The entire Democrat Party establishment in Washington is profoundly,
arrogantly corrupt. They are trashing the Constitution, making a
mockery of the Rule of Law, and their incompetence, meddling and
malfeasance is costing American lives... and the lives of our allies.
They should be charged, en-mass, with treasonous acts against the
people of the United States, tried, convicted, and publicly hung
using a gallows built for the occasion on the Washington Mall...
in full view of the Washington Monument.
_________________________________________________________________
The Washington Times
washingtontimes.com
October 18, 2000
Hill eyes probe of Gore's deal with Russia
By Bill Gertz
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Senior congressional leaders yesterday called for hearings
to investigate secret deals between Vice President Al Gore
and Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin that
included keeping Congress in the dark on Moscow's nuclear
cooperation with Iran.
Senate Majority Leader Trent
Lott expressed "deep concern"
about a report in yesterday's
editions of The Washington Times
that revealed a secret 1995 deal
between the vice president and the
Russian leader not to reveal to
Congress the details of a plan by
Russia to build a reactor for Iran.
Notification was required under
U.S. weapons proliferation law.
Senate Foreign Relations
Committee Chairman Jesse Helms
also has begun an investigation into
back-channel arrangements between Mr. Chernomyrdin and
Mr. Gore, which appeared directed at avoiding sanctions for
nuclear-related transfers and conventional arms sales, a
senior aide said.
House leaders also are considering an investigation of Mr.
Gore's behind-the-scenes diplomacy on Russia, staff aides
said.
Texas Gov. George W. Bush also questioned Mr. Gore's
judgment in the arrangement with Mr. Chernomyrdin, who
was Russia's No. 2 leader in the early 1990s.
Bush spokeswoman Karen Hughes said yesterday that the
Republican presidential nominee believes that Mr. Gore
showed "incredibly bad judgment" in striking a deal in 1995
with the Russian prime minister not to tell Congress the details
of Russia's nuclear cooperation with Iran.
"The vice president owes the American people and the
Congress an explanation," she said. "It's always a concern to
learn that the vice president of the United States was involved
in secret agreements with a foreign country — secret
agreements that apparently allowed Russia to send weapons
to Iran for almost five years with no sanctions and were
designed to keep Congress in the dark."
Gore spokesman Jim Kennedy said yesterday that the
vice president's discussions with Mr. Chernomyrdin "were
not a secret" because Mr. Gore mentioned he was holding
"private discussions" during a news conference in 1996.
As for notifying Congress, Mr. Kennedy said: "The
administration has kept Congress fully informed on Iranian
nuclear cooperation with Russia and any reported advice
from Prime Minister Chernomyrdin had no effect on our
determination to keep the Congress fully informed."
Senior aides from both the House and Senate disputed the
assertion and said there was no notification of the 1995
nuclear deal to build the reactor.
Classified documents obtained by The Times show that
Mr. Chernomyrdin provided Mr. Gore in a Dec. 9, 1995,
letter with details on Russia's deal with Iran to build a nuclear
reactor. The Russian leader stated in the letter that the
information could not be disclosed to "third parties, including
the U.S. Congress," adding that "I am counting on your
understanding."
A separate 1995 agreement, called an aide memoire and
signed by Mr. Gore and Mr. Chernomyrdin, states that the
United States would "take appropriate steps to avoid any
penalties to Russia" under "domestic law" for conventional
arms transfers to Iran.
Rep. Christopher Cox, California Republican and
chairman of a critical assessment of the Clinton administration
Russia policy, said six House committees looked into the
matter during their investigation but were never informed of
the Russian nuclear deal.
Mr. Cox said the story in The Times reveals "a second
secret Gore-Chernomyrdin agreement allowing not only
conventional weapons but nuclear technology to go to Iran."
"There was no evidence of these recently revealed
Gore-Chernomyrdin exchanges" in the investigation by the
Speaker's Advisory Group on Russia, he added.
A third document disclosed by The Times yesterday was
a letter labeled "secret" that was sent in January by Secretary
of State Madeleine K. Albright to Russian Foreign Minister
Igor Ivanov.
It states that the United States used the 1995
Gore-Chernomyrdin agreement to avoid applying U.S.
weapons proliferation laws.
"Without the aide memoire, Russia's conventional arms
sales to Iran would have been subject to sanctions based on
various provisions of our laws," Mrs. Albright stated in the
Jan. 13 letter.
"This is very disturbing," said Lott spokesman John
Czwartacki. "It appears that this administration by the
admission in Madeleine Albright's letter, allowed the Russians
to evade U.S. sanctions." Senate hearings on the issue are
"under active consideration," he said.
The Albright letter also drew sharp criticism from Mr.
Helms, North Carolina Republican, who said it showed Mr.
Gore agreed to help Russia evade U.S. law.
"The letter is a clear admission by Albright that Gore
promised not to implement sanctions required by U.S. law —
a charge that has been vigorously denied by the vice
president's office," Helms spokesman Marc Thiessen said.
National Security Adviser Samuel R. Berger stated in a
television interview Sunday that one U.S. sanctions law, the
1992 Iran-Iraq Nonproliferation Act, did not apply to
Russian weapons sales.
"Albright's letter to Ivanov shows that to be a lie," Mr.
Thiessen said.
Condoleezza Rice, Mr. Bush's foreign policy adviser and
a national security official under President Bush, backed a
congressional investigation.
"I think the question really is about this series of deals and
whether congressional oversight was followed," said Miss
Rice, an authority on Russia. "It's troubling when you see
something this secret. It's an odd way of dealing."
A senior staff member of the House International
Relations Committee also stated that the Clinton
administration failed to provide information contained in the
Chernomyrdin letter to Mr. Gore to that committee, as
required by a provision of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Act.
The aide said the secret deals help explain why the Clinton
administration has failed to provide two reports to Congress
on Russian arms sales to Iran under a proliferation law
passed last year.
"The reports would have shown the Russians were
violating the 1995 aide memoire," he said.
All site contents copyright © 2000 News World Communications, Inc.
___________________________________________________________________
washingtontimes.com |
