USA

Saturday August 1, 1998

Saturday August 8, 1998

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday August 1, 1998

Clinton pledges to tell complete truth: FBI to test Lewinsky dress stain

An outwardly confident Bill Clinton insisted yesterday he is looking forward to telling his story in the Monica Lewinsky investigation and pledged to testify “completely and truthfully.”

But the U.S. president received ominous reports later in the afternoon that FBI forensic scientists had discovered a “definable stain” visible to the naked eye in a dress Lewinsky has claimed contains a sample of Clinton’s semen.

Television news networks said the FBI determined the discovered stain was sufficient to warrant further testing, which could take another few days, to determine whether it is seminal fluid, and if it can yield definitive DNA evidence.

Earlier, Clinton seemed unconcerned about the investigation that could cut short his presidency. Waving off a cacophony of shouted questions from reporters at a White House event, Clinton smiled broadly while holding up his hands to forestall reporters.

“Wait, wait, wait, wait, ” he said. “No one wants to get this matter behind us more than I do.

“I am looking forward to the opportunity, in the next few days, of testifying. I will do so completely and truthfully. I am anxious to do it.”

The president’s advisers have been apprehensively awaiting any news of the forensic tests ever since Lewinsky turned over the garment to independent prosecutor Kenneth Starr as part of her immunity deal shielding her from prosecution.

And it is likely to renew discussions inside the White House on what the president should say Aug. 17, when he is questioned by Starr on videotape from the White House for showing to the grand jury.

Many political analysts have suggested that the popular president could still survive if he admitted to the affair with the former White House intern and that he lied about it on television and in the Paula Jones sexual harassment civil suit in January.

But if he continues to deny the affair against overwhelming evidence, Clinton risks a perjury charge that could lead to impeachment hearings in Congress.

In his brief statement to reporters yesterday, Clinton refused to answer shouted questions about what version of “the truth” he will testify to.

“I would advise him to tell the truth and let’s get this story behind us, ” said Lanny Davis, a former White House counsel and one of Clinton’s staunchest defenders. Davis did not specify, however, whether the president should admit the affair.

Lewinsky’s soiled dress is potentially the most dangerous evidence against the president because it would elevate the evidence to the realm of science, rather than a test of credibility between the president and Lewinsky.

BLOOD SAMPLE

The latest report of the FBI testing potentially sets the stage for Starr to request a court order compelling the president to submit a blood sample so it can be matched to the months-old stain on the intern’s dress.

While Starr is under no legal obligation to reveal the results of the tests, which could be completed within days, most believe the president will be informed about those results before he gives his testimony.

If the stain turns out not to be the president’s seminal fluid, Lewinsky’s dress will give a boost to Clinton’s story that there was no sexual relations, while further undermining Lewinsky’s credibility.

Should DNA be retrieved from the dress, however, the physical evidence could be catastrophic to the president, who might be forced to admit the affair and ask forgiveness.

The other option is to testify to the grand jury that no affair took place and risk the consequences, including impeachment. (Hamilton Spectator, C3, 8/1/1998)

 

Thursday June 25, 1998

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday June 25, 1998

Tiananmen clouding Clinton trip

For months leading up to Bill Clinton’s hotly debated trip to China, Harry Wu has stood as the last line of moral defence for the U.S. president.

The long-imprisoned Chinese dissident has continued to rail against the “Butchers in Beijing” from his new home-in-exile in the United States, but he has also spoken out in favour of Clinton’s trip, which begins tomorrow, in the face of stinging attacks from Clinton’s critics in Congress.

But on the issue of Tiananmen Square, Wu offers no encouragement.

“He should not show himself on the Tiananmen Square, ” Wu says. “The president of the United States is very different from other leaders of the world.”

Nine years after Chinese soldiers gunned down hundreds of protesters, Tiananmen Square continues to resonate in the U.S. and around the world as the singular demonstration of Beijing’s arrogant authority.

