« My opponents, in the left and in the right, have decried me for allegedly trying to weaken the Union by splitting the political forces that rule the country ; here is my answer to them : even if I had, during this first year, many occasions to have my platform passed thanks to intelligent and reasonable bipartisanship, I felt that I had to found a new party, that would embody our need of reforms, give a voice to those who are disatisfied with the current state of affairs and call into question the rules of these great United States of America. »
-President Ross Perot’s First State of the Union Adress, January, 25 1994
« President Perot’s leadership has failed, not because of a so-called obstructionnist Congress on which he blames everything, paving the way for a Republican takeover, but because he has no real experience on politics : by running on the single issue of the free trade agreement, he deliberately endangered American economy, and now, the President refuses to frankly commit the United States of America in the ongoing conflict in Bosnia, which kills more and more people as the days go by, and forces US troops overseas to engage in an unwinnable guerilla in Somalia. »
-Democratic response to the State of the Union Address, delivered by Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), January, 26 1994
« Even I personally supported President Perot’s initiatives on balanced budget and national security, it’s an euphemism but to consider to his attempts at bipartisanship have failed. Not because of congressional process, but because of his behaviour, refusing to strike compromise with the different parties, reducing congressionnal staff in order to make extravagant spenditure on the Internet or other matters, giving up his campaign promises by putting in place a ludicrous policy of guns control that would only infuriate the people of the United States of America by denying them their most sacred right… And now, President Perot tries to conceal his failures by putting in place a third party without any consistency. He must submit or quit. »
- Republican response to the State of the Union Address, delivered by Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole (R-KS), January, 26 1994
NATO AUTHORIZED TO LAUNCH AIR STRIKES ON HOSTILE ARTILLERY AROUND SARAJEVO
-New York Times, February, 9 1994
WINTER OLYMPIC GAMES OPEN IN LILLEHAMMER, NORWAY
-Washington Post, February, 12 1994
To say that the President wasn’t interested with what was going in Bosnia is a bit harsh ; to say that he was reluctant is far better. Even with all his meetings with Secretary of State Kirkpatrick, President Perot couldn’t understand anything at the situation in Bosnia, barely seeing it as a religious war between catholics, orthodoxes and muslims, even more complicated by the ethnic links. By the way, the failure of the Vance-Owen Plan back in 1993 had convinced him that nothing could be done to broker peace in the area. When the Markele massacre raised world concern about the siege of Sarajevo, he authorized NATO forces to open fire on Serbian positions, the ones that threatened the civilians, or to enforce the no-fly zone ; but in spite of Secretary of Defense Powell’s pressure, he refused to commit himself frankly in former Yugoslavia and let the Europeans lead the negotiations. As such, he refused to hold the negotiations between Croatia and Bosnia in Washington.
I once had a conversation with Mr. Vance, after the presidency : according to him, President Perot’s refusal to engage in Bosnia until the Srebenica Massacre happened was due to a simplistic view : he viewed Bosnians as dangerous to their Muslim faith that would eventually lead them to islamic terrorism, while he viewed Croatia as already a valuable economic ally for the European Union and remained soft on Serbia in order to not infuriate the Russians, with whom he was negotiating the START III treaties. I don’t know if Mr. Vance is right ; I was only the White House Counsel, not a diplomat.
By the way, President Perot was attached to his old doctrine not to do everything at the same time : I worked extensively with him in order to soften the public outcry against the Guns Control Package, which still trigerred dozens of mass protests accross the country, and to convince the Supreme Court that these laws weren’t a violation of the Second Amendment. Also, all our foreign efforts were committed either to the disarmement process in Iraq, which had been very weakened by the bombing campaign in summer 1993, and in Somalia, where General Aidid’s troops had been surgically wiped out and were now retreating from Mogadishu. And the President was also pleased by the Lillehammer Olympic Games, personnally calling each gold medalist to congratulate him on behalf of the American people.
