Will Spend a Million to Probe Arms Charges
WASHINGTON (Reuters) — A House committee voted Wednesday to spend nearly $1 million investigating President Clinton's decision to ignore Iran's shipments of arms to Bosnia during the war there. The House Oversight Committee approved the $995,000 on a strict party line vote of 7 to 5 as Democrats charged that the investigation was part of election year politics.If the House approves, the money could be spent starting as soon as next week, committee aides said. It would pay for a select subcommittee of International Relations headed by Rep. Henry Hyde, an Illinois Republican, that would report findings within six months.
Republicans said they were concerned the Clinton administration stood aside and permitted the arms shipments, even though there was an embargo against sending weapons to Bosnia at the time. The embargo was opposed by a majority in Congress.
"We wanted to end U.S. participation in the arms embargo," said International Relations Committee Chairman Benjamin Gilman, a New York Republican. "Had we known that keeping the embargo would create a vacuum that would be filled by the Iranians... the Congress would have overridden any veto by President Clinton" of ending the embargo.
Democrats said any investigation should be left to existing commiittees and dismissed the Republican move as election year politics. Rep. Vic Fazio, a California Democrat, said the new committee was part of a strategy to attempt to dig up dirt on Clinton.
"This is all part of the majority's election year strategy," he said. "And as Mr. (Bob) Dole continues to do poorly in his campaign I assume we'll see more of the same." Dole is the prospective Republican presidential nominee.
Hyde said the committee would try to answer the questions "How did this policy come about? What are the consequences? Was Congress deceived or misled?" Rep. Lee Hamilton, an Indiana Democrat, argued against establishment of the committee, and said that there were no disputes about what happened.
"You don't need to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars for FBI agents when it's just a question of policy," he said. Hamilton said that with committees already looking into the matter in the Senate, there would soon be many investigations pursued at once.
Apr 25 · House to Probe Iran Arms Deal
Apr 24 · White House Defends Silence on Iran Arms Issue
Apr 16 · Republicans Challenge Clinton's Arms Nod
Apr 12 · Croatia Would Block More Iranian Arms to Bosnia
Apr 10 · Clinton: U.S. Did Nothing Wrong in Iran Arms Aid to Bosnia
Apr 9 · Iran Says it Supplied Humanitarian Aid to Bosnia
Apr 6 · Paper says Clinton Gave Nod to Covert Arms
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