The Hillary and Bill Show: Same Old, Same Old. Part 2

PINE BLUFFS - Now that Senator John McCain (R-AZ) has wrested the Republican presidential nomination from his able opponent, Mike Huckabee, he can look forward to the Republican Party's 39th nominating convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul in early September, and the race to the November election.

But in order to become the next President, he'll need to first unite his Party. And he'll need to do it while campaigning against the historic candidacy of either a woman or a black as his Democrat opponent, both of whom said, on the morning talk shows Wednesday, March 5, 2008, that they see a path to the Democrat nomination. To become McCain's opponent, however, each faces approximately seven more weeks of grueling campaigning before the outcome will be known.

Buoyed by her two big wins in Texas and Ohio, an ebullient Hillary Clinton spoke to supporters: “Voters are finally focused on who they think would be the best commander-in-chief,” New York's junior senator said.

She must now attempt to convince voters that SHE is best suited for that job. Actually, her campaign has already begun the task, painting her opponent as “inexperienced in foreign policy,” and claiming that she will be “prepared to be commander-in-chief from day one.”

Of course, only the politically naïve will believe that. Eight years as First Lady, while her husband floundered through two scandal-ridden administrations, does not “a commander-in-chief make.” Nor, as the insignificant junior senator from the great state of New York, has she had much experience since then. But a look at Bill Clinton's failed policies in just one area of foreign affairs may give us an idea of just what Hillary Rodham Clinton might do if elected President in November.

On February 18, 2008, I wrote: “Pursuing his misguided policy of "constructive engagement" with the Chinese - which I described extensively in my creative non-fiction novel, The China Connection (Writers Club Press, an imprint of iUniverse, Inc. Lincoln, NE. December 2003), and fueled by millions in illegal campaign contributions from the Chinese and several high-tech American corporations, Mr. Clinton mounted a ferocious campaign to beg, borrow, or buy enough Congressional votes to give the brutal Chinese dictators the victory they wanted [most favored nation (MFN) status]. This, at the very time when Republican Congressional members were reminding him that Congress was about to examine the question of whether national security was compromised by the Clinton Commerce Department's transfer of missile technology to China.

“These transfers prompted House GOP Conference Chairman John Boehner, a traditional MFN supporter, to say that even support for the annual extension [of Most Favored Nation Status to China] was in peril because Clinton had not swiftly put to rest suggestions that the missile technology waivers were connected to big Democratic campaign contributions from Loral Space & Communications, Chairman and CEO, Bernard Schwartz.” See The Hillary and Bill Show: Same Old, Same Old; also see my website and blog.

What, exactly, was Boehner talking about back in 2000? What were “the missile technology waivers” to which he referred? Despite Justice Department officials' fears that a satellite transfer to China might jeopardize an ongoing criminal investigation into illegal campaign contributions begun in 1998, senior White House advisors - led by National Security Advisor Samuel R. (Sandy) Berger - had recommended that Mr. Clinton approve a waiver permitting “dual use technology” to be exported to China. The deal involved exporting by Loral of a communications satellite to China for launching, despite the well-known fact that China was surreptitiously examining and replicating our nose cone technology prior to each launch, in order to move its stalled military and civilian space programs forward. Documents revealed on May 22, 1998, showed that Clinton and his advisors were repeatedly cautioned that the transaction might have legal drawbacks, in that it would violate Tiananmen Square era sanctions against China. Many also feared it might harm U.S. national security interests.

When it became known that a similar transfer by Loral in February 1996, had helped China learn of and correct a serious flaw in its launching rockets, Congress became concerned that China could use this information to perfect guidance systems on its long range nuclear missiles. At that time, China had only a small number of missiles capable of reaching U.S. territory. Investigations revealed that Loral, with millions of dollars and business relationships in China at risk, had actually given a report to the Chinese detailing how they could improve their rockets, BEFORE consulting with State Department export licensing authorities. Loral insisted that no laws were broken and that the report did not violate our national security.

The matter was deemed so serious that Senate Foreign Relations Chairman, Jesse Helms (R-NC), said on Saturday, June 6, 1998, that he suspected a link between political contributions to Democrats and Clinton Administration decisions on missile technology exports to China. Later the bipartisan Cox Commission reported that helped by these transfers of “dual use” technology, China's military rocket program had advanced by approximately 50 years.