Although I don't watch everything Biden does, from what I see it appears that his own political well-being is #1.
Remember when Biden reamed the loyal, honest, and correct weapons inspector Major Scott Ritter, who pled with Congress that Saddam was cheating and breaking his agreement on WMD disclosure, and we weren't compelling compliance, Biden arrogantly roared that was above his pay grade, and that's why the politicians get the big bucks and limos and he doesn't? That's real gratitude for a tough job well done.
excerpt:
SEN. THURMOND: Senator Biden?
SEN. BIDEN: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I envy your position. I sincerely do. I envy the ability to have such clarity on this issue. Let me ask you a question, do you think you should be the one to be able to decide when to pull the trigger?
MR. RITTER: No, sir.
SEN. BIDEN: Isn't that what this is about? If you adopt the position that any time you are denied, your -- and there's four groups out there, of inspectors -- your -- the group you headed -- anytime you were denied, that that ipso facto requires the United States and the Security Council to act on what they said they would do, which is to use whatever means necessary to take on Saddam Hussein so you can get into that particular facility.
Is that not correct? Is that not your position?
MR. RITTER: Mr. Senator, I have a job to do -- or I had a job to do, and that was to disarm Iraq in accordance with the provisions of --
SEN. BIDEN: No, I got that.
MR. RITTER: -- (inaudible) -- resolutions.
SEN. BIDEN: With all due respect, if you -- I am not trying to be confrontational.
MR. RITTER: Okay.
SEN. BIDEN: I am trying to get this as clear as I can. I really mean this now. You have an absolute logic; you put together a very tight syllogism here. You have indicated that your job is to disarm. The only way you can disarm is to have access. And the only way you can have access is either with permission on the part of Iraq, or if denied, forced access. Right?
MR. RITTER: Compelled access, yes.
SEN. BIDEN: "Compelled." Well, okay, compelled. You sound like the lawyer, and I sound like the military guy. (Chuckles.) I mean, you know, compelled where I come from -- when my old man said, "You're compelled," it meant "I was forced." I mean, it was a real simple proposition. It wasn't -- you know, there wasn't much to debate.
Now there is a clear logic to that, and that's what I mean when I say I respect your position. But that means that whenever your choose a target that warrants inspection and you are denied, that ipso facto at that moment the only way your position can be satisfied or sustained is if the U.N. Security Council, or the United States acting unilaterally, uses force to guarantee access. Is not that true?
MR. RITTER: Yes, sir.
SEN. BIDEN: Now that means that you get to choose the time and place when we would use force if we you force.
MR. RITTER: No, sir.
SEN. BIDEN: Of course, you do. If you choose the site and it's denied --
MR. RITTER: And we coordinate with the member states, to include the United States --
SEN. BIDEN: Exactly.
MR. RITTER: -- and prior to us going in, we have their agreement that this indeed is an inspection worth doing.
SEN. BIDEN: Okay. Inspection worth doing; everybody is agreed it's worth doing, and it gets stopped?
MR. RITTER: Yes, sir.
SEN. BIDEN: At that moment, we're on automatic pilot as far as you're concerned -- period. No ifs, ands or buts. Now I respect that.
But now it seems to me the secretary of State might have a slightly different problem. The secretary of State might be sitting there and saying: "Now look over there on that side now. I remember so-and-so and so-and-so and so-and-so, and the 12 people on this side, they're all the ones that said they didn't want to use force. Now I am going to have to go tell the president now that we should -- or Secretary Cohen -- unleash whatever it takes to get it done." And our military assessment is the same as the major's.
The major's assessment is, privately held but publicly acknowledged later, that air strikes alone aren't going to do this. Saddam's not going to cave on this.
So, now, here's the deal. I recommended the president have at it, and let the chips fall where they may. A reasonable position for the secretary of defense and the secretary of state to take. But I respectfully suggest, major, I respectfully suggest they have responsibilities slightly above your pay grade -- slightly above your pay grade -- to decide whether or not to take the nation to war alone or to take the nation to war part-way, or to take the nation to war half-way. That's a real tough decision. That's why they get paid the big bucks. That's why they get the limos and you don't.
I mean this sincerely. I'm not trying to be flip, because I think -- and that's what I said at the outset. The reason why I'm glad you did what you did, we should come to our milk. We should make a decision. But in terms of whether the secretary of state has no more to consider than you do as the arms inspector -- you didn't get in, didn't get my job done, get me in! Period. You made the deal, right? That's the deal. A deal's a deal. Get me in! Scott Ritter, I'm ready to go. That's not how it works.
Now, maybe it should work that way. But wouldn't you acknowledge that if you were President of the United States or the secretary of state you'd sit there and say, "Now, okay. Old Scottie boy didn't get in. We said he should get it. We want him to get in. It's important that he does get in. They're not going to let him in. So what are we going to do now? We know that France and Russia aren't going to be with us. We're quite confident China's not. We've already run those traps; they're not there. We're not sure whether the United States Senate is. But have at it, boys. Go get 'em. And by the way, Scott and the boys say air power's not enough."
I think it's a legitimate debate, major. I think it's a legitimate debate. But I don't think we should be putting it in the context of, you have somebody up there at State saying "Now, look, how can we weasel out of this agreement? We don't want to let this guy out there hanging. We're not this -- ". It's a very practical political decision. The same kind of decision General Powell made. The same kind of decision President Bush made. Every president and every secretary of state needs to do it.
Like I said, they get paid more than you, their job's a hell of a lot more complicated than yours. They may have made the wrong decision. And you brought it to light. We should address it. We should say straight up where we are. And we should do it.
And for that, I thank you. But it's above your pay grade." |
