Clinton: Iraq a Threat - November 11, 1998 <br /> <br /> <br /><br />On November 11, Veterans Day, the President of the United States made some remarks about Iraq at Arlington National Cemetery. In part, here's what he said: <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />"Nowhere is our vigilance more urgent than in the Persian Gulf, where Saddam Hussein's regime threatens the stability of one of the most vital regions of the world. Following the Gulf War, as a condition for the cease-fire, the United Nations demanded, and Iraq agreed, to disclose and destroy its chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons capabilities. <br /><br />"For seven years now Iraq has had within its power the ability to put itself on the path to ending the sanctions and its isolation simply by complying with obligations it agreed to undertake. Instead it has worked to shirk those obligations, withholding evidence about its weapons capabilities, threatening, harassing, blocking the inspectors, massing troops on the Kuwaiti border in the south and attacking the Kurds in the north. All of us agree that we prefer to resolve this crisis peacefully for two reasons. First, because accomplishing goals through diplomacy is always preferable to using force. <br /><br />"Second, because reversing Iraq's decision and getting UNSCOM back on the job remains the most effective way to uncover, destroy, and prevent Iraq from reconstituting weapons of mass destruction and the missiles to deliver them, but, and here it gets interesting, if the inspectors are not permitted to visit suspect sites or monitor compliance at known production facilities, they may as well be in Baltimore, not Baghdad. That would open a window of opportunity for Iraq to build its arsenal of weapons and delivery system in months, I say again in months, not years." <br /><br />Every Tom Daschle, **** Gephardt and Harry Reid will tell you that the president exaggerated the threat Iraq posed and lied about WMD in this speech - that is, until they realize the president in question was one William Jefferson Clinton. Yes, the preceding warning about the threat Saddam Hussein posed came from President Clinton's Veteran's Day speech on November 11, 1998. George W. Bush and Bill Clinton had their eyes wide open on this issue, while today's Democrats have their heads buried in the sand - all because they see a chance to score a few petty political points at the expense of our national security.
