Peter,
Thanks for gathering the various government statements, directives,
etc. Those are the same things I had in mind when I said there is no
evidence that Clinton personally involved himself in this. It's a big
bureaucracy. Getting an official document out the door requires
enormous staff action. If you look at the full range of documents
that get published which have the same impramatur, you'll see there
isn't any way for a single mortal to be involved in all of them.
I did not mean to suggest that Clipper is not official U.S. policy,
but I still see no evidence that Clinton personally has gotten
involved in this. Lots of his staff has, of course, and various
agencies have pressed their case and apparently succeeded. Perhaps
he's been involved privately more than is apparent, but to date I have
not heard him make a direct pronouncement.
This may be a minor detail. Those of who live inside the Beltway may
be overly sensitive to these nuances.
Steve