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*Tim Russert got ' Bleached And Pressed ', though he did keep beating the allegations of Chinese espionage/purchase of missile and nuclear technology from America, drum. His was the only voice to remain audible this Sunday, on this issue of arguably the most serious of consequences to our nation's survival. Pristina seems so far away to me, and the timing of Clinton's actions so suspect? Well, only partially caving in to the Whitehouse ' wag the dog ' spin routine, the Russ brought us two Sens, two Gens and one Conehead.
Secretary of Defense, William Cohen was still being evasive on the cause of the F-117 aircraft crash/shootdown/loss, saying " we don't know if it was ' due ' to missile, anti-aircraft fire or malfunction ". He would only describe the next round of NATO targets as " command and control structures, ammo dumps ", etc. Russert put up a chart, no THE CHART. This chart showed a half of a dozen world locations of massacres or genocidal mass killings of recent date, from the lowest total in Ethiopia at 15,000 people killed to Sudan, the highest, at 2,000,000 people killed! He then asked the simple question of why Kosovo here and now, but not any of the other places, with vastly greater numbers of casualities? Cohen's response was one of not having an answer or believable lie ready. He said the Balkans was important to us and " we can't help everybody ". Whoa man, that is quite harsh. This Whitehouse only helps someone somewhere, when it is in it's own ( Clinton's ) selfish personal interest! Cohen was reduced to echoing Clinton's public statements and repeating the Whitehouse talking points fax with, " our goal is to reduce the fighting in Yugoslavia " and we have " no plans to insert ( our ground troops ) ".
General Henry Shelton of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, on the loss of a F-117 said, " the skies are very dangerous ". He was quizzed about the possible use of United States ground troops, saying " There is no plan to insert ground troops into Kosovo ". Like no other interview of a miltary man I have ever seen, Russert had to press him on his use of the English language to get him to admit, " there has been an assessment, but no plan ". See what you have to do, to get even a career general from this administartion, to admit to the truth and not to mislead with words ( with possible intent )? What gives? Has our military really been compromised politically? That's a scary thought, folks!
General Wesley Clark, Supreme Commander of NATO did the I am only following orders thing, saying boring stuff like, " every day that goes by, he ( Milosevic ) is going to lose more troops ". He begged the public to " watch us and judge us by our actions ". Okay, I'll go with that one, but how about this little junior robot gem, " You have to subordinate your individual wills, your individual desires ", for the greater good. No bullshit man, I just couldn't write fast enough while I became aghast at that one! He finished with this one world miltary dictatorship order mantra, " This is a struggle about the kind of world we are all going to live in ". Now, does this guy have a firm place in line when they give out the positions in the ' New World Order ' or what? I bet the Serbs have plenty of these kind of military zealots on their side, too!
Senator Richard Shelby ( R ) was asked if there was a plan for ground troops and he replied, " I don't know of any war won without ground troops ". To his ( and Russert's ) credit, they engaged in a discussion about the spying done by The People's Republic of China here in the United States. Shelby said, " The espionage is deep and wide spread ". The Chinese are everwhere...they are a very crafty people ". Shelby understands how this issue directly confronts our very survival as a nation, and just how deeply involved the White House and the DNC are in the problem. On releasing the Christopher Cox report to the public on Monday, he said " The American people ought to have the right to know ".
Senator Joseph Lieberman ( D ) was a good Clinton/DNC/Whitehouse robot, towing Clinton's line like he had gloves on. When asked about ground troops, his answer was quite different from Shelby's and quite defensive actually, " well, we hope not "? Wait a second man, he added " the hope here is that some day Milosevic will come to his senses "? Okay, so he didn't want to answer the question, but when pressed he finally coughed up, " You can't stop the slaughter without troops on the ground, but it won't be NATO ". Lieberman has really lost all touch reality now; is his use of ' it won't be NATO ' an indirect admission for the use of American troops or a denial of any intention to use troops at all? He finished his misleading litany with an expert rendition of the Whitehouse talking points fax, including " We try in our way to stop brutality in the world ". Oh man, I couldn't stop laughing!
I wasn't laughing when Tim Russert finished off with David Duke, who is running for Bob Livingston's open seat in the House of Representitives from Louisiana. He has also written a book that looked like a coming out of the racist closet thing ( I won't dignify it with a mention of the title ). I just can't swallow that Duke has put his swastika arm band past behind him. White racists, black racists; there will always be examples of both kinds, I suppose? The sad thing is that both sides of this race-war coin get the airtime they do!
