REBUTTAL

I thought Geraldo Rivera was the all-time, world champion Bill Clinton

“behind-kisser.” That was until I read Joe Bell’s pathetic column in the

Pilot (“The Commies are coming,” Oct. 28).

I think Bell ought to stick to something he knows about, instead of

driveling on for four full columns about how all the nuclear secrets the

Chinese stole from the United States is not a big deal. Joe’s real motive

seems simply to be “covering the behind” of the person we have in the

White House, who is still in a state of denial about the theft of these

secrets.

If you want to know just how severely Clinton has jeopardized our

national security via the Chinese Communist espionage that went unchecked

for two years, just read Bill Gertz’s scathing column in the Washington

Times newspaper Dec. 6. Of course, Gertz is no Joe Bell on national

defense issues. He’s just the most respected defense and national

security reporter in America today.

Bell, national security “expert,” muses in his column that it would be

“interesting to hear Dana’s (Rohrabacher) evidence that the Chinese have

any programs underway” to develop modern nuclear weapons systems. Huh?

The Clinton administration’s own Pentagon strategy report in 1997

reported that “within 15 years or sooner China will be a major nuclear

military power.” The information Gertz and/or the U.S. Office of Naval

Intelligence has recently reported proves just how far out in left field

Bell is on the subject of China’s military intentions.

Gertz’s Washington Times expose blows away Bell’s claims that there is

“no evidence that China has either MX type missiles, advanced type

fighter-bombers, or ballistic missile submarines.”

When the CIA finally learned of the extent of Chinese espionage at Los

Alamos, an infuriated top CIA official fumed, “The Chinese penetration of

our most treasured and guarded nuclear secrets is total!”

The United States had a golden opportunity to find out exactly how much

information suspected nuclear spy, Wen Ho Lee, had passed to the Chinese

Communists and how he was able to pass it to them when the FBI requested

a wire tap of Lee’s phone as far back as 1997. Naturally, Attorney

General Janet Reno refused to grant that wire tap. It was the only wire

tap rejected by Reno out of 2,686 wire taps requested by the FBI and CIA

between 1973 and 1997. Unbelievable.

Or, of course, we could listen to Bell, the Pilot’s noted military

analyst, tell us there is no problem and we’d probably feel a lot better

... for a while. My opinion of Bell is that we’d all be better served if

he would confine himself to commenting on local Newport Beach

neighborhood gossip and society-page issues, or kissing Clinton’s behind

-- which he is infinitely more qualified to do -- rather than give us his

half-baked, moronic opinions on national defense.

TOM WILLIAMS

Newport Beach