Well, whadayaknow...! They're withholding evidence... AGAIN!
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The Washington Times
washtimes.com
October 27, 2000
Congress denied details on Gore deal
By Bill Gertz
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
The Clinton administration is continuing to withhold from
Congress details of Vice President Al Gore's secret deals
with Russia despite appeals made during closed-door
briefings for members of Congress.
Senators yesterday were
denied access to a secret list of
Russian arms the administration
allowed Moscow to send Iran
without incurring U.S. sanctions,
as agreed to in a secret deal,
according to a letter from a group
of senior Republicans.
During a House briefing
yesterday, members were denied
access to two secret letters - one
from Russian Prime Minister
Viktor Chernomyrdin and one
written by Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright.
The refusal to disclose details about Mr. Gore's
arrangements appears to fulfill a request made in a classified
1995 letter from Mr. Chernomyrdin.
According to the letter, first disclosed by The Washington
Times Oct. 17, Mr. Chernomyrdin urged Mr. Gore to keep
secret Russia's nuclear deal with Iran from "third parties,
including the U.S. Congress."
During yesterday's briefing, State Department officials
showed House members a copy of a separate classified 1995
"aide-memoire" signed by Mr. Gore and Mr. Chernomyrdin.
But the officials would not allow Congress to keep a
copy, and they also refused to provide copies of the "Dear
Al" letter from Mr. Chernomyrdin and another classified letter
from Mrs. Albright sent to Moscow in January, congressional
aides said.
The aide-memoire, signed by the two leaders, committed
the United States not to impose sanctions on Russia for
conventional arms sales to Iran that are required under U.S.
law.
"We are asking for all the documents and don't have any
as yet," said Rep. Benjamin A. Gilman, chairman of the
House International Relations Committee. "And we want to
know why sanctions were not enforced."
Mr. Gilman, New York Republican, made the remarks to
reporters after a classified Capitol Hill briefing on the
Gore-Chernomyrdin dealings.
On the Senate side, 10 Republican members, including
several leaders, sent a letter to Mrs. Albright that accused the
administration of "stonewalling" for refusing to turn over the
Gore-Chernomyrdin documents.
"We expect the administration to share all of the requested
documents with the committee no later than noon on
Monday, October 30," the letter said.
"If the administration continues to stonewall, and withhold
these documents from Congress, then the Foreign Relations
Committee will have no choice but to issue a subpoena to
obtain them."
Among the Republicans who signed the letter were
Majority Leader Trent Lott of Mississippi, Jesse Helms of
North Carolina, Sam Brownback of Kansas, Gordon R.
Smith of Oregon, John McCain of Arizona, Richard G. Lugar
of Indiana, Fred Thompson of Tennessee, Don Nickles of
Oklahoma, John W. Warner of Virginia and Richard C.
Shelby of Alabama.
Meanwhile, Mr. Gore made his first comments on the
growing controversy, which has taken on political overtones
in the final week of the presidential campaign.
Mr. Gore said the deal "stopped any new arms sales for
the last five years."
"Congress was briefed on it," Mr. Gore said on ABC's
"Good Morning America."
Mr. Gore said U.S. law, including a 1992 law he
co-sponsored, did not apply to Russia. The
Gore-Chernomyrdin deal allowed Moscow to "finish out
those contracts, which did not include advanced weaponry,
and they agreed not to have any new ones."
He insisted the arrangement was "in the best interest of
our country."
Congressional aides, however, said the deals were
questionable and the fact that the administration is refusing to
provide details now is raising serious concerns.
One Republican aide said "either Gore allowed thousands
of Russian weapons systems listed in the annex to be sent, or
he was snookered and the Russians never revealed what
weapons they were sending, even though the United States
promised not to impose sanctions.
"Either way, it was a bad deal for the country," this aide
said.
A House aide said members were "angered and
frustrated" by the refusal to explain the deals during
yesterday's briefing.
"Iran's nuclear weapons program was being built up and
these agreements helped that," the aide said. "The
Gore-Chernomyrdin agreement basically expedited Iran's
nuclear missile program."
Texas Gov. George W. Bush called again yesterday for
Mr. Gore to provide a full explanation of the secret arms
dealing.
"Al Gore owes the American people an explanation about
his role in the secret agreement between him and then-Prime
Minister Chernomyrdin allowing Russia to sell arms to Iran,"
said Bush spokesman Dan Bartlett.
Mr. Bartlett added: "Senator McCain has said that Gore's
claims on the issue are 'probably false' and that his actions are
'inexcusable.' Al Gore's explanation of his secret agreement
regarding arms sales to Iran defies credibility."
Former Rep. Lee Hamilton, the former chairman of the
House Intelligence Committee, said yesterday he remembers
being briefed on the Gore-Chernomyrdin deals several times.
Other House and Senate aides said there is no record of
detailed briefings on the plan to avoid sanctions on Russia for
arms sales.
One aide suggested that Mr. Hamilton's recollection could
indicate that the administration chose to exclude the
Republicans from its briefings on the issue.
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