Another Phony Clinton "Scandal"

by Randolph T. Holhut

Take the latest charge -- that in exchange for $1 million in campaign contributions, Loral Corp. persuaded President Clinton to let China obtain the technology that would enable them to improve the accuracy of their nuclear missiles.

Talk about something being better than sex. Never mind worrying about the President's alleged amorous activities. The right-wingers can now accuse Clinton of treason for selling out our national security to Red China. Time for more investigations, more hearings and more cries for Clinton's impeachment.

There's just one small problem. The story is a lie.

Like any story, there are elements of truth to the narrative. Loral is run by Bernard Schwartz, a multi-millionaire who has been a loyal member of the Democratic Party since Franklin Roosevelt was in the White House. Schwartz has given about $1 million over the past three years to the Democrats.

President Clinton did sign a waiver to allow Loral to launch a $200 million communications satellite aboard a Chinese rocket in 1996. Nothing new here; the practice had been started during the Reagan administration.

When the rocket exploded, destroying the satellite in the process, a Chinese investigation found that a faulty soldering joint was to blame for the explosion. Loral confirmed that conclusion and told the Chinese.

That's it. Loral didn't allow the Chinese access to the satellite, or others it launched. Pentagon officials were escorting them, just to make sure. Once they were launched, the Chinese had no access to them. No missile guidance technology was transferred.

The same holds true for Motorola Corp., which used China to launch two satellites into space on the same rocket. The right-wingers say that Motorola enabled the Chinese to develop a multiple warhead delivery system. According to Motorola, the Chinese had already designed a rocket capable of putting two satellites into space at once, and didn't need any help from the company.

So, if nothing happened and our national security was not compromised in any significant way, how did this story get started and why?

Apparently, the Defense Technology Security Agency, a Pentagon office that opposes letting China have access to any technology that might be used for military purposes, complained about the Loral and Motorola deals. China, as you may have heard, has become the new bogeyman in the U.S. military establishment's never-ending effort to justify spending hundreds of billions of dollars on weapons for non-existent enemies.

But U.S. electronics and aerospace companies see China as a lucrative market to be exploited, which is why Boeing is helping the Chinese build jetliners, why AT&T is modernizing China's telecommunications systems and why Motorola built a $720 million semiconductor factory in China.

This also is why the U.S. trade deficit with China has grown from $6 billion in 1989 to over $50 billion today. With the help of our nation's biggest corporations, the Chinese are well on their way to becoming a global producer of aircraft, advanced electronics products, automobiles, and just about anything else you can think of.

That's what makes the conservatives' charges laughable. First of all, the Pentagon strictly supervised the Loral and Motorola deals. Any civilian technology that has the potential of also having military use routinely gets this kind of treatment from the government.

Secondly, satellites are designed to be launched and stay up in space. Missiles are designed to go up into space and later reenter through the atmosphere as they head toward their intended target. The two technologies are mutually exclusive. Nothing that Loral or Motorola did contributed to China's nuclear capabilities.

Thirdly, we're talking about nuclear warheads here. Like horseshoes and hand grenades, you don't have to be on target to score. A 30-megaton device will wipe out New York City even if it lands in Newark or New Rochelle instead.

And finally, a nation that is making tons of money trading with the U.S. is not likely to blow up its best customer. Now that the Cold War is over, it's economic, not military, power that matters. The India-Pakistan "my nukes are bigger than yours" squabble notwithstanding, nuclear weapons are passe.

In the end, all this is simply yet another wild right-wing accusation against President Clinton that's been picked up and given credence by a passive and uncritical press. It will be flogged by the Republicans until the public realizes that this story is as bogus as all the others. And then the Republicans will try to find another Clinton "scandal" to hype.