Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, October 12, 1994 TAG: 9410120082
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ALEC KLEIN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Long
Republicans were quick to trot out their own heavyweight in what has become a national spectacle. "You would think that the vice president would have more to worry about than trying to make political hay in the Virginia Senate race," said Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole, R-Kan.
North touched off the furor this week by slamming President Clinton's deployment of troops to the Iraqi border. Claiming that "Bill Clinton is not my commander-in-chief," North said that "Saddam Hussein is able to move with impunity" because the president has created "a hollow military."
An incensed vice president charged that North "has put the rankest form of partisanship ahead of the nation's interests in a manner that is insulting to our armed forces, to our flag, to our soldiers who are prepared to go into battle if necessary.
"Moreover, he has increased the risk faced by American soldiers in uniform by inviting Saddam Hussein to miscalculate our actions and resolve," Gore said in a telephone news conference he arranged from Tullahoma, Tenn. "He is giving aid and comfort to a foreign dictator openly challenging U.S. forces in the field."
North, who last week called the president a "yahoo," had little better to offer about Gore on Tuesday.
"There he goes again," North said. "Al Gore demeans himself and the constitutional role of the vice presidency by using a foreign policy crisis to attack Bill Clinton's political opponents. ... It is shameful and opportunistic that a White House would use an international crisis - where American lives are at stake - to promote their own selfish political agenda. This is another desperate act by a White House which is afraid of losing control of the U.S. Senate."
North backed off from his earlier statements about Clinton, explaining that he meant no disrespect, only that he is a retired Marine lieutenant colonel who no longer takes orders from the president. He also denied telling The Washington Post that a weakened American military could not stand up to the Iraqi threat.
Gore scoffed at North's clarifications, calling on the Iran-Contra figure "for once in his life to admit he has stated a falsehood instead of trying to pretend he didn't say it ...
"Once again, he cannot distinguish truth from falsehood. He is not worthy of the trust of the people of the commonwealth of Virginia. He is conducting himself in this campaign in the same fashion that he dishonored the uniform of his country that he wore as he lied under oath to the American people."
Gore himself was guilty of a misstatement on that count; North did not lie while under oath. North has acknowledged misleading congressmen in a closed-door session early in the Iran-Contra investigation.
Dole, who delayed his endorsement when North won the party's nomination in June, did not hesitate in rallying to North's defense Tuesday.
"All Americans stand behind our men and women in uniform 100 percent," Dole said. "That's why questioning the patriotism of an American concerned about this administration's massive defense cuts is politics at its worst. To further suggest, as Vice President Gore did, that Ollie North, a wounded and decorated Vietnam combat veteran, `is giving aid and comfort' to the enemy is a cheap shot, and the vice president knows it."
Gore did more than that.
"I want to formally request an apology from Oliver North for demeaning the United States military at a time when all Americans, with the exception of Oliver North, are coming together in support of our commander-in-chief and sending a clear message to Saddam Hussein that his aggression will not work," the vice president said.
North's assessment of the armed forces, Gore said, "is despicable, it is unpatriotic and - as is often the case with statements from Oliver North - it is also patently untrue."
Dole shot back: ``It seems to me that the vice president owes Oliver North an apology, and the White House should stop mixing partisan politics with troop deployments."
North's opponents piggy-backed on the vice president's vitriol, calling into question North's judgment.
"There's no question that he's made a number of statements that were either irrational, irresponsible or dangerous and, in some cases, all three," said Democratic Sen. Charles Robb. "When you're dealing with some of the terrorists in that part of the country, they might actually take him seriously. The fact that most people in this country don't take him seriously - look upon him more as a symbol for ideology rather than a serious policymaker - may not be reflected in the view that [terrorists] would take."
Independent Senate candidate Marshall Coleman weighed in as well: "There are many things over which I disagree with Bill Clinton, but Oliver North's statement that the president of the United States is not our commander-in-chief is just plain kooky. North's comments about Iraq are ill-timed and risk undercutting American troops on their way to a potential confrontation."
Robert Little of Landmark News Service contributed to this story.
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB