THIS FAR AND NO FURTHER
A Timeline of Events Surrounding the Radical Right's Attempt to Subvert American Democracy
Written and Compiled by Black Max
1993
September
- September: Norman Schwarzkopf writes in his new autobiography It Doesn't Take a Hero,
Gulf War
"Had the United States and the United Kingdom gone on alone to capture Baghdad, under the provisions of the Geneva and Hague conventions we would have been considered occupying powers and therefore would have been responsible for all the costs of maintaining and restoring government, education and other services for the people of Iraq. From the brief time that we did spend occupying Iraqi territory after the war, I am certain that had we taken all of Iraq, we would have been like the dinosaur in the tar pit -- we would still be there, and we, not the United Nations, would be bearing the costs of the occupation. This is a burden I am sure the beleaguered American taxpayer would not have been happy to take on." (Norman Schwarzkopf/Atlanta Journal/Constitution, Norman Schwarzkopf/Maureen Farrell)
Oslo peace accords between Israel and the PLO
- September 13: Peace accords between Israel and the PLO are formally recognized in Washington, DC,
Middle East peace process
due in large part to tireless efforts by Clinton and Israel's Yitzhak Rabin. Both the PLO and Israel recognize each other's right to exist, a major stepping stone towards peace. Rabin and PLO leader Yasser Arafat reluctantly shake hands to seal the deal. The Oslo Accords mandate, among other agreements, that Israel begin withdrawal from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The accords form the basis for the eventual establishment of a Palestinian state; extremists on both sides violently oppose the deal. (Dan Cohn-Sherbok, Dawoud el-Alami) - September 21: Russian President Boris Yeltsin, tired of the endless attempts to block reforms by his Communist-era political enemies,
Fall of Soviet Union
disbands the Russian Congress and promises new elections. Recalcitrant delegates and their allies hole up in the Russian White House for 12 days, holding out with very little food and water but plenty of weapons. Yeltsin's rule is severely threatened; many Western observers believe that the Soviet-era Communists will retake control of Russia. Their fears are unjustified. (Hammer News, BBC) - September 21: Clinton signs into law a bill authorizing the creation of AmeriCorps,
Clinton Administration
a volunteer program designed to serve as an umbrella for over 2,100 non-profit organizations, public agencies, and faith-based entities. Volunteers work on a range of projects from public education concerns to environmental cleanup. One of the most effective projects of its kind, it will be gutted during the Bush presidency. (Wikipedia, Wikipedia)
Clinton proposes a comprehensive health care plan, which eventually succumbs to GOP and health care industry opposition
- September 22: Clinton gives a major speech to the Senate on the first major policy initiative of his administration, comprehensive health care for all Americans.
Clinton Administration
The plan is the result of a task force headed by First Lady Hillary Clinton, and is presented in an indigestible, 1000+ page report; the core of the proposal is the requirement for all employers to provide health insurance to their employees through regulated health maintenance organizations (HMOs). The proposal initially wins the support of most Americans and quick passage is predicted through the Democratically-controlled Congress, but the administration doesn't count on the quick and well-orchestrated opposition planned and executed by Republicans and the health care industry. Disparagingly referring to the proposal as "Hillary Care," which plays into the resentment of some voters over the fact that the First Lady is taking such a strong leadership role in government policy instead of arranging flowers or reading to children, the opposition fields a powerful set of TV commercials featuring an ordinary couple named "Harry and Louise," who despair over the huge bureaucracy to be engendered by the plan. - The opposition carefully mixes fears over government intrusion with falsehoods about the details of the plan to sour Americans on the proposal. Meanwhile, congressional Democrats, displaying their famous lack of unity, fail to support the proposal, instead submitting a raft of their own plans, including several variants of the Canadian single-payer plan. In September 1994, Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell will declare the health care plan dead. The defeat is very damaging to Clinton, and is widely portrayed by his opponents as a rejection of his mandate to govern. Republicans will use the health care plan as a part of their successful strategy to retake Congress in 1994; since then, no health care plans have been seriously considered, and health care costs for Americans will spiral ever upwards. In retrospect, many moderate Democrats and Republicans privately admit that the Clinton health care plan would have been, on the whole, beneficial to Americans. (Wikipedia, Wikipedia)
- September 28: Author Larry Beinhart publishes American Hero, a novel based on the speculation that George H.W. Bush had the Persian Gulf War created by a Hollywood filmmaker in order for Bush to win re-election.
Gulf War
The book, a magnificently twisted amalgamation of fact and fiction, is bizarre enough to be plausible, and features a set of meticulously documented endnotes which makes the reader wonder if Beinhart's novel isn't based, in some manner, in reality. Ironically, the book is made into a movie in 1997 (Wag the Dog, a modestly successful film starring Dustin Hoffman), but the plot is completely rewritten to have Bill Clinton orchestrating a war with Albania in order to win re-election after a sex scandal cripples his chances with the voters. (Amazon)
