American Legion Opposes Clinton’s Kosovo Deployment
The American Legion last month called for the immediate withdrawal of American troops participating in the NATO military operation against Yugoslavia. The resolution was unanimously adopted by the group’s executive committee at its meeting in Indianapolis, and letters explaining the action were sent to President Clinton, other top Administration officials, and every member of Congress. Harold L. Miller, the Legion’s national commander, wrote in his letter to Mr. Clinton:

Mr. President, the United States Armed Forces should never be committed to wartime operations unless the following conditions are fulfilled:

• That there be a clear statement by the President of why it is in our vital national interests to be engaged in hostilities;

• Guidelines be established for the mission, including a clear exit strategy;

• That there be support of the mission by the U.S. Congress and the American people; and

• That it be made clear that U.S. Forces will be commanded only by U.S. officers which we acknowledge are superior military leaders.

"Our troops are not pawns in a chess game," Miller said in separate remarks. "They are our sons and daughters. If they must be sent into harm’s way, it must be upon careful reflection of their commander in chief, and the consent of Congress and the American people."

The May 3rd Washington Times published an important story stating that the KLA, "which the Clinton administration has embraced and some members of Congress want to arm as part of the NATO bombing campaign, is a terrorist organization that has financed much of its war effort with profits from the sale of heroin."

The Times continued: "Recently obtained intelligence documents show that drug agents in five countries, including the United States, believe the KLA has aligned itself with an extensive organized crime network centered in Albania that smuggles heroin and some cocaine to buyers throughout Western Europe and, to a lesser extent, the United States."

Emerging Superstate
"The Italian president-designate of the European Commission has promised to use his five-year term at the head of the EU [European Union] executive to create a single European economy and accelerate moves towards full-blown political union," the London Telegraph reported on April 14th. "In a speech warmly received in the European parliament yesterday, Romano Prodi, the former Italian prime minister, also called for the powers of the Strasbourg and Brussels assembly to be enhanced, for less use of national vetoes and for the EU to develop its own ‘defense capability.’"

Leaving no doubt that the intent is a government of Europe, Prodi pontificated, "The single market was the theme of the Eighties. The single currency was the theme of the Nineties. We must now face the difficult task of moving towards a single economy, a single political unity." And he made clear that "we must make haste to lay down a real schedule for enlargement."

Of course, Prodi’s candid remarks were not "warmly received" in all quarters, since the vision he articulated — which was the vision of the Eurocrats from the very beginning — would mean the supplanting of the once sovereign governments of Europe. British Member of Parliament Bill Cash, for example, complained that "to promote Mr. Prodi as the president of the European Commission, a man totally dedicated to political union — which means the destruction of the Westminster democracy and the choice of British voters — is an outrageous failure of political will." Indeed it is. But at least the goal of European integration is now being broadcast more forcefully and widely, whereas previously the Common Market (precursor to the EU) was portrayed as strictly a "free trade" arrangement. No one swallows that pretext anymore.

 Mandela Replacement
Thabo Mbeki, now first deputy president of South Africa, is expected to be the next South African president after Nelson Mandela steps down following the June 2nd elections. Mbeki, once the globe-trotting envoy of the terrorist African National Congress (ANC), was also a member of the South African Communist Party. But that has not kept the opinion cartel from giving him a "moderate" image.

Mbeki has hobnobbed with the elite at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York City. He also shared co-chair honors with another Communist-cum-statesman, Mikhail Gorbachev, at the opening Plenary Session of the 1995 State of the World Forum globalist confab sponsored by the Gorbachev Foundation. Zbigniew Brzezinski, who was President Jimmy Carter’s national security adviser, commented that there was "something profoundly symbolic and hopeful" in this sharing of responsibility — a telling comment on the worldview possessed by CFR Insiders such as Brzezinski.