-From The President’s Son-in-Law : Memoirs from Washington, by former White House Counsel Clay Mulford
GENERAL AIDID’S CAR SHOT BY A TOMAHAWK MISSILE : CONFIRMED DEAD
-Washington Post, March, 2 1994
« With General Aidid’s dead, Mogadishu under joint UN and Somali governement control, I can tell you now : Mission accomplished ! »
-Secretary of Defense Colin Powell in visit in Djibouti, March, 7 1994
PEROT RECEIVES GENERAL AIDID’S SON AT THE WHITE HOUSE : « THIS MARINE IS READY TO HANDLE HIS BIRTHPLACE »
-Washington Post, March, 9 1994
VIENNA AGREEMENT : CEASEFIRE AND ALLIANCE BETWEEN CROATIA AND BOSNIA AGAINST SERBIA, FEDERATION OF BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA ESTABLISHED
-CNN Breaking News, March, 18 1994
« I believe in America. I voted Perot in 1992, but I came to regret it. Damn, he was the only politico to stand genuinely against gun control, and yet, he wanted to register all law-abiding citizens in this Internet thingie, and to issue a ban and a gun licence. What would we have needed to have a gun, according to the first version of the bill ? I read it in the newspapers : « Have a reasonable reason to have weapons ». Hell, when the Founding Fathers, in the middle of the War of Independance, proclaimed the « right to bear arms », wasn’t it reasonable ? When we were still under the threat of the reds, the foreigners or else, didn’t we had the right to fight for our lives ?
My wife agreed with me. We couldn’t wait the government to disarm all people and then to thwart every attempt at voicing their own dissent, like they did in Ruby Ridge and Waco. So I went to see my brother John, who was already a member of the Michigan Militia, and I asked him to register us. Us, it means I, my wife and my two children, who were barely 11 and 8 at the time. I had received basic training, you see, but what I learnt while training in the Michigan fields, with these good fellas, was unforgivable. And each time, when he seated around the fire, we all agreed : something had to be done, before it was too late.
What has happened after, I don’t regret it at all. »
-Mark Korosten, from Grand Rapids, MI, quoted in Outrun my Gun-A Short History of the Militia Movement, Winner for Documentary Film Price at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival
ALLIANCE OF PROGRESSIVES SCORES VICTORY IN ITALIAN GENERAL ELECTION, LOWEST TURNOUT IN TWENTY YEARS ; FORMER COMMUNIST ACHILLE OCCHETTO TO BECOME PRIME MINISTER
-Washington Post, March, 27 1994
« Even if President Perot admits, in his own words, that « he doesn’t like very much the communists », he hails Italy’s decision to turn the page of corruption and gangster politics, evidenced by the current trials of Bettino Craxi, Giulio Andreotti and Silvio Berlusconi, and will be happy to work with Prime Minister Occhetto in the future. »
-Press Secretary James Squire, March, 28 1994
UNITED NATIONS RELEASE PLAN FOR WITHDRAWAL FROM SOMALIA
-The Guardian, March, 30 1994
Each Fifth of April has a sharp taste for every Nirvana fan, as everybody knows it was, ten years ago, in 1994, the fateful date on which Kurt Cobain, the founder and singer of the legendary band, tried to take his own life, ultimately failing, but making the band enter into music history. The tenth anniversary of this terrible event gathered thousands of fans in Seattle, Washington, for a homage performance that featured plenty of musicians, famous or amateur, that were influenced by the grunge band. The notable appearences included Cobain’s wife Courtney Love, former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl and most notably Nirvana co-founder and bassist Krist Novoselic, who since became a State Representative for Washington and the Freedom Party’s candidate for this year’s gubernatorial election ; Novoselic had the decency not to turn the event into a political rally… Or so it seems.
As of Kurt Cobain, he has been locked for ten years in permament vegetative state and is treated in the University of Washington Medical Center. When he was discovered on April, 5 by electrician Gary Smith, he had already suffered extensive brain injury from his self-inflicted gunshot, and couldn’t be reanimated. Even if no photos have been displayed, Cobain is reported to have been awfully disfigured by his wound and still lies in coma, and is reported to be still conscious. Each year, there is a rumour according to which a neurologist will be able to use Cobain’s brain waves in order to record the new melodies he’s creating in his coma ; but it is unlikely that Kurt Cobain will ever awake, or at least, have all his mental capacities. If he were to awoke, however, the musical genius would be quite astonished to see today’s world, ten years after.
-Spin, April 2004