So much so that how the U.S. president handles the controversial welcoming ceremony there Saturday, as well as the gamut of human rights issues in China, could determine whether Clinton returns to Washington on Independence Day next month in triumph or disgrace.

A recent poll found that 64 per cent of Americans believe Clinton should not go to Tiananmen Square, even though that is the traditional location for welcoming foreign leaders.

Debunking the so-called “Beijing spring, ” Amnesty International released an open letter to the president last week listing 50 Chinese dissidents who have been “harassed” in the past year and called on Clinton to meet with dissidents — pointedly noting that Ronald Reagan met with a similar group during his trip to the Soviet Union.

The human rights group also called on Clinton to forcefully request amnesty for hundreds of political prisoners.

While offering an opportunity to put his stamp on China, Clinton knows too well the trip is strewn with pitfalls.

The visit could not have come at a worse time for Clinton.

Two congressional committees began hearings on whether the Chinese illegally funneled contributions into Clinton’s 1996 re-election campaign and whether he improperly permitted the transfer of sensitive satellite technology that the Chinese can use to improve guidance systems for their intercontinental ballistic missiles.

As well, the Chinese have been accused of helping Pakistan develop nuclear weapons and sending missile technology to Iran. (Hamilton Spectator, C1, 6/24/1998)

 

Thursday November 6, 1997

By Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday November 6, 1997

Cleaner Lakes merit priority

There is a risk that Canada and the United States are treading water, and at risk of losing ground, in cleaning up the Great Lakes . The world’s largest freshwater ecosystem is cleaner and healthier 25 years after the signing of a landmark pollution control agreement in 1972. But much of the progress that’s been achieved could be squandered. Governments are cutting environmental budgets, weakening pollution laws and enforcement, and there’s reason to worry that politicians will become indifferent to a problem that defies easy solution. 

Marvellous Maps

The apathy that often relegates the Great Lakes to the bottom of the political totem pole is hard to understand. Some 37 million people live on either side of the Great Lakes . They draw heavily on Great Lakes water for their drinking water, recreation, fishing, manufacturing and many other uses. The stakes are extremely high. The economy and quality of life in the Great Lakes Basin hinges on the condition of this irreplaceable resource. 

There can be no complacency about past achievements — a fact that was driven home to government officials who gathered in Niagara Falls last weekend for the 25th anniversary of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. Three environmental groups issued a joint report which criticized governments on both sides of the border for allowing massive amounts of toxic substances to be released into the ecosystem every day. 

The watchdogs found that while a few successes have been achieved in reducing the threat posed by DDT, PCBs and some other toxic chemicals, governments are moving too slowly in accomplishing the goal of zero discharge in the agreement. Progress has been especially slow in phasing out chemicals that result in the generation and release of dioxins and furans, which pose some of the most serious threats to life. The risks to human health remain ominous. An American scientist reported on one study showing that children of women who ate Lake Ontario fish before they were born stand a chance of having lower IQs and other learning and behavioural problems later in life. Lakewide management strategies and remedial action plans for pollution hotspots are generally proceeding at what the environmentalists describe as a glacial pace. Only one of 43 areas of concern, Collingwood Harbour, has been delisted in the past 10 years. 

To be sure, there are encouraging signs. The Double-crested Cormorant, a large fish-eating bird, has made an incredible recovery after being devastated by toxic chemicals. There are now more cormorants on the Great Lakes than at any time in recorded history. But the threats to the Lakes are daunting. Dangerous levels of pollution which harm humans, fish and wildlife should never be accepted as the price of progress and prosperity. 

Governments must show leadership by making a renewed commitment to the ingredients of past success: cleanup plans supported with the necessary funding, an insistence on strong laws with strict enforcement, and timetables to phase out the use and production of toxic chemicals that put everyone at risk. The disturbing fact is that many politicians are, of late, going in the opposite direction. They are making short-sighted decisions which will come back to haunt this generation, and the next. Political and business leaders must accept their responsibility and mobilize an effort in which we all do our fair share to protect the Great Lakes. (Source: Hamilton Spectator editorial)