GOP probes Clinton role in arms transfer

Iran shipped weapons to Bosnians

April 17, 1996
Web posted at: 3:30 p.m. EDT (1930 GMT)

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Two U.S. Senate committees will investigate President Clinton's decision not to interfere with Iranian arms shipments to Bosnian Muslims in 1994, when a United Nations embargo banned such transfers.

Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pennsylvania, who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Wednesday the Senate Intelligence Committee will determine whether Clinton's actions were covert. The Foreign Relations Committee will decide if it was a "wise policy" to pursue, she said.

The announcement came after a meeting of committee chairmen and GOP presidential front-runner Bob Dole. Dole said public hearings likely will be held in the election-year probe.

Clinton: 'nothing improper'

Many in Congress, including Dole, had sought to lift the embargo to allow Bosnia's Muslim government to defend itself against Serb attacks.

"Had (the Clinton administration) lifted the arms embargo as we tried to do on the floor in a bipartisan way, we probably would have avoided sending troops" to Bosnia, Dole said.

The Los Angeles Times first reported April 5 that Clinton had signed off on tacitly approving the secret shipments in 1994 while publicly supporting a continuation of the U.N. embargo.

Clinton asserted a week ago "there was absolutely nothing improper done" in deciding not to protest the shipments to Croatian President Franjo Tudjman during the spring and summer of 1994. Tudjman was allowing his country to be used as a route for the arms flow.

Iran's action wasn't secretive, however. The CIA confirmed it, Bosnia publicly acknowledged it and newspapers reported it. At issue is Clinton's handling of the act.

Sensitive report

A New York Times article Wednesday quoted senior Clinton administration officials saying the White House will assert executive privilege on the matter.

Citing a need for confidentiality, the White House has refused to give Congress an internal report on the administration's decision to allow the shipments.

However, a spokesman traveling with Clinton in Tokyo said Anthony Harrington, chairman of the presidential Intelligence Oversight Board that drafted the report, has briefed members of Congress and wants to be sure they get the information they need.

The report will not be turned over, the spokesman said, because it contains sensitive intelligence gathering information.

Republican sources told CNN that an administration official briefed several members of the Senate Intelligence Committee on the report, but refused to do so under oath.

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