Special From NewsMax's Most Informed Sources
Sunday, Feb 20, 2005

1. Bush: Clinton 'Disgraced the Nation'

President Bush had some choice words for both his predecessor, Bill Clinton, and his likely opponent, Al Gore, in tapes recorded by historian Doug Wead two years before Bush ran for the White House and excerpted by the New York Times on Sunday.

Speaking in 1998, when news headlines were filled with lurid details of Clinton's involvement with intern Monica Lewinsky, Bush decried the investigation into the scandal, telling Wead, "I don't like it either."

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"But on the other hand," Bush added in the next breath, "I think he has disgraced the nation."

During the 2000 presidential campaign, Bush would say publicly that he intended to "restore the honor and dignity" of the office, but never directly referenced any of the Clinton scandals -- and he never personally attacked the president himself.

At the GOP convention in Philadelphia that year, the Bush campaign went so far as to decline to allow an on-site tribute to the Republican House members who prosecuted Clinton's impeachment -- one of Bush's first attempts to bring the now famous "new tone" to Washington.

Privately, however, Bush was more candid, acknowledging that while his past wasn't perfect, there was a key difference between how he and Clinton handled their respective problems.

"I did some things when I was young that were immature," he told Wead. "The difference between me and the president [is] I've learned. I am prepared to accept the responsibility of this office."

While always remaining civil on the campaign trail, the Times said, privately Bush could hardly contain his disdain for Al Gore, at one point telling Wead that the then-vice president was "pathologically a liar."

Editor's Note: What really happened during the Clinton-Gore Years? Go Here Now.

2. Why Rush Is Going to Afghanistan

NewsMax broke the story on the Web of Rush Limbaugh's plan to travel to Afghanistan with Mary Matalin.

Rush told NewsMax on Friday that seeing the troops is his "main reason for going."
But another important reason may be to highlight to the American public just what a success Afghanistan has been.

Rush has complained that the "mainstream" media have ignored what has taken place in Afghanistan.

We quote Rush from the January 2005 "Limbaugh Letter" -- Rush's must-read monthly newsletter:

"Have you ever noticed how the left -- including the partisan press -- simply does not mention Afghanistan. That is because is a remarkable success. This is the same country the New York Times labeled a 'quagmire' three weeks after we went to war on the Taliban Oct. 7, 2001. Three years later, after this infant democratic nation adopted its constitution, [Afghan President Hamid] Karzai said, 'I pray to God the Almighty that this constitution will lead to building a civil society and achievement of economic, political and cultural prosperity for all and ensure peace, equity and brotherhood within the Afghan nation.' This was reported not by the New York Times, or by any American journalist, but by Xinhuanet, the China news service.

"Now between 3.5 million and 4 million Afghan refugees have returned to their country, its economy is growing, and Afghanistan is taking its place among the community of nations. ... But you will not hear Ted Kennedy or John Kerry breathe a word this. The Democrats, the left in this country, cannot possibly admit progress in the spread of democracy. They cannot do so because lately such progress has come about over their ferocious objections."

Amen to that.
 
Editor's Note: Rush Is Back -- get NewsMax's Special Report and find out why Ed Asner hates Rush and Hannity -- Go Here Now.

3. China Wants Vote on Taiwan Secession

After threatening Taiwan with its anti-secession law, Beijing appears determined to send the Taiwanese people to the polls. According to a new report by Asia Pulse, China is strongly encouraging Taiwan to decide through referendum whether to secede from the Mainland, the Asia Monitor reports.

Mainland Affairs Council Chairman Joseph Wu clearly stated that Taiwan would have no choice but to decide if it would prefer to perpetuate the "one country, two systems," or to revert to the "one China" policy espoused by the People's Republic of China. Taiwanese pro-independence activists are calling the anti-secession law a ploy to frighten Taiwan into giving up moves toward independence.

China's military modernization has begun to alter the balance of power across the Taiwan Strait and poses a growing threat to the United States, according to the U.S. government's top spy.

As part of the intelligence community's annual series of briefings to Congress on worldwide threats to the United States, CIA Director Porter Goss told the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence that over the past year, China continued to build up its deployments of ballistic missiles opposite Taiwan and unveiled several new submarines for its naval forces.

"China continues to develop more robust, survivable nuclear-armed missiles as well as conventional capabilities for use in a regional conflict," Goss also disclosed.

Goss' assessments were amplified by Adm. Lowell Jacoby, director of the Pentagon's dedicated intelligence arm, the Defense Intelligence Agency. In separate Senate testimony, Jacoby told lawmakers that Chinese strategists are continuing to study U.S. strategy in the War on Terror.

"China remains keenly interested in Coalition military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq," Jacoby said, "and is using lessons from those operations to guide PLA modernization and strategy."

Editor's Notes:

• David Horowitz scores victories on college campuses -- Read his Letter Here.
• Rush Is Back -- get NewsMax's Special Report and find out why Ed Asner hates Rush and Hannity -- Go Here Now.
• Find out the true story of China's future war with the United States -- Go Here Now.
• The Clinton-Gore Years -- Shocking Truth -- Go Here Now.