Clinton Has No Honor to Defend, and If We Follow him, AMERICA will have no honor to defend
Clinton's Arrogance, Not Our National Honor is At Stake
BY Mary Mostert, Analyst, Original Sources (http://www.originalsources.com)
March 31, 1999
Yesterday on Larry King Live, in discussing the obvious trap Slobadon Milosevic has set for the Clinton Administration, David Gergen, who was once a Clinton advisor made two amazing statements: "He only has about 48 hours to turn it around" and "United States' honor is now at stake and Melosevic is spitting in our eye."
Another of his guests, Ivo Daadler, of Brookings Institute candidly admitted "We are losing" yet went on to say "We must not allow ethnic cleaning or genocide."
The imperturbable Larry King asked, "Why does saving face matter?" His question recognized the fact that it is not America's honor that is at stake here. It is Clinton's arrogance and America's pride that is at stake, not America's honor.
Had we not already abandoned our honor, we would not be bombing Yugoslavia. There is absolutely nothing honorable about trying to force another group of people to give up their sovereign rights at gun point. America's honor was abandoned when we allowed Bill Clinton to remain in office after it was clear to all that he had no honor, no integrity, and was representing the very basest and destructive element of American society.
This is the first time in a long time I have heard anyone on the talk shows talk about "honor." I thought the media long ago decided it, like character, was not expected or needed in the highest levels of government. For the young folk out there who probably have never heard of anyone talk about honor before, when we say that a person is "a man of honor." It means that the person has a specific character trait that is best described as "personal integrity." A person of integrity is a person who is responsible. He can be depended on to act in accord with high standards of right. An "honorable" man in public life, or leader of a nation, would refuse a bribe, for example. Deceiving others would be considered a very "dishonorable' act.
In describing Honor the World Book Encyclopedia says, "It would be doubly dishonorable for a man to accept the bribe and then try to deceive himself into believing that it was all right to do so, since he could use the money to good advantage" - i.e. something like getting elected president with funds provided by Chinese and Indonesian military seeking trade favors or nuclear secrets. "For in deceiving himself he would have denied his own conscience and thereby, in a sense, destroyed a part of himself. Integrity means personal 'wholeness' or moral soundness. The honorable man will not let his integrity be destroyed or weakened by acts of self-deceit."
One of the participants in the discussion answered Larry King's question about "Why does saving face matter?" by saying that, if we back away from the bombing now, no one will believe us. "If bombs won't work (in bringing Milosevic and his nation to his knees) ground troops will have to be sent in.
Princess Elizabeth Karadjodjvic, tried to suggest that military force could not solve the problem and suggested that killing children - whether Serb or Albanian - is not the solution. "We have a moral imperative to help Kosovo," Daaldler said. "We must not allow ethnic cleansing or genocide." He suggested the "removal of Milosevic" who was elected by the people of Yugoslavia, and to re-establish the monarchy, which the Princess represented.
Others, of course, have urged the killing or other means of removing Slobodan Milosevic by NATO military forces by sending in an army of at least 200,000 foreign troops. New assaults by NATO are planned apparently against the nation's infrastructure - electricity and water supplies, in a determined effort to force the Serbs to give up control of Kosovo to the Albanian immigrants. President Clinton announced the stepped up attacks by saying that the "international community" may begin to question the "right" of Yugoslavia to Kosovo, which is the heart of the Eastern Orthodox Serbian Christians. This, of course, is what the Serbs have been saying was the goal of the Rambouillet Agreement which the Serbs refused to sign.
In 6 days of bombing the death toll is already over 1000 people, which is half the death rate for the entire year prior to the NATO attacks. So far, the only thing that appears to have kept the air attacks from worse damage than they have already inflicted has been bad weather. There was good flying weather only the first night and the weather has been too bad the other days for most of the pilots to be able to find their targets. Many of the pilots, according to reports last night, returned with their bombs intact, rather than shoot at targets they were not sure of. The high death toll of civilians could indicate that some of the pilots were confused.
However, last night the United States and NATO agreed to an escalated bombing campaign targeting buildings in downtown Belgrade, in an acknowledgment that air strikes have failed to halt the assault in Kosovo or sufficiently damage the Serbian military, two senior American officials said.
Such attacks, which would probably include government centers like the Interior and Defense Ministry buildings in the Serbian capital as well military targets elsewhere in the country, represent a major change in tactics. Until now, NATO has said it largely limited its bombing to air defense systems, factories and military installations on the outskirts of Belgrade and forces directly involved in the Kosovo campaign.
The comment by David Gergen that solutions would have to be found within the next 48 hours illustrates the rapidity with which the situation has deteriorated in the bombing campaign. Clearly it is obvious to all that the plan failed. Not only have more people been killed by the bombs but the bombing has appears to have resulted in a large and increasing number of refugees. The UN High Commissioner put the number of refugees which have left Albania in the last week at 77,000 - that is only 4.2% of the 1,800,000 ethnic Albanians in Kosovo and would indicate that the use of the word "genocide" is primarily the desire on the part of the Clinton administration to cover up a foreign policy fiasco which is leading to more death and destruction, not less.
It also appears to give credence to the claim that those being escorted to the border of Albania may be illegal aliens, rather than citizens of Yugoslavia. In recent years, with the disintegration of the Albanian government and 70% unemployment, the increased influx of Albanians into Kosovo has been a political growing political problem for at least 10 years.
With the just announced decision to destroy the Civilian infrastructure, of course unemployment, religious and ethnic resentments will escalate. As the princess noted, continued bombing will not solve any of the underlying problems, and will, in fact, make it worse. The only response from the White House is more threats, and the promise of more deaths.
To go back to the claim that this is matter of "honor" to not back down - World Book notes in defining "honor" - "Our democratic way of life would be impossible without self-discipline and trust. Democracy exists only where most of the people feel a sense of responsibility to themselves and to others. A man of honor is a man that may be trusted."
It's only been a few weeks since almost the entire congress, Republicans and Democrats, voted on articles of impeachment or censure motions which made it clear that over 95% of the congress STATED that William Jefferson Clinton had "lost the trust" of the American people. He is brought the nation to the brink of World War III, as members of the Russian Duma threaten to supply arms to the Serbs while members of the US Congress threaten to supply the KLA, which was labeled a terrorist group less than a year ago.
And the fight is over honor? William Jefferson Clinton has no honor to defend and if we continue following his corrupt foreign policy, AMERICA will have no honor left to defend.
Posted for discussion and educational purposes. Not for commercial use.
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