FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: OCTOBER 14, 1992 GORE BLASTS STATE DEPT WITCH-HUNT AS OUTRAGEOUS Why Doesn't Bush Look As Carefully for Iraq, Iran Answers GORE URGES BUSH TO RELEASE BUSH CABLE TO SADDAM HUSSEIN Atlanta, GA - Blasting the Bush Administration for a politically- inspired witch-hunt through Bill Clinton's travel records, Sen. Al Gore, (D-TN), today (10/14) called on President Bush to release a copy of the personal note Bush sent Saddam Hussein only days before the Iraqi dictator invaded Kuwait. Gore said the Bush Administration also should release the cables sent back to the U.S. from then-U.S. Ambassador to Iraq April Glaspie. "President Bush has once again turned to the hateful, dangerous tactics of Joe McCarthy. It is a startling abuse of power and a violation of our country's most basic principles that demands an immediate and thorough explanation," said Gore "Why is it George Bush can focus all the investigative powers of his government on Bill Clinton's travel records and personal history but can't get his own cabinet agencies to tell the truth and provide documents to federal prosecutors working a major criminal investigation around billions of dollars in illegal loans to Iraq -- loans the Administration winked and nodded at to let through as part of a failed policy that made war inevitable," said Gore. Gore asked President Bush to release the complete text of the personal message President Bush sent to Saddam Hussein only days before Saddam invaded Kuwait and to release the cables then-U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, April Glaspie, sent to the State Department. "George Bush ought to be looking for the records important to the public interest, records that matter to the American people, as vigorously as he's looking for records to protect his political self-interest," said Gore. A senior State Department official this month ordered special and "extremely thorough" searches of Governor Clinton's travel records from more than 20 years ago when Clinton was in college, the Washington Post reported this morning. The newspaper said State Department officials also were instructed to look for documents related to Clinton's draft status and citizenship. "Serious and pressing questions demand answers and this Administration is focusing on political cheap shots and infighting over who lied to whom. It's time the Bush Administration played it straight with the American people and started providing some answers about the billions of dollars we provided Saddam Hussein and about a policy that led to war," said Gore. "Instead of using taxpayer dollars searching for partisan political ammunition in a desperate attempt to save his own job, George Bush ought to be putting the facts on the table about his Administration's policies toward Iraq and his role in the Iran-Contra arms for hostage controversy. The Bush Administration's Central Intelligence Agency has misled the Justice Department and the Justice Department misled federal prosecutors investigating illegal bank loans to Saddam Hussein, according to news reports this week. A growing body of evidence suggests that the Bush Administration knew that these illegal loans from the Atlanta office of an Italian bank were being used by Iraq to purchase weapons. And, just yesterday, President Bush offered yet another version of exactly what he knew about the Iran-Contra arms for hostages deal -- this time admitting that he knew about the illegal hostages for arms deal, dramatically reversing earlier statements that he was "out of the loop." -- 30 --