Highlights from the transcript:
“it was an Iraq-based group that masterminded the assassination attempt against Israel’s ambassador to the United Kingdom”
“the terrorists who masterminded the attack on the Achille-Lauro and the savage murder of American Leon Klinghoffer, fled with Iraqi assistance“
“the team of terrorists who set out to blow up the Rome airport came directly from Baghdad with suitcase bombs”
“[Saddam Hussein] was not only promoting terrorism, but was also pursuing a nuclear weapons program“
“Iraqi aircraft intentionally attacked the USS Stark in May of 1987 killing 37 sailors”
“Bush deserves heavy blame for intentionally concealing from the American people the clear nature of Saddam Hussein and his regime and for convincing himself that friendly relations with such a monster would be possible, and for persisting in this effort far, far beyond the point of folly”
“Saddam used poison gas on the Kurdish town of Halabja, brutally murdering some 5,000 innocent men, women, and children”
And Gore reminds us about the tough stand he took regarding Iraq:
“I, myself, went to the Senate floor twice demanding tough action”
It’s clear why a tough stance would be needed against Iraq, afterall…
“…the CIA reported to Secretary of State Baker and other top Bush administration officials that Iraq was clandestinely procuring nuclear weapons technology through a global network of front companies. Did all of this make any impression at all on President Bush? Did his judgment on foreign policy come into play when he was told that this nation, with a record of terrorism continuing, was making a sustained, concerted effort to acquire weapons of mass destruction, nuclear, chemical, and biological? Well, evidently not, because in the midst of this flood of highly alarming information from the CIA, the Defense Department, the Energy Department, the Commerce Department, the Justice Department, the State Department, other agencies throughout the government, on October 2nd, 1989, President Bush signed a document known as NSD 26, which established the policy toward Iraq under his administration.
…and the money quote of the day:
Saddam had every reason to assume that Bush would look the other way no matter what he did. He had already launched poison gas attacks repeatedly, and Bush looked the other way. He had already conducted extensive terrorism activities, and Bush had looked the other way. He was already deeply involved in the effort to acquire nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction, and Bush knew it, but he looked the other way. Well, in my view, the Bush administration was acting in a manner directly opposite to what you would expect with all of the evidence that it had available to it at the time. Saddam Hussein’s nature and intentions were perfectly visible.
Ok, so it was 1992 and Gore was blasting the first President Bush…
So for those of you keeping score at home:
The first President Bush deserves blame for not taking action against Iraq despite mountains of evidence of its ties to terrorism and involvement in WMD programs while the second President Bush not only deserves blame for taking action, but is also now accused of making up the evidence, much of which existed a decade before he became President.
Just more proof that Democrats don’t really stand for anything and will always campaign on the “whatever the Republican did is bad” strategy.
By the way, if President George H.W. Bush deserves blame for not taking action against Saddam Hussein, how much blame shall we unload on the Clinton-Gore administration that had 8 years after this speech to do it… yet failed to.
Afterall, “Saddam Hussein’s nature and intentions were perfectly visible”, right Al?
