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Jewish World Review / May 20, 1998 / 24 Iyar, 5758

Linda Chavez

Sometimes Buba actually tells the truth ... as he sees it

"ALL THE FOREIGN POLICY decisions we made were based on what we believed -- I and the rest of my administration -- were in the best interests of the American people." So says President Clinton in defending his decision to permit a waiver of U.S. policy to allow an American company to export forbidden satellite technology to China. And I believe he's telling the truth -- as he sees it.

The truth according to Bill Clinton and his top political operatives is that the American people have only one "best interest" -- making sure that Bill Clinton stays in office. Nothing else matters, including national security interests. The end -- ensuring that Bill Clinton be re-elected in 1996 and then serve out his full second term -- justifies any means: taking illegal campaign contributions, transferring secret technology to China, ignoring human rights abuses, stonewalling investigations, invoking bogus executive privilege claims, perhaps even lying under oath.

The most recent evidence of Bill Clinton's antinomian morality has been provided by longtime Clinton friend and Democratic campaign contributor Johnny Chung.

Already having pleaded guilty to a series of illegal campaign-related activities, Chung has told federal investigators that he received $300,000 from Liu Chao-ying, an official in the Chinese People's Liberation Army, to funnel into the Democrats' 1996 campaign. Liu, the daughter of a high-ranking Communist Party official and retired general, is also a senior executive in China Aerospace, one of the companies that directly benefited when Clinton reversed previous policy that barred the transfer of communications satellites to China.

Another beneficiary of Clinton's 1996 policy reversal was Loral Space and Communications, a U.S. company that wanted to launch communications satellites aboard China Aerospace missiles.

Loral's chief, Bernard L. Schwartz, was the single biggest contributor to the Democratic National Committee in 1996, giving $632,000. At the time Loral received its waiver, the company was under criminal investigation by the Justice Department for allegedly having provided China Aerospace with highly sensitive information on how to improve its missile guidance systems in 1996. The Justice Department opposed the Loral waiver, fearing it would jeopardize the criminal investigation.

But the White House not only overruled Justice, it rejected the unanimous recommendation of the State Department, the Defense Department, the CIA and the National Security Agency.

"It is absurd to suggest that there was political or any other influence on the shaping of U.S. policy on this issue," National Security Council spokesman Eric Rubin said this week. No doubt, like Clinton, he believes the decision was made in "the best interests of the American people."

Nonetheless, the timing of the China waiver has proven incredibly awkward to explain, even for this administration. As The New York Times' Jeff Gerth reported last week, Clinton signed the waiver on the very day Johnny Chung brought yet another high-ranking Chinese official, arms dealer Wang Jun, in to meet with him.

"Any suggestions that these decisions were influenced by Wang Jun's presence in the U.S. is completely unfounded," Rubin told Gerth, despite the fact that Wang's state-controlled enterprise has a multibillion-dollar interest in Hong Kong's biggest satellite company. After having his picture taken with President Clinton, Wang went to meet with then Commerce Secretary Ron Brown. Four days later, President Clinton gave Brown's department the authority to approve all future satellite technology transfers to China.

Bill Clinton has led a charmed life, fooling most of the people -- including, I believe, himself -- most of the time. But it can't go on forever. The evidence just keeps mounting. Bill Clinton seems to have sold administration policy to the highest campaign contributor. And now, it looks like those contributors included Communist military officials.

Are Americans willing to sacrifice honest government and the national security interests of the nation in the name of preserving a strong economy? Only a congressional impeachment inquiry can force Americans to answer this question.