Comments on: Unguided Missile Attacks

By: Jeanne M.

Jeanne M. — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 17:48:20 +0000

Bill & Cliff –

In keeping with Obama tradition, maybe you should sit down over a beer and discuss the issue?

By: Chris W.

Chris W. — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 15:54:08 +0000

Bill,

I challenge you to take your article + Clif’s article to an objective export expert. I imagine you’ll want to make some corrections to your article afterwards.

By: Kelly Yip

Kelly Yip — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 02:24:33 +0000

Dear Bill:

You think you know me but you don’t. I was part of Brett Doster’s group in Florida, assisting in W’s Presidential re-election. I believe I, more than anyone, have the right to exercise my First Amendment, especially when it comes to the Washington Times.

Btw, I stand by Clif’s position.

Regards,
Kelly

By: Clif Burns

Clif Burns — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 19:26:55 +0000

Bill, your statement that the PD “shifted authority for approving sales” to China to the Commerce Department was flat out wrong. The authority for approving those sales remains where it was before the Presidential determination and where it was during the Bush administration. Missile items on the U.S.M.L are subject to the authority of State and to the arms embargo in section 126.5 of the ITAR. Control over approval of those exports was not shifted to Commerce. The MTCR items on the CCL remain for Commerce to approve. The 1512 certification is a mere formality, unless you can point to an instance where an export license for an MTCR item was granted by Commerce and the White House declined to make the 1512 certification. Simply put, you don’t understand the law here and got in over your head.

By: Bill Gertz

Bill Gertz — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 13:53:54 +0000

Clif,
You unprofessionally took out of context my Inside the Ring item and also ignored the voices of three critics who pointed out that this shift in authority was bad idea because of the reason for the initial provision in law: the damaging policy of space cooperation with China in the 1990s that led to illicit technology transfer to China that improved their strategic missiles.
And Kelly, you should go to work for the Obama White House so you can help them decide what is a real news organization or not, namely those that promote your points of view and policies.

By: Kelly Yip

Kelly Yip — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 02:27:03 +0000

Dear Clif:

To tell you the truth, I don’t consider the Washington Times to be a “real” newspaper. Whenever a friend email an article and I discover it to be from the Washington Times, I will immediately click on “delete.” I am saying this even though I have friends (to my chagrin) who have written for them.

Regards,
Kelly Yip