Clinton's Panama Canal admission

DECEMBER 1, 1999
Joseph Farah

Was it a Freudian slip? Was it a gaffe? Or was it President Clinton finally being honest about something for the first time in his life?
I refer to the statement he made yesterday with regard to the Panama Canal transfer to a group of reporters in the Oval Office before leaving for the West Coast.
In case you missed it elsewhere, the quote I am about to give you from Clinton was recorded, albeit buried, in an Associated Press story.
Here it is, folks. Hold on to your hats -- especially all of you people who scoffed when I began telling you three years ago that the Communist Chinese were taking over the Panama Canal.
"I think the Chinese will in fact be bending over backwards to make sure that they run it in a competent and able and fair manner," Clinton said. That's verbatim. Those are his words, not mine. Clinton, who has until now denied that the Chinese were to take control of the strategic canal, admitted it publicly.
And, as if to underline his admission and seemingly to ensure there could be no misunderstanding of his words, Clinton elaborated. According to the AP story, he compared the operation of the canal to China's campaign to win admission to the World Trade Organization, which sets the rules for global trade.
"They'll want to demonstrate to a distant part of the world that they can be a responsible partner," the president said. "And I would be very surprised if any adverse consequences flowed from the Chinese running the canal."
Oh, absolutely. Responsible. Partner. Competent. Fair. Those are all words I readily associate in my mind with the totalitarian government in Beijing. Don't you?
Well, there you have it, folks. Goodbye Panama Canal. The Bamboo Curtain just moved into the Western Hemisphere -- officially, that is.
After all, I gave you this history long ago. I told you about the fact that a Chinese government company -- a front for the military -- Hutchison Whampoa Ltd., was to begin operation of the ports on both ends of the strategic waterway Jan. 1. It has been the Clinton administration and its many apologists in Congress and the press who have laughed, ridiculed the idea. Chinese military shill Alexander Haig suggested I should be jailed for making such accusations.
And now the truth has finally come out through an unusually candid admission by Clinton. He is telling us now what has been obvious to anyone familiar with the transfer of the canal. He is admitting what former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Thomas Moorer stated in our pages some time back.
Clinton says we can rely on the good intentions of the Chinese to maintain access to the canal. Doesn't that reassure you? The Chinese, who, as we speak, are rounding up tens of thousands of religious dissidents and interning them, threatening to attack Taiwan and working overtime on developing military technology that could only be used to attack the United States, should be trusted on this Panama Canal deal because it's a chance for them to show how responsible they really are.
This is nuts!
When are the American people going to wake up? Clinton is so embarrassed by this deal on the canal that he is not even going to attend the transfer ceremonies. Why? If he doesn't have any second thoughts and believes giving away the Panama Canal to a hostile foreign power is still a good idea, why not go wave the flag next month at the ceremony?
The answer, of course, is simple: It's not a good idea. It's not good politics. Clinton knows what he is doing and has been hiding the truth since the beginning. As is his character, he does not want to be held responsible. Nor does he want Al Gore and his political party to pay a price for this move.
If ever there was a time -- an opportunity -- to pressure the politicians to reverse what will someday be judged a historic blunder, it is now. If you really have the guts to stop this thing, America, wake up and take action now. You won't have to risk your life to write a letter to your senators and representatives in Washington or fill out a simple online petition today. Your kids, however, may someday pay for our mistakes with their blood if you sit silent through this official treachery.