Is this Monica's war? Those terrorist camps have been there for years!!
Sir, I must remind you of a little thing called Vietnam, I suggest you read up on it..
A Liar-in-Chief Is Nothing
New
Clinton's not the first,
or the most damaging
At 11:36 p.m. on the night of Aug. 6, 1964,
President Lyndon Johnson went on
national television and told the American
people that U.S. troops had been the target of
"unprovoked attacks."
North Vietnamese patrol boats in the Gulf of Tonkin, Johnson
said, had twice fired at U.S. Navy ships sailing in international
waters, first on Aug. 4, and then on Aug. 6.
LBJ announced immediate and "limited" air strikes against North
Vietnam, and at the same time assured us he would "seek no
wider war."
The President was lying.
Even as he spoke, Johnson knew that U.S. Navy SEALs and
South Vietnamese troops had been involved for months in covert
attacks and sabotage against North Vietnam. He knew because he
had authorized the covert campaign.
He also knew that two Navy ships backing up that operation had
been caught by the North Vietnamese inside their coastal waters
Aug. 4.
At the time, the U.S. was not at war with North Vietnam.
A few days later, Robert McNamara, Johnson's secretary of
defense, lied to Congress when he spoke in favor of the Gulf of
Tonkin resolution authorizing further military actions against North
Vietnam.
The resolution passed overwhelmingly. It became the closest thing
we ever got to a declaration of war for Vietnam. A vote based on
lies gave us a war that killed 55,000 Americans and more than a
million Vietnamese.
On Nov. 13, 1986, at the beginning of the Iran-Contra scandal,
President Ronald Reagan spoke on national television. In spite of
"false stories about arms for hostages and alleged ransom
payments," Reagan said, "we did not - repeat, did not - trade
weapons or anything else for hostages, nor will we."
Another liar.
Reagan's tall tale, which he maintained for months, helped delay
the Iran-Contra investigation and covered up outright crimes by his
top aides - Bill Casey, Caspar Weinberger, Ollie North and
others. Crimes like selling guns to terrorists in Iran and diverting
the money to the CIA-created Contra guerrillas in Nicaragua.
I will not bore you with Richard Nixon.
Presidents are no different from other politicians. They have been
known to lie - some of them regularly - to protect their hides
and their policies.
So let's stop all this nonsense about President Clinton betraying the
public trust. Just as athletes are not hired to set a fine example for
the youth who idolize them, politicians are not elected for their
moral rectitude.
Both are hired to do a job. If they do that job well, their contract
gets renewed. Their tawdry or kinky sex habits are their own
business. For guidance on moral behavior, we have priests and
parents.
The main difference between Clinton and some of his
predecessors is that his lies haven't killed anybody - at least not
yet. Measured against Johnson, Reagan and Nixon, his Lewinsky
lies are so inconsequential that pursuing them with an army of
investigators is a farce that has made us the laughingstock of the
world.
The American people keep telling this to my colleagues in the
media. They keep saying it to Kenneth Starr, this hit man
masquerading as an "independent" prosecutor.
But Starr refuses to give up. A four-year investigation of Clinton
and his wife began with land deals in Arkansas, jumped to Vince
Foster's suicide, then to the firing of workers at the White House
travel office, then to Hillary's legal bills at her old firm, then to FBI
background files.
Having found nothing to charge the President or his wife with after
all those years and millions of dollars, Starr resorts to this low-life
eight-month probe of some tawdry, clearly reprehensible but
consensual sex acts between Clinton and a young woman. He
snared them in understandable attempts to hide their private lives
from the rest of the world.
Starr has turned into a poster boy for how federal prosecutors and
grand juries in this country are out of control, says Gerald
Lefcourt, past president of the National Association of Criminal
Defense Attorneys.
As for Clinton, I have never liked or trusted him, but this attempt
to overthrow his election under the guise of a criminal investigation
has to stop. It is Starr who must go. Bill and his lies are for Hillary
and Chelsea to punish.
Original Publication Date: 08/20/1998 |
