Jon E. Dougherty, NewsMax.com
Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2003

"After long and careful thought, and after several years of watching the gross atrocities committed by the Bosnian Serbs, I have reluctantly concluded that the efforts of the United Nations and NATO in Bosnia are a complete failure," the letter, written on Dean's official stationary, begins.

While agreeing with Clinton's policies towards Bosnia up to that point, Dean said in his July 19, 1995 letter, "It is evident, however, that the cost in human lives in allowing this policy to continue is too great." Therefore, he continued, "I have reluctantly concluded that we must take unilateral action" in Bosnia to stop some of the worst genocide since World War II.

Useless U.N.

Dean, who said the U.N. and NATO were not capable of acting effectively, pushed for U.S. military intervention on moral grounds.

"In addition, and perhaps more importantly for the United States, we are now in a position of ignoring, as many did in the 1940s, one of the worst crimes committed in history. If we ignore these behaviors, no matter where they occur, our moral fiber as a people becomes weakened," he wrote.

"While I completely agree with you that no ground troops should be committed for other than humanitarian purposes in Bosnia," Dean said, one of the four steps he recommended Clinton take was to unilaterally "commit American air power to support the Bosnian government until the situation is stabilized and the civilian murders and atrocities by the Bosnian Serbs have been stopped."

The language of Dean's letter appears to contradict his criticism of the Bush administration and some of his Democrat rivals for their support of unilateral U.S. military action in Iraq.

Last month, Dean said he believed "getting rid of Saddam Hussein is a wonderful thing," but added: "The question is, is it a good idea to send 135,000 troops unilaterally to do it?"

Iowa Ad: Another Flip-flop

And in Iowa, home to the nation's first Democrat primaries, Dean television ads aired Tuesday once again sought to differentiate the former Vermont governor from his rivals based on his opposition to the Iraq war and their support for it.

"Where did the Washington Democrats stand on the war?" the narrator of the Dean ad asks. "Dick Gephardt wrote the resolution to authorize war. John Kerry and John Edwards both voted for the war. Then Dick Gephardt voted to spend another $87 billion on Iraq."

"Howard Dean has another view," the ad says.

The difference is, Dean campaign policy director Jeremy Ben-Ami told USA Today, is the word "imminent," used to describe the threat from Bosnia and Iraq.

Bush "sold the war on the basis of an imminent threat to U.S. security, and that has now been shown to be false," Ben-Ami told the paper. And since that threat was not imminent, the White House used false pretenses to justify the invasion, he said.

But in his 2003 State of the Union address, the president said the country should not wait until the threat is imminent before acting.

"Some have said we must not act until the threat is imminent," Bush said. "Since when have terrorists and tyrants announced their intentions, politely putting us on notice before they strike?

"Trusting in the sanity and restraint of Saddam Hussein ... is not an option," Bush continued.

Clinton Convinced of Iraq WMD

Also, earlier this month in Portugal, Clinton said he believed Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction, another major reason why the Bush administration decided to act.

Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Manuel Durao Barroso said Clinton told him he believed Iraq possessed such weapons right up until former dictator Saddam Hussein was deposed.

"When Clinton was here recently he told me he was absolutely convinced, given his years in the White House and the access to privileged information which he had, that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction until the end of the Saddam regime," Durao Barroso told Portuguese cable news channel SIC Noticias.

Clinton met with Durao Barroso on October 21 when he traveled to Lisbon to give a speech on globalization.

U.S. forces have yet to find major stockpiles of chemical or biological weapons, and have found only scant evidence of a lingering nuclear weapons program. However, some reports have suggested many of those weapons were shifted to neighboring countries – possibly Syria – before the U.S. launched its invasion in March 2003.

Syrian government officials have denied those charges.

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