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That because when a democrat (i.e. Clinton) engages troops all dissent (i.e. impeachment hearings) is dropped so the Republicans can express support. As I recall, that didn't happen when we invaded Iraq.
Posts: 11017 | Registered: Apr 2003
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quote: Pooka: That because when a democrat (i.e. Clinton) engages troops all dissent (i.e. impeachment hearings) is dropped so the Republicans can express support.
KHAAAAAAAAAAAN!
quote:
President (then-candidate) George W. Bush "Bush, in Austin, criticized President Clinton's administration for not doing enough to enunciate a goal for the Kosovo military action and indicated the bombing campaign might not be a tough enough response. 'Victory means exit strategy, and it's important for the president to explain to us what the exit strategy is,' Bush said." [Houston Chronicle, 4/9/99]
Attorney General (then-Senator) John Ashcroft "A lackluster air campaign has given the Serb dictator Milosevic time to achieve most of his strategic goals in Kosovo." [New York Times, 4/8/99]
House Majority Leader (then-Whip) Tom DeLay "I cannot support a failed foreign policy... But before we get deeper embroiled into this Balkan quagmire, I think that an assessment has to be made of the Kosovo policy so far. President Clinton has never explained to the American people why he was involving the U.S. military in a civil war in a sovereign nation, other than to say it is for humanitarian reasons, a new military/foreign policy precedent." [Congressional Record, "Removal of United States Armed Forces from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia," 4/28/99]
House Speaker Dennis Hastert "Many may question the path that has taken us to this point. I have my own questions about the long term strategy of this campaign." [Dallas Morning News, 3/25/99]
Senator (then-Assistant Majority Leader) Don Nickles "The Administration, and NATO as a whole, greatly miscalculated the response Slobodan Milosevic would have to a bombing campaign. As I predicted, the Administration has escalated what was guerilla warfare into a much more serious conflict. The bombings have unleashed an evil reign and resulted in a humanitarian disaster." [Senator Don Nickles, Press Release, 4/21/99]
Senator Judd Gregg "I don't believe that a ground war in Kosovo using American troops is going to be very successful." [NBC, "Meet the Press," 4/18/99]
Senator Richard Lugar "This is President Clinton's war, and when he falls flat on his face, that's his problem." [New York Times, 5/4/99]
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Thanks, Honore. It's not like every conservative on the planet wasn't saying he did it to hide the Lewinsky scandal.
Posts: 13123 | Registered: Feb 2002
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quote: Similarly, President Clinton prepared to invade Haiti while arguing that a U.N. peacekeeping mission was not "war " that required Congress' approval. "I would strenuously oppose such attempts to encroach on the President's foreign policy powers."20 "Like my predecessors of both parties," he said, "I have not agreed that I was constitutionally mandated to get [approval]."21 In a Defense Department appropriations measure Congress made funding for the Haiti operation contingent on a Presidential report of findings. Rather than expressly authorizing military intervention, Congress had instead voted that funds were not "off limits" for an invasion.22
Immediately after taking office, Clinton had pledged 20,000 U.S. peacekeepers as part of a multilateral force to be deployed in Bosnia. House Republican leaders lost a vote to repeal the War Powers Resolution because some defectors wanted to retain the 1973 law as a check on Clinton’s ability to keep that promise.23
Without interference by Congress, Clinton waged a limited NATO air war against Serbs in Bosnia--Operation Deliberate Force or Dead Eye. Before the Dayton peace negotiations had concluded, the House of Representatives voted twice against U.S. troop deployment in Bosnia. Republican Senator John Ashcroft unsuccessfully objected to the President amending the NATO Treaty without Senate ratification. Article 5 of the 1949 Washington Treaty limited NATO to collective defense of members' territory. Without satisfying the Constitutional requirement of Senate approval, Clinton gave the alliance a new post Cold War mission. "NATO has expanded and will continue to expand its political functions, and taken on new missions of peacekeeping and crisis management in support of the United Nations (UN) and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) . . ."24
After Clinton announced the Dayton Peace Accord, Congress appropriated funds for the 20,000 U.S. peacekeepers in Operation Joint Endeavor; the House measure also expressly disapproved the administration policy.25 "Some members of Congress] wanted to have it both ways: to avoid responsibility for a bad outcome in Bosnia but to share in the political fruits of a good outcome . . . they said the mission was not worth fighting for, and then they off handedly accepted that American soldiers should be sent to fight for it."26