In July 1993, Establishment notable David Rockefeller hosted a dinner for top corporate executives to honor Mandela and raise money for the ANC election campaign. On that occasion, Mbeki, in his capacity as ANC foreign secretary, praised Rockefeller for having "backed the ANC financially for more than a decade." This is the same group that was listed as a terrorist organization as recently as 1988 in a U.S. government publication entitled Terrorist Group Profiles. And it is the same group that, according to the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Security and Terrorism in 1982, had at least 11 members of the South African Communist Party on its 22-member national executive committee.

With Mbeki replacing Mandela, the Establishment’s embrace of the regime in South Africa should continue — as should the tragic slide of that victimized land toward anarchy and despotism.

 Espionage on Clinton’s Watch
On the May 9th edition of NBC’s Meet the Press, Energy Secretary Bill Richardson confirmed that the Chinese stole U.S. nuclear secrets during the Clinton years. This statement clashes with assurances President Clinton made at his March 19th press conference. On that occasion, the President admitted only that there was "the possibility that security had been breached at the Energy Department labs where a lot of our nuclear work is done, in the mid-’80s — not in the 1990s, but in the mid-’80s...."

Regarding his own watch, Mr. Clinton stated: "To the best of my knowledge, no one has said anything to me about any espionage which occurred by the Chinese against the labs during my Presidency." Which must mean that no such espionage took place, since, as the President explained, "I spend a great deal of time every day on national security measures, I try to prepare for these things."

Richardson’s admission came three days after an announcement by Attorney General Janet Reno that an internal review panel would investigate Chinese infiltration of the labs, focusing on the case of suspected Chinese nuclear spy Wen Ho Lee, a former scientist at the Los Alamos nuclear lab in New Mexico. But Reno stressed that the review panel would conduct an administrative review, not a criminal investigation. And no one has been charged in the espionage case, not even Lee, who insists that he never spied for China. This despite of the fact that when Lee’s lab computer was finally searched in March, it was discovered that he had downloaded onto an unclassified system millions of lines of classified computer codes.

High Tech Espionage
Serious as China’s penetration of the U.S. nuclear labs is, there is much more to be concerned about. In a May 5th New York Times op-ed piece, Gary Milhollin and Jordan Richie of the Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control noted that although "Americans are right to be outraged that a suspected Chinese spy may have stolen the computer codes for the entire United States nuclear arsenal … the loss of this data is only half the story. The other half is about hardware."

"Even after stealing the plan for an advanced warhead," Milhollin and Richie explained, "one would need high-performance equipment to manufacture and test its precision parts. Sadly, China is getting those machines from the United States — and it doesn’t even have to steal them" — thanks to the fact that the Clinton Administration has put high-tech exports to Red China ahead of national security.

On May 7th the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence released its "Report on Impacts to U.S. National Security of Advanced Satellite Technology Exports to the People’s Republic of China (PRC)" and on "the PRC’s Efforts to Influence U.S. Policy." The report states that "technical analyses and methodologies provided by American satellite companies to the PRC during various satellite launch campaigns resulted in the transfer to the PRC of technical know-how. Such transfer enables the PRC to improve its present and future space launch vehicles and intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs)." The report also states that China "conceived of a plan to influence the U.S. political process favorably toward that country. The plan was an official PRC plan, and funds were made available for its implementation."

These facts are key to the Chinagate scandal, which involves the compromise of national security in exchange for Chinese cash. THE NEW AMERICAN has been exposing this scandal for years and published an entire issue on the subject in February. (To order this special report, see the ad on page 23.)

 NATO Mistakes Lengthen War
According to the London Times, on the eve of his May 5th retirement, German General Klaus Nauman, chairman of the NATO military committee, admitted that the alliance has bungled the effort against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. "Quite frankly and honestly, we did not succeed in our initial attempt to coerce Milosevic through airstrikes to accept our demands. Nor did we succeed in preventing Yugoslavia pursuing its campaign of ethnic separation and expulsions," admitted the general.

Nauman also admitted that the downed F-117 stealth fighter and a downed F-16 single engine fighter were both brought down by Serbian fire. Previously, NATO had alleged that mechanical failure was the likeliest cause of both crashes.

