back. and 3) Allow a presence, NATO, to provide security. " When pressed again on a timetable or the possible use of ground troops, he said, " At this point, the air campaign has a long way to go ".
Next came John " The Rodent " Podesta ( and I don't mean that fondly ), White House chief of staff ( are there any indians in this administration? ). His lying and parsing of words is not quite as polished as his teacher's, but maybe we can read between the lines a bit. He gave the same three conditions for the bombing in Yugoslavia to stop, for a change, though with slightly different words. " 1) Remove his forces from Kosovo. 2) Let a NATO led force into Kosovo. and 3) Let the people who lived there return to their homes ". Return to their homes, huh? Like there is anything left of them after the NATO bombing; we have seen the photographs of a deserted downtown Pristina that was destroyed by NATO bombs. He continued, " We are not negotiating; he knows what he has to do...we will persue the air campaign until he does ". He then let this slip, probably to his last chagrin, " Serbia must have democracy..." Now the real story comes out. This is not a fight for the people of Kosovo, but for the victory over world communism? Russert played a little Devil's advocate, asking about newspaper articles suggesting the Joint Chiefs didn't want to attack Yugoslavia, but Podesta said, " Everyone was unanimous in persuing the air campaign ". On the future of U.S. ground troops in Yugoslavia, he blantantly lied to the camera ( or was it clever parsing of words? ), " The President does not have an intention to use ground troops ". But he we may " insert troops in a peaceful environment ". Who is Pindestio trying to fool? He is not playing me for the fool. On the two billion plus dollars the campaign has cost already, he wouldn't deny or confirm it, saying, " We haven't come up with a number ". Sheesh man, why even have this guy on? Russert tried to get him to use the war criminal description on Slobodan Milosevic, but he would only say, " Mr. Milosevic has been put on notice ". Russert finished his interview by pushing him on the Red Chinese espionage issue and Clinton's lies or parsing of words in his press conference answers of two weeks ago, in denying that he knew anything about it. He said, " The President has said there was a problem and we have dealt with it. " Huh? This is a bald faced lie of epic proportions! This is what the confessed liar, Bill Clinton actually said: The Whitehouse Kennel Club? ( 3-20-99 ) . Ask yourself if you believe Podesta when he said, " I think his answers were accurate "? Visible nose growth alert!
Then came the dueling Senators routine of the day. Senator John McCain ( R ) said we should " authorize the President to use all means necessary " against Milosevic. He finally opined, " Break this man's military and you probably break him ". Senator Joe Biden ( D ) thought " it was a mistake to take ground troops off the table ". They ended the interview by bickering about why the terrorist Kosovo Liberation Army signed off on a peace plan only including autonomy and not full independence. Biden insisted that it was a compromise on their part, but McCain rightly pointed out that NATO promised to protect them and/or bomb Milosevic if they signed!
Lastly came Dan Quayle, former Vice President and National Spelling Bee champion ( sic ); he opened with, " I wouldn't have gotten us in this mess to begin with ". He is one of only a few who understand the humiliation we are putting Russia through, as he continued, " We should talk with the Russians ". He had this good one to offer, " We are a long way down the wrong road ". On the same vein, he added, " The political people were overruling the military people all along the way ". He opined, " This didn't have to happen. Six different times they threatened action and backed down...What do you think Milosevic was going to do "? He finished with, " We ( the Bush administration ) gave this administration the most solid foreign policy hand possible and they have thrown all the cards away one by one...When you make a public statement about a deadline, you better do what you said ". As a postscript almost, Russert asked him if he thought we could win. Quayle replied, " Win what?"
*'The Weak ' was even weaker, with the absense of Sam Donaldson. They started with a truely weak slideshow hosted by General Henry Shelton, Chairman of The Joint Chiefs of Staff ( these guys should really stick to fighting and quit trying to do the spinmeister routine ) and William " Conehead " Cohen, Secretary of Defense. Shelton admitted that NATO planners predicted ground troops of " twenty to two hundred thousand men " would be needed and declared, " the atrocities are being committed by Milosevic and his troops ". Cohen continued the spinmeistering on sending MLRS rocket artillery to Albanian for use against the Serbs as a defensive measure, when anyone who knows what these artillery pieces are used for knows it's a lie, with " MLRS to suppress any ground activity ". Why do they continue to perpetrate this blatant untruth? He continued the villification of Milosevic in the old ' attack Ken Starr ' style with, " There are reports of mass graves " and " grotesque brutality...makes it difficult to deal with him ". He finished with more exaggerations on the scope of the lives lost in Kosovo, calling it " a horrific slaughter of people on a massive scale ". Well, if two thousand dead is a massive scale, what were the millions of Jews lost in the holocaust? I never fail to be offended by these Clinton minions who play up the Kosovo situation and make light of the real genocide and ethnic cleansing going on all over the rest of the world!
Last came another dueling Senators routine with Fred Thompson ( R ) and Joseph Lieberman ( D ). Thompson said, " We are stretched too thin. ". He then mentioned " North Korea ". The topic then went straight to Red Chinese espionage. He said the Clinton response to all these problems is always the same, " It didn't happen, and if it did happen, it was not that bad ". On why the Clinton administration is delaying the release of the Cox Report on the theft or sale of secrets to Red China, said, " It will demonstrate how bad the security breaches were ". This is sad man, very sad. Lieberman was very " impressed with the solidarity of the people involved " in the NATO bombing. He continued, " There is no substitute for victory ". He called the NATO attacks, " an air campaign with a plan "? Lieberman even was upset about the PRC spying, " I was struck by the aggressiveness of the Chinese espionage in this country ".
*'Replacing Damnation', General Wesley Clark was still making the rounds. He was asked about cracks possibly appearing in Milosevic's entourage, but only offered, " I won't comment on that...these are battle hardened people ". Strobe Talbot, Deputy Secretary of State, was there to spin for the White House and declared, " NATO is going to prevail; prevail on it's terms ". He finished with, " Fourteen months ago we tried diplomacy...after the worst atrocities since World War II, we had to act ". I am really getting tired with these Clinton loving liars downplaying the millions killed in World War II and making an unreal connection between those millions and the puny thousands dispalced or killed in Kosovo!
Then came the last dueling Senators show for me, today. It was Chuck Hagel ( R ) and Robert Kerrey ( D ). Hagel said, " The superiority of our NATO forces is in the options. Don't take anything off the table ". Kerrey said, " You have to do what you have to do " ( how original? ) and we must " do what's necessary...we can't afford a loss ".
I guess they wanted to take it easy on this day of Orthodox Easter. They just didn't lay too many bombs in the old Easter Basket.
- Bongo ( Color my eggs. )
