FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 20, 1992 GEORGE BUSH: RELEASE THE APRIL GLASPIE CABLES Under fire for his actions leading up to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, George Bush has responded with evasions and diversions. For weeks, Sen. Al Gore has called for the release of the State Department's cables to Ambassador April Glaspie. Last night, that call was seconded by Ross Perot. Today, George Bush tried to fool the public by saying that the April Glaspie cables have been given to the Congress. That's true, but the Bush Administration hasn't declassified the cables so the American people can see them. There is no legitimate security interest in keeping these cables secret -- only George Bush's personal political interest. He should make those cables available to the press immediately, so the American people can judge the truth. Last night, Bush also said that there is "not one iota of evidence . . .that there's any U.S. technology involved" in Iraq's attempt to develop a nuclear capability. Wrong. UN inspectors in Iraq found at Saddam Hussein's main nuclear weapons complex a carbide-tipped machine tool factory which had been built with technology and equipment licensed for export by the Bush Administration [Cong. Rec., 8/10/1992, H7875-7881; NYT, 7/24/92] And in July 1990, Bush's own Secretary of State was put on notice of that possibility. A memo to James Baker said: "Iraq has been attempting to obtain items to support these proliferation activities from U.S. exporters, in some cases successfully." [Memo to Secretary Baker from William Rope, Jock Covey, Michael Matheson and Eugene McAllister, 7/19/90] George Bush should come clean to the American people. He should release publicly: * the Glaspie cables; * the text of the secret letter Bush sent to Saddam Hussein five days before the dictator invaded Kuwait; and * the text of National Security Directive 26 authorizing a government-wide policy of coddling Saddam. - 30 -