Johnny Chung’s Clintonese
Johnny Chung, in his May 11th testimony to a congressional committee, displayed a Clintonesque ability to redefine the meanings of words, arguing that serving as an agent for Red China did not make him a Chinese agent.

Yes, Chung acknowledged accepting $300,000 from the head of China’s military intelligence, General Ji Shengde, with instructions to "give it to the President and [the] Democratic Party." But, he told the committee, "I never had any intention to give the $300,000 to the Democrats."

Yes, he contributed $366,000 to Democratic coffers during the 1996 election cycle. And, yes, a part of that came from the same bank account that contained the $300,000. But, explained Chung, "I did not intend for the donation to come strictly from Liu’s funds" — referring to China Aerospace official Liu Chao-ying, the female lieutenant colonel in the People’s Liberation Army who arranged for Chung and Ji to meet.

Yes, Chung visited the White House at least 50 times, often with Chinese "business" officials in tow, including Liu and China Ocean Shipping Company (COSCO) official Hongye Zheng. And yes, his White House convoy wanted "influence and the ability to develop relationships with important people." But Chung "can’t help but think that [Bill and Hillary Clinton] used me as much as I used them."

In fact, not only did Chung insist that he "never acted as an agent for the Chinese government," but he challenged the committee: "If you really want to do something about this, then change the system that allowed me to, with a few selected donations, attract the head of Chinese military intelligence." Chung, of course, had broken the law, but by cooperating with the Reno Justice Department he was sentenced only to probation and community service instead of a possible 37 years. Perhaps that explains why he was more candid in the past, admitting that $110,000 of the $300,000 was sluiced into the Clinton re-election effort.

NATO Ground Forces Already Operating Within FRY?
The Internet edition of Scotland’s Herald is reporting that NATO ground units are already operating within the boundaries of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY). The paper reports that this secret war is being waged "in an increasingly desperate search for the Serb tanks and armoured personnel carriers concealed throughout Kosovo in Cold War-era bunkers."

Involved in the operation are a 72-man British SAS "sabre squadron," a unit of Norwegian Mountain Commandos, and three French units: the 13th Airborne Dragoon Regiment (attached to the DRM, the French military intelligence agency), the Commando Parachute Group of the French Foreign Legion’s 2nd Parachute Regiment, and the 13th Marine Infantry Regiment. In reserve is the French unit "Commando Hubert," which earned the enmity of the eco-fanatic set by sinking the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior in Auckland, New Zealand.

The units are involved in deep penetration reconnaissance and target illumination using portable laser designators that light up targets for laser guided smart weapons.

Also in the region, reports the Herald, is the U.S. Delta Force, which is "understood to be training Kosovo Liberation Army recruits."

NATO’s New Strategic Concept
NATO adopted a new "Strategic Concept" at its recent summit in Washington, DC, April 23rd-25th. The German newspaper Der Tagesspiegel observed that the language employed for the new mandate is "exactly as imprecise as need be to allow the most diverse interpretations." The new Strategic Concept "will govern the Alliance’s security and defense policy, its operational concepts, its conventional and nuclear force posture, and its collective defense arrangements."

The Strategic Concept downplays NATO’s traditional defensive posture and creates the possibility that the Kosovo aggression will become the model for future military actions. These future Kosovos would be called, in NATO parlance, "non-Article 5 crisis response operations," because they would deviate from NATO’s traditional mission as set forth in Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty which states, in essence, that members of the alliance will defend each other from attack. The new Strategic Concept de-emphasizes such collective defense and envisions a more proactive NATO. Because some areas "in and around the Euro-Atlantic area," as well as other regions "at the periphery of the alliance," may be prone to tensions that "could lead to crises affecting Euro-Atlantic stability, to human suffering, and to armed conflicts," NATO’s military forces must "be prepared to contribute to conflict prevention and to conduct non-Article 5 crisis response operations." According to Secretary of State Albright, these operations will "involve operations outside Alliance territory," as is currently the case in Kosovo.