*On ' It's Greek To Me ' with Sam and Cokie, they had mush for breakfast. There was no mention of anything but our actions in the Balkans, except maybe when Sandy Berger started to attack Senate Republicans ( remember, they were bringing up doubts about his integrity in enabling or handing the Red Chinese espionage issue and were fair game in the realm of the DNC/Whitehouse sin machine! ).
Dr. Javier Solana, NATO Secretary General, had a practiced speech and replies to a limited number of questions ready. Examples of these included, " We want to attack from the air, the troops on the ground, to stop the ethnic cleansing ", and " we cannot allow it...we must prevent the humanitarian catastrophe ". Where did he get these prepared remarks?
Samuel Berger, National Security Advisor, was a disgrace ( see: Cheeseberger! ( 3-12-99 ) ) saying " the President said he has no intentition to put in ground troops ". He said the object of the NATO airstrikes was to " diminish and damage " Milosevic's forces. He danced around the issue of ground troops repeating the above ' no intention ' thing a second time verbatim! He whined, " we tried very hard to make peace " and rationalized that NATO wanted to " level a punishing penalty on Milosevic ". In what could be the ultimate Freudian slip, Berger let this one come out, " This is not a thirty second commercial, it is a sustained bombing campaign ". " Thirty second commerical " eh, see how the public relations oriented Berger really thinks! George Will joined in to pressure Berger to explain what to do about Milosevic, now that Clinton has used the word genocide so many times to describe him. The inference was that Milosevic would have to be put on trial for war crimes, but Berger only whimpered that he ( Milosevic ) would have to pay a " political price "? Sadly, Berger had to be interrupted out of a rambling pontification where he tried to denounce and demonize Senate Republicans. This man is a pure disgrace to the human race!
Senator John McCain ( R ) is a political hawk and will support our military at all costs after it is committed, rightly or wrongly, saying " We are in it, we have to win it, no matter what it takes ". On the specific question of U.S. ground troops, he said " We have to exercise every option ". He was quick to add, though, " We could have taken action earlier...now that we are here, I would argue that our national interests are here ". He finished with, " If we don't watch out, there aren't going to be any people left in Kosovo to exercise autonomy "!
Henry Kissinger, former Secretary of State, thought " We have to take whatever measures are necessary...though there must be a finite timetable ". He opined that the Clinton administration has made the situation " unduly complicated ". He exited with, " After all this new additional blood letting, I can't see how Serbian sovereignity can remain in Kosovo ".
To it's own detriment, the geeks roundtable only consisted of phrases like " moral imperative " and " humanitarian mission ". It was not quite the finish I had expected!
*' Displacing Calculation ' Bob Shieffer had short term memory loss on the Red Chinese spying, but he did ask Secretary of State Madeleine Albright a few serious questions. On alleged Serb atrocities in Kosovo, she sheepishly said, " We can confirm a lot, the numbers are harder ", there are " rapes, pillages, going on ". When asked if the NATO bombing was actually making things worse in Kosovo, she answered with a non-answer " Milosevic, he is the one making this worse ". Asked directly about possible U.S. ground troops being sent to Kosovo, she repeated word for word, the statement made by Sandy Berger earlier on another show, " President Clinton has said we have intention of sending in ground troops ". She attempted to reinforce the notion by repeating " no intention " over again a few times. I don't know if she resents that Clinton had her lie about the Lewinsky affair, but she refused to stand on the possible parsing of words lie on the President's actual plans to send in our boys. After a firm grilling on the meaning of the word ' intent ' ( see where Clinton has brought us? ) and whether this meant there may already be a plan; she finally admitted, " All I can tell you is the words ". Sheesh, what an embarassing excuse for a United States Secretary of State! She couldn't even give a straight answer on why Kosovo is so important, other than to continue the repeated mantra of how they have to " deal with the systematic ethnic cleansing ". We ask these Clinton cronies for an explanation, and all we get is rationalization or demonization?
Senators Kay Bailey Hutchison ( R ) and Joe Biden ( D ) faced off on the Kosovo issue. Biden was his typical Clinton/DNC/Whitehouse robot self, and he only repeated the talking points fax subjects ( and without much original new or rewritten material ); for instance, " this guy has engaged in a pattern and practice...blah, blah, blah ". Hutchison was willing to offer her own views, and not just those of a vocal minority, saying " Many of us question the policy in the Balkans...we are trying to force something ". She was willing to say she didn't support United States troops in Kosovo in any way shape or form. She thought NATO should supply any ground troops from other countries, as " we have taken on the lion's share in the air ". Hey, this female Republican was one of the few currently serving legislators, who were willing to voice a real opinion on these matters, and not just tow the preprogrammed party line ( spin )!
We can't let the Red Chinese espionage issue die on the vine, or it may just be us who become dead on the line!
- Bongo ( Honk if you love Clinton! )
