bdh3
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Does anyone remember 'The Iran/Contra affair' aka 'contragate'?
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Oct 17 07:00 UTC 2000 |
http://www.washtimes.com/mational/default-20001016225454.htm
Vice President Al Gore, at the urging
of Russian Prime Minister Viktor
Chernomyrdin, agreed to keep secret from
Congress details of Russia's nuclear
cooperation with Iran beginning in late
1995.
In a classified "Dear
Al" letter obtained by
The Washington Times,
Mr. Chernomyrdin told
Mr. Gore about Moscow's
confidential nuclear deal
with Iran and stated
that it was "not to be
conveyed to third
parties, including the
U.S. Congress."
But sources on
Capitol Hill said Mr. Gore
withheld the information
from key senators who
normally would be told
of such high-level
security matters.
The
Gore-Chernomyrdin deal,
disclosed in a letter
labeled "secret," appears to violate a
provision of the Nuclear Non-proliferation
Act, which requires the Clinton
administration to keep congressional
oversight committees fully informed of all
issues related to nuclear weapons
proliferation.
The Chernomyrdin letter on nuclear
cooperation with Iran follows a report in
the New York Times last week showing that
Mr. Gore reached a secret deal with Russia
several months earlier that appears to
circumvent U.S. laws requiring the
imposition of sanctions on Russia for its
conventional arms sales to Iran.
That arrangement also was kept secret
from Congress, raising concerns among
some lawmakers that the administration
may be hiding other secret deals.
Gore spokesman Jim Kennedy said: "It's
obvious that the motivation for this leak is
political."
The letter "simply appears to be part
of the overall United States effort to
encourage the Russians to break off or
limit their nuclear relationship with Iran,"
Mr. Kennedy said in a statement last night.
The Dec. 9, 1995, letter on Iranian
nuclear cooperation states that the two
leaders' discussions as part of a special
commission had resulted in "clarity and
mutual understanding" on the matter.
The letter said there were "no new
trends" in Moscow's sale of nuclear
equipment to Iran since a 1992 agreement.
It also states that Russia and the United
States would seek to prevent the
"undermining of the nuclear arms
non-proliferation program."
Mr. Chernomyrdin said Moscow's
program of building a nuclear reactor in
Iran would be limited to training technicians
in Russia, and the delivery of "nuclear fuel
for the power plant for the years 2001
through 2011."
"The information that we are passing
on to you is not to be conveyed to third
parties, including the U.S. Congress," Mr.
Chernomyrdin said. "Open information
concerning our cooperation with Iran is
obviously a different matter, and we do
no[t] object to the constructive use of
such information. I am counting on your
understanding."
A classified analysis acompanying the
letter stated that Russian assistance "if
not terminated, can only lead to Iran's
acquisition of a nuclear weapons
capability."
"Such a development would be
destabilizing not only for the already
volatile Middle East, but would pose a
threat to Russian and Western security
interests," the analysis stated.
Russian promises to limit cooperation
with Iran's nuclear program have been
undermined by numerous U.S. intelligence
reports showing Moscow is providing
nuclear-weapons-related equipment to
Tehran outside the scope of its declared
limits, according to U.S. officials.
A senior State Department official,
Robert Einhorn, told a Senate subcommittee
hearing earlier this month that Russian
nuclear assistance is a "persistent
problem" and that Russian companies linked
to the government are providing Iran with
"laser isotope separation technology" used
to enrich uranium for weapons.
Asked about the letter, congressional
aides close to the issue said they knew
nothing about the details that the Russian
leader gave Mr. Gore. "All this nuclear
cooperation is sanctionable," said a senior
congressional aide.
The secret Gore-Chernomyrdin dealings
have become an issue in the presidential
election campaign.
Texas Gov. George W. Bush stated
during a campaign stop in Michigan last
week that the reported deal on Russian
arms transfers to Iran was "a troubling
piece of information." He demanded an
explanation from the vice president.
An earlier Gore-Chernomyrdin
agreement, also obtained by The
Washington Times, reveals that the United
States would not impose sanctions on
Russia required under U.S. law in exchange
for Moscow's promise to end arms sales to
Iran.
That agreement, called an "aide
memoire" and signed by Mr. Gore and Mr.
Chernomyrdin on June 30, 1995, required
Russia to halt all arms sales to Iran by Dec.
31, 1999.
In exchange, the United States
promised "to take appropriate steps to
avoid any penalties to Russia that might
otherwise arise under domestic law . . .,"
says the agreement, labeled "secret."
The aide memoire also states that the
United States would "pursue steps that
would lead to the removal of Russia from
the proscribed list of International Traffic
in Arms Regulations of the United States" -
which limits U.S. arms and defense-related
technology sales.
A third classified letter, from Secretary
of State Madeleine K. Albright, indicates
that Russia is not living up to its promise to
halt conventional arms deliveries to the
Iranians.
Mrs. Albright stated in a Jan. 13 letter
to Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov,
also labeled "secret," that "Russia's
unilateral decision to continue delivering
arms to Iran beyond the Dec. 31 deadline
will unnecessarily complicate our
relationship."
"I urge that Russia refrain from any
further deliveries of those arms covered
by the aide memoire; provide specific
information on what has been delivered,
what remains to be shipped and anticipated
timing; and refrain from concluding any
additional arms contracts with Iran," Mrs.
Albright stated.
She added that the United States had
lived up to its commitment in the 1995
Gore-Chernomyrdin aide memoire, including
removing Russia from the list of nations
limited by munitions-export controls.
In the "Dear Igor" letter, Mrs. Albright
stated that "without the aide memoire,
Russia's conventional arms sales to Iran
would have been subject to sanctions
based on various provisions of our laws."
The 1992 Iran-Iraq Nonproliferation Act
requires the imposition of sanctions for
"destabilizing" arms sales to either country.
A 1996 amendment to the 1962 Foreign
Assistance Act also requires sanctions on
nations that provide lethal military
assistance to a nation designated as a
state sponsor of terrorism. Iran is on the
State Department's terrorism sponsor list.
Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott,
Mississippi Republican, and Senate Foreign
Relations Committee Chairman Jesse Helms,
North Carolina Republican, wrote to
President Clinton on Friday asking about
the 1995 aide memoire.
"Please assure us . . . the vice
president did not, in effect, sign a pledge
with Victor Chernomyrdin in 1995 that
committed your administration to break U.S.
law by dodging sanctions requirements,"
they stated.
Senate aides said the administration
failed to notify the Senate about the
specific arrangements to cover up for
Russian arms sales.
National Security Adviser Samuel R.
Berger said on Sunday, contrary to Mrs.
Albright's classified letter, that U.S.
sanctions did not apply to Russia.
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