Another interesting read from capitolhillblues:
Lockhart lies, Clinton evades, when pressed about military support for war
By DOUG THOMPSON
Presidential spokesman Joe Lockhart lied to reporters Monday when he said the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon unanimously supported President Clinton in his war against Kosovo, senior Pentagon officials said.
"He lied. There's no other way to say it," said one Pentagon official. "They caught him in an outright lie. The Joint Chiefs did not agree with the President on his decision to pursue an limited air campaign in Kosovo. They counseled against it and they continue to counsel against it."
President Clinton, pressed by reporters, downplayed the disagreements between himself and his top military advisors, but did not deny reports that his decision to go ahead with air strikes against Yugoslavia ran counter to the recommendations of the Joint Chiefs.
"First, let me say that one of the jobs that the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs have is to report to me faithfully the view of the Chiefs, the Service Chiefs, the members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. And they have performed that faithfully, so that when there is a difference of opinion, when there is even a nuance, they have let me know that, as far as I know, in every important matter. Ultimately, after all, I am responsible for all these decisions, and must bear the burden of them, regardless," Clinton said.
However, when reporters asked Lockhart "So you're saying that there was unanimous support within not just the national security team, but within the Joint Chiefs?", Lockhart answered "yes," then went on to claim the "unanimous support" was "for the option that we are pursuing."
"A flat out lie," said one Senior Pentagon officer Monday night. "The opposition against the President's program is real and it is continuing."
Capitol Hill Blue first reported military disagreements with Clinton over the Kosovo war two weeks ago. The Washington Post reported the story on Monday.
Intelligence analysts Sander Owen says anger among career military officers is growing.
"The military has never liked this President," Owen said. "Now the dislike is turning into outright hatred. They see him as a genuine threat to the national security."
Within the White House press corps, reporters are expressing open anger at the flagrant "parsing" of words by Clinton and administration spokesman. Lockhart is openly referred to as a "weasel" and "a lying son-of-a-bitch."
"Look, the animosity between reporters and Presidential press spokesmen is always a tenuous one," says one White House reporter, "but this one is turning into open animosity. Nobody likes this guy. Nobody trusts him."
That animosity surfaced most recently in Monday's press briefing:
Q: Joe, when you said a moment ago that there was unanimous support, among what group? Among the President's national security advisors, or among the Joint Chiefs as well?
LOCKHART: Among both. And we worked hard to reach -- in a situation where there were only difficult choices, we found the best available option. And all agreed that this was the right option and we'd move forward with it.
Q: So you're saying that there was unanimous support within not just the national security team, but within the Joint Chiefs --
LOCKHART: Yes.
Q: -- for the military strikes --
LOCKHART: For the option that we are pursuing.
Q: Can I just follow up on that? The Commandant of the Marine Corps said publicly less than a week before the operation was launched that he didn't see an end game, he didn't see how bombing strikes alone could work. I don't -- how do we reconcile what he was saying publicly with that?
LOCKHART: I reconcile it by the Joint Chiefs and the military worked closely with the President's national security team; we came to the point where we had a military plan that everyone agreed to.
Q: Are you telling us that the Joint Chiefs never suggested to the President or to his team here in the White House that bombing alone would be unable to achieve --
LOCKHART: I'm suggesting that we fully went through all of the available options, talked about how best to move forward, and everyone that I know of in the President's national security and military team agreed that this was the best option.
Q: That's not my question.
Q: That wasn't the question.
Q: My question was, are you telling us the Joint Chiefs never advised the President that bombing alone might not achieve his objectives?
LOCKHART: Listen, I can only tell you that when I had put this question of was there support for pursuing this military option, the answer is yes.
Q: I'm not asking about support once a decision is made.
Q: That's the wrong question.
LOCKHART: Well, I'm answering -- I'm answering the question the best way I know how.
Q: You're answering a question that's not been asked.
Reporters also point to the President's evasive answers Monday to direct questions over military support of his actions.
Q: Mr. President, do your military share your goals in the operation on Kosovo? We've got there are many, many stories that
CLINTON: I know that.
Q: -- the Pentagon people are not with you.
CLINTON: Let me say, I will answer this question, and then I think we might want Secretary Cohen and General Shelton to answer it, since they're here. And I want to give them a chance to comment.
First, let me say that one of the jobs that the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs have is to report to me faithfully the view of the Chiefs, the Service Chiefs, the members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. And they have performed that faithfully, so that when there is a difference of opinion, when there is even a nuance, they have let me know that, as far as I know, in every important matter. Ultimately, after all, I am responsible for all these decisions, and must bear the burden of them, regardless.
Now, in this case, everybody's first choice was diplomacy. Let me remind -- let's do a little bit of brief history here. In February of '98, over a year ago, this problem started. We worked on it through diplomacy, and with the threat of NATO force, all the way up until last fall. In October, we finally got an agreement that allowed hundreds of thousands of people to come down out of the hills to avoid starvation and freezing with the pending winter. We all knew -- no one was blind to the difficulties of having to carry forward with any kind of military sanctions.
Now, that worked. Then the problems arose again this year. When the talks failed, we had a series of difficult choices. In the end, everybody agreed that of a bunch of bad options, our military campaign was the best available option to show aggressive action, to keep NATO's word, to keep our NATO allies together, and to give us a chance to preserve our objectives.
Secretary Albright made a point -- I believe it was yesterday -- that I would like to reiterate. We have a lot of tough questions to answer about this operation. And I am quite sure that we cannot answer every one to everyone's satisfaction. But I would far rather be standing here answering these questions with these people talking about this endeavor, than I would to be standing here having you ask me why we are permitting wholesale ethnic slaughter and ethnic cleansing and the creation of hundreds of thousands of refugees and not lifting a finger to do anything about it.
So I recognize that I cannot answer every question to everyone's satisfaction. That is a legitimate question; all the questions are. We are doing the best we can to keep the Alliance together, to be forthright, to be clear and to achieve our objectives. And I believe we will prevail.
Q: Well, are the military with you?
CLINTON: My impression is -- and, again, I think I owe it to the Secretary of Defense and General Shelton, to give them a chance to answer, because they're here -- that everyone agreed that while there were problems with the air campaign, including the weather, which all of you saw last week, that this was the best available option for us to maximize the possibility of achieving our mission of standing up against ethnic cleansing, fulfilling NATO's commitment, getting the refugees to be able to go back home, live in peace and security and have some autonomy.
So that's what I believe. But I want to -- Secretary Cohen?
Q: Will you come back after they answer, Mr. President?
CLINTON: No.
|
