The Clinton Watch Section - Page A1
NEWS ANALYSIS
Updated 02:00
September 4, 1996CLINTON SETS STAGE FOR GROUND WAR WITH IRAQ
by Howard Hobbs Ph.D. Economics Editor, The Daily Republican Newspaper
WASHINGTON DESK - The first missile strike on Tuesday involved 27 missiles that cost more than $1 million each. They were fired on southern Iraq. Reports indicate that as few as five Iraqi people died. A mop-up attack happened Tuesday night with 17 missiles. The present conflagration may be costing American taxpayers upwards of $1 billion per day for the duration.
Destruction of the targeted sites was said to be for the strategic purpose of permitting U.S. pilots to safely enforce an expanded zone south of Baghdad. President Clinton has banned Iraqi military flights.
Saddam Hussein vowed to ignore the ban. Iraqi news reports on C-SPAN Wednesday say that one plane has been shot down, already.The pentagon would not deny the report but a spokesperson said on C-SPAN Wednesday morning " We have no evidence of that."
As predicted on Tuesday, oil markets were panicked by Clinton's missile attacks, and futures prices rose more than 5%.
In retaliation for Saddam Hussein's intrusion into the protected Kurdish zone the Clinton administration has ordered cruise-missile strikes against Iraqi air defense installations.
At a press briefing on the action, president Clinton was asked why Britain the only ally supporting the action. Clinton was stymied by the question, but was finally able to manage to say that our other allies had domestic reasons for their reluctance.
It was a legitimate question, but Clinton's answer was obtuse. Why are the French silent? Why are the Germans lukewarm? Why are the Spanish critical of Clinton's action? Why are the Japanese only mildly approving? Why are the Turks hanging back? Why are the Israelis fearful? Why are the Russians and Chinese hostile? Why is the Muslim world against Clinton's action? Why are Malaysia and Jordan critics. And, why have the Saudis, the ones we saved from Saddam in the Gulf War, asking that American planes based in Saudi Arabia not be used in the attack?
The Clinton administration has placed American lives at risk in his effort to unilaterally enforce a U.N. resolution. The U.N. has billed the Clinton Administration for the U.S. portion of the operating costs in the last four years, but Clinton refuses to pay on grounds that the U.N. operations are mismanages and not worth the money.
It is certainly reasonable to ask the Clinton administration why the U.N. has so little financial backing by the Clinton administration at a time when Clinton unilaterally commits U.S. troops to war in defense of U.N. 'no-fly zones' in Iraq, and for that matter throughout the world.
The answer is complex and certainly there is nothing in it that reflects well on our NATO allies or nations, such as Russia, that the U.S. has taken pains to help. The conclusion seems inescapable that the Clinton administration is getting no help because of the standing and reputation of president Bill Clinton has slipped in the world so much that there is no confidence in Clinton's international leadership.
Until the advent of the Clinton administration, America lead the rest of the world in domestic and global consequences. If president Clinton has been too heavily focused on domestic politics it is for the reason that he is desperate in trying to get himself re-elected. The world does not ignore such mundane behavior.
Everyone has noticed that president Clinton has devoted less time to foreign policy than good American presidents of the past. Ignoring international leadership demands has lead to Clinton and America being ignored in the present Iraq fiasco.
Certainly, balancing international and domestic policy is difficult. The right man in the presidency recognizes both functions as crucial parts of the President's job. If the present occupant of the White House does not, or cannot recognize the difference, you end up with failed international policy like the Somalia fiasco of president Clinton.
The Clinton foreign policy initiative in Somalia failed because U.S. troops weren't adequately supplied with the armor they had requested.
Another Clinton fiasco was Haiti, which is still in a state of revolution and civil war.
Of course, in Bosnia, president Clinton's foreign policy has sold-out to the Serbian aggressors in exchange for a 'sham' and fraudulent election process prior to the American presidential election in November.
There are no foreign policy successes in the 'plus' column for the Bill Clinton administration.
Another example of the Clinton White House mismanagement is Turkey. Turkey has been an inexcusably neglected friend to the Clinton administration. This ha had the consequence that anti-West sentiment is growing there. Because of Clinton's neglect of Turkey, tt now has an Islamicist government that has been moving to strengthen its ties with Iran and Iraq.
The best example of the worst kind of insult to of our allies happened when the Clinton administration contributed to this dangerous trend by failing to actively defend Turkey from being kept out of European Union membership because of ethnic and religious discrimination. The Clinton White House has courted Syria's Hafez Assad and the PLO's Yasser Arafat, as well as Gerry Adams of the Irish Republican Army, while ignoring Turkey and its call for help from a distracted American president Bill Clinton.
Because of its the special responsibilities, the Clinton administration should certainly see to it that it maintains vital relationships with its friendly nations. That requires organization and management of an aggressive foreign policy commitment and the aggressive maintenance of sufficient military strength to meet international commitments. The Clinton administration has demonstrated it is not philosophically or vocationally suited to those tasks.
For these reasons, and due to the inability to manage and maintain control, the Clinton administration has not been taken seriously. President Clinton has been pegged as a detractor and belittler of the U.S. military arm. This has been greatly due to Clinton's budget cutting and military downsizing since the Bush administration's Desert Storm stunning military success
If the Clinton administration now stands alone, so does the entire Western world.
The Clinton administration is now engaging in international politics, obstinately acting alone. But, instead of responding directly in the north of Iraq, where the Iraqi troops are in violation of the alleged 'no-fly-zone' the Clinton administration has responded in the south.
By attacking old air-defense installations there, and by expanding the 'no-fly zone' in southern Iraq, president Clinton has inevitably involved the American people in a set of circumstances on a set-stage where there will surely be a shooting war in which the president has placed Americans in harm's while he hopes to remain safely in the White House for another term.
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