-Caveat Lector- >From http://www.security-policy.org/papers/1999/99-C99.html > Publications of the Casey Institute > of the Center for Security Policy > No. 99-C 99 > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > > > PERSPECTIVE > 10 September 1999 > > > 'Excuse Fatigue': Clinton-Gore's 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Policy Toward Yeltsin, > Russian Corruption Won't Fly > > (Washington, D.C.): Vice President Al Gore's pollsters tell him his campaign for > the presidency is suffering from "Clinton Fatigue." An even more vexing problem > for the Veep -- and the man he hopes to succeed -- however may be the source of > much of that sentiment: the perception that no one in the Clinton-Gore > Administration is responsible for anything; when things go wrong, they were > never in-the-loop, it was always somebody else's fault. The American people's > understandable ennui with such tripe might be called "Excuse Fatigue." > > Unfortunately for Messrs. Clinton and Gore, the excuses with respect to their > implication in what the Economist has called the Russian "climate of > corruption"(1) are becoming so implausible as to render them not just fatiguing, > but laughable. Their Administration's culpability is laid bare by two op.ed. > articles that appeared earlier this week in the New York Times and Wall Street > Journal (see the attached). > > Authored, respectively, by Harvard's Jeffrey Sachs and a former State and > Pentagon official, Wayne Merry, these essays confirmed a longstanding contention > of the Center for Security Policy and its Casey Institute(2): The Clinton-Gore > Administration's stewardship of U.S.-Russian relations has been defective from > its inception. Matters have been greatly exacerbated by the Vice President's > personally micro-managed and self-serving co-chairmanship of a non-transparent, > out-of-channels bilateral committee that bears his name. Its lasting legacy has > been to diminish the chances for real, systemic reform in Russia, accentuate > conditions for massive corruption and expose the United States to new, dangerous > national security abuses. > > The "Great Escape?" > > With the scrutiny on "What did the Vice President Know and When Did He Know It" > intensifying day by day,(3) high-level policy officials in both Washington and > Moscow are trampling over one-another to find exit doors. Indeed, the sheer > magnitude and suddenness of the Clinton-Gore policy meltdown vis á vis Moscow > has turned briefing rooms into political infernos and left leadership figures > scrambling to blow the whistle on their fellow officials. Even the control-rod > mechanism long represented by the so-called Gore-Putin Commission (the latest > incarnation of the infamous Gore-Chernomyrdin Commission) has been rendered > ineffective, and now it's everyone for themselves in the effort to scramble free > of the politically radioactive perimeter. > > Cases in point are the recent assertions by National Security Advisor Samuel > Berger, and the Vice President's staff, that they only learned of the > international investigations of the Russian connection to multi-billion dollar > money-laundering/corruption schemes involving the Bank of New York when it was > revealed in press reports. As Berger put it in his press conference on [8] > September: > > The first briefing that was received by the foreign policy community, including > senior NSC officials, State Department, was soon after August 26th, when I > believe the Attorney General first was briefed on this matter by the FBI, which > I think was soon after the New York Times stories appeared....We contacted the > Justice Department at that time [after the State Department was notified by a > foreign government of an investigation of the Bank of New York-Russia > connection] and said if there were matters here that we thought were pertinent > to national security or foreign policy considerations, we would like to be > briefed about them. The Justice Department did not feel that was either the case > or appropriate at the time and did not brief us until, as I say, after August > 22nd. > > The Bottom Line > > An editorial in yesterday's Washington Times puts this blather in its proper > light: > > "Given that the White House's National Security Council, as well as the State > and Treasury departments, were all intimately aware of the money-laundering > investigations conducted by the Justice Department, White House assertions that > Messrs. Clinton and Gore learned of the investigation by reading their morning > newspapers are simply, and utterly, preposterous. Congress' impending > investigation has become all the more urgent in the face of the White House's > incomprehensible explanation." > > Amen. > > - 30 - > > 1. See the Casey Institute Perspective entitled Message to Wall Street and > Pennsylvania Avenue: Bank of New York's Russian Debacle is but a Symptom of a > Larger Problem (No. 99-C 94, 1 September 1999). > > 2. For more information see the following Center Decision Briefs and Casey > Perspectives Clinton Legacy Watch # 33: 'See-No-Evil' Security Policy-making > (No. 98-D 189, 23 November 1998); S.O.S.: Save Our Space Station -- and More > Tax-Dollars -- From Being Squandered in Al Gore's 'Russian Cooperation' Scam > (No. 98-D 164, 21 September 1998); Clinton Legacy Watch # 19: Will > Gore-Chernomyrdin At Last Put a Halt to Russia's Dangerous Nuclear Sales to > Cuba, Iran? (No. 98-D 40, 6 March 1998); Clinton Legacy Watch # 6: Crises > Involving U.S.-Russian Space 'Cooperation' Show Clinton-Gore Errors, Need for > Changes (No. 97-D 139, 18 September 1997); Yeltsin Has Been Politically Terminal > for Months; What Did AL Gore Know -- And When Did He Know It? (No. 96-C 89, 24 > September 1996). > > 3. For example, presidential candidate Steve Forbes said today on the campaign > trail in New Hampshire: 'Russia's ruling elite have siphoned tens of billions of > dollars in Western aid into foreign bank accounts while Russia's government > workers get no pay, or wait months for what they are owed....Why has Vice > President Gore -- the point man for America's relations with Russia -- allowed > this intolerable situation to go unnoted? He and this Administration give the > impression that they are more interested in photo-ops than in taking bold, > substantive steps to alleviate the distress of tens of millions of Russians. And > this has been going on for months. In spite of warnings from U.S. intelligence > organizations that the Russian kleptocracy was looting Russia, Vice President Al > Gore feigned ignorance." > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > > NOTE: The Center's publications are intended to invigorate and enrich the debate > on foreign policy and defense issues. The views expressed do not necessarily > reflect those of all members of the Center's Board of Advisors. > > Top of Page© 1988-1999, Center for Security Policy <<Shouldn't the government be the ones who keep its fingers on the pulse of what's going on with ITS programs? How is it that Berger can suggest that the AG (much less any other agency in the gov't) was briefed AFTER the NY Times articles were released? Should the policy become "Don't ask, don't tell, don't know"? This is reminiscent of Sgt Schultz, the unwitting POW stooge in "Hogan's Heroes", approaching every delicate situation with the utterance of "I see nothing!!!" 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