1998 and the week that Clinton bombed Iraq and got impeached

Twenty-two years ago this week, I was having lunch at a local grill and watching two scenes on the TV.  On one side, U.S. planes were bombing Iraq, and on the other, the U.S. House was voting to impeach President Clinton.  It was historic, as my lunch guest kept saying.

We remember another anniversary of the Clinton impeachment.  It comes at a time when "sexual misconduct" charges have brought down politicians and media personalities.  Who would have believed that in 1998?

As for Iraq, President Clinton warned us that it was necessary to "degrade" Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.

There were many back then who tried to connect the bombing with the impeachment, or sort of the real-world version of the movie Wag the Dog.

Frankly, I didn't, because I was one of those back in 1998 who favored confronting Saddam Hussein over the weapons.  I felt that a Saddam with so much military capability would eventually provoke a regional war involving Israel.

Back then, I did not think I would live to see another impeachment, but President Trump was a year ago.  As for Iraq, I had a feeling we would fight at some point, and we did five years later.

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1998: Remember when President Clinton bombed Iraq to destroy chemical weapons?

On this day in 1998, we watched President Clinton explain his decision to bomb Iraq:  

At the time of the air strikes, Iraq was continuing its attempts to build weapons of mass destruction including nuclear, chemical and biological agents. Fearful of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein’s belligerence, and his penchant for using those weapons against his own people, the U.N. sent in weapons inspectors in 1997. After repeatedly refusing the inspectors access to certain sites, Clinton resorted to air strikes to compel Hussein to cooperate.

Back then, I supported President Clinton's decision.   In fact, his mistake was to stop after 4 days.  Iraq was in violation of UN resolutions, the cease fire that ended the First Gulf War of 1991 and shooting at US and UK planes.  

President Clinton's decision was made around the time of the US House vote on impeachment.  Nevertheless, I did not see the connection between the vote and the bombing.  It was important to deliver a message to Saddam Hussein that the US patience was running out.

It's interesting to go back and watch the newsreels from that day.  

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And so started The Spanish American War in 1898

President McKinley called on the US Congress to declare war on Spain on this day in 1898.

McKinley tried to keep a distance from the situation in Cuba.   However, everything changed on February 17, 1898 when the USS Maine exploded in Havana harbor.

And so started The Spanish American War.   It lasted 4 months and changed Cuba forever and made a national hero out of Theodore Roosevelt. 

In 1900, the McKinley-Roosevelt ticket won the election  easily.  Nine months later, Vice President Roosevelt became president when Mr McKinley was assassinated.

Back in 2009, we discussed The Spanish American War with the late John O’Donnell Rosales, who was President of The Sons of Spanish American War Veterans, Cuba Libre Camp #172. We recorded several shows with John over the years, and he was always a wealth of information on the Spanish American War. John unfortunately passed away in 2014.

Click to listen to this December/Christmas 2009 podcast:

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