1998 Letter to Gingrich and Lott on Iraq

Wonder why we went to Iraq? Wonder no more...... Letter to Gingrich and Lott on Iraq: "May 29, 1998 The Honorable Newt Gingrich Speaker of the House U.S. House of Representatives H-232 Capitol Building Washington, DC 20515-6501 The Honorable Trent Lott Senate Majority Leader United States Senate S-208 Capitol Building Washington, DC 20510-7010 Dear Mr. Speaker and Senator Lott: On January 26, we sent a letter to President Clinton expressing our concern that the U.S. policy of 'containment' of Saddam Hussein was failing. The result, we argued, would be that the vital interests of the United States and its allies in the Middle East would soon be facing a threat as severe as any we had known since the end of the Cold War. We recommended a substantial change in the direction of U.S. policy: Instead of further, futile efforts to 'contain' Saddam, we argued that the only way to protect the United States and its allies from the threat of weapons of mass destruction was to put in place policies that would lead to the removal of Saddam and his regime from power. The administration has not only rejected this advice but, as we warned, has begun to abandon its own policy of containment. In February, the Clinton Administration embraced the agreement reached between the UN Secretary Koffi Annan and the Iraqi government on February 23. At the time of the agreement, the administration declared that Sadda"