Timothy Wirth, President Clinton's Assistant Secretary of State
for Global Affairs, is a former United States Senator from Colorado.
Charging that "economic mismanagement and partisan pettiness
have reduced the work of our government," Worth called it
quits in 1992 after serving just one term in the Senate. Wirth's
decision to retire may have been motivated more by concern that
his re-election bid would result in intensified public scrutiny
of his dealings with special interests, however. According to
a January 27, 1992 Rocky Mountain News report, in October 1990,
Wirth helped kill legislation to regulate cable television rates
just seven months after receiving $80,000 in campaign contributions
from the cable industry. Wirth was also criticized for failing
to act to curb abuses of junk bond traders while serving as chairman
of the House subcommittee with jurisdiction over such matters.
As it turned out, Wirth's subcommittee staff director, David Aylward,
left employment with Wirth to direct a trade association controlled
by Drexel Burnham Lambert's Michael Milken, who was later convicted
of insider trading.
Timothy Wirth is a follower of the teachings Thomas Malthus, the
British economist who predicted in 1789 that the planet's rapid
increase in population would soon outstrip the planet's ability
to produce food resulting in massive worldwide starvation. Of
course, Malthus' predicted famine never materialized. He could
not have predicted the industrial revolution nor the enormous
impact of subsequent technological innovations would have on our
ability to produce food. Unlike Malthus, Wirth had the benefit
of such knowledge. Nonetheless, he predicted the same thing upon
his election to Congress in 1974, asking, "Are we going to
blow ourselves off the face of the globe or are we going to propagate
ourselves off the face of the globe?"
Wirth has been a crusader for population control and "abortion
rights," particularly as Assistant Secretary of State for
Global Policy. He was one of the architects of the international
population summit in Cairo, Egypt in 1994 where he pressured other
nations -- with the help of former Congresswoman Bella Abzug --
to support abortion as one of several means of controlling population.
During that conference, three American journalists from pro-life
publications had their press credentials seized and were detained
by Egyptian police. One of the journalists, Keith Tucci, claimed
he was detained at the direction of Wirth.
Wirth has also been a consistent advocate of the global warming
theory. While in the Senate, he co-sponsored legislation that
would, among other things, give priority to international aid
programs that "enhance access to... bicycles, carts, pack
animals, and similar affordable, non-motorized vehicles"
for the purpose of reducing use of fossil fuels (greenhouse gases),
relegating the recipient nations to a perpetual Third World status.
Yet, even he has admitted doubts about the global warming theory:
"We've got to rid the global warming issue. Even if the theory
of global warming is wrong, we will be doing the right thing,
in terms of economic policy and environmental policy."
Most recently, Timothy Wirth was at the center of controversy
when the Clinton Administration decided to deport 13 Chinese women
who sought asylum in the United States to avoid forced abortion
or sterilization under communist China's one-child policy. By
offering asylum to the women, Wirth explained, "we could
potentially open ourselves up to just about everybody in the world
saying 'I don't want to plan my family, therefore I deserve political
asylum." Apparently, Wirth believes government forced abortions
and sterilization constitutes "family planning."
Selected Timothy Wirth Quotes
Timothy Wirth explaining why the ends justify the means...
"We've got to ride the global warming issue. Even if the
theory of global warming is wrong, we will be doing the right
thing, in terms of economic policy and environmental policy. "
- Timothy Wirth quoted in Science Under Siege by Michael Fumento,
1993
Timothy Wirth equating the Chinese government's one-child policy
-- which includes forced abortions and sterilizations -- with
"family planning"...
"[By offering asylum to women fleeing China's one-child policy]
we could potentially open ourselves up to just about everybody
in the world saying 'I don't want to plan my family, therefore
I deserve political asylum.'" - Timothy Wirth, explaining
the Clinton Administration's decision to deport 13 Chinese women,
quoted in The Washington Times, April 27, 1995
Timothy Wirth explaining why he supports abortion rights -- the
unborn are a barrier to equal opportunity for women that must
be removed...
"...Advancing women's rights and health and promoting family
planning are mutually reinforcing objectives... all barriers which
deprive women of equal opportunity must be removed." - Timothy
Wirth speaking at a May 1993 preparatory meeting for the Cairo
population conference as quoted in State of the World 1994
Timothy Wirth demonstrating that it is easier to attack the messenger
than the message ...
"There are people who say that you have no business helping
to assist family planning clinics around the world, but this is
the same sort of deliberate, wanton ignorance that defined population
policy in the 1980s..." - Timothy Wirth quoted by Greenwire
January 24, 1994
Timothy Wirth demonstrating his respect for people of religious
faith...
"The wonderful opportunities in this [population summit]
reach very deeply, much beyond this sort of superficial political
controversy raised by some quasi-moralists." - Timothy Wirth,
referring to pro-family participants at the 1994 Cairo population
conference, quoted by Christianity Today
Timothy Wirth sounding the alarm that the sky is falling...
"We have been living off an enormous supply of natural capital
and that's coming to an end all over the world." - Timothy
Wirth quoted in Business Week, December 13, 1994
Version Date: April 4, 1996
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