Howard Berman: “before a campaign led by Senator Bob Dole lashes out at President Clinton's policy on Iraq, humility should compel him…”

“before a campaign led by Senator Bob Dole lashes out at President Clinton's policy on Iraq, humility should compel him to admit how deeply he misread Saddam Hussein before Desert Storm. When we were trying to pass sanctions on Iraq that would have stopped Iraqi imports of Kansas wheat, Dole tried to derail those sanctions. It was Dole who assured his colleagues that Saddam Hussein has chemical weapons but ``does not intend to use them'' although the entire world knew he had already used nerve gas against the Kurds Dole who said on TV shortly after the Iraqi invasion ``We're a foreign power. We don't belong in that part of the world * * * It ought to be settled by Arabs.'' Dole who said in October 1990 ``we are in the Midwest for three letters, oil, O-I-L.'' President Bush responded that day, charging, ``You know, some people never get the word. The fight isn't about oil. The fight is about naked aggression that will not stand.'' In fact, conservative columnist William Safire called Dole's attitude cynical and labeled him ``a prime appeaser of Saddam Hussein.'' The Senator who was fooled in Baghdad is on weak ground criticizing the President who bombed it.”