[Moby Grape]

After 9/11, Chris Matthews lamented (and suggested that Clintonistas did as well) that poor ole Bill didn't get a chance for a real legacy since the attack did not happen while Clinton was still in office.

Besides the obvious sick nature of such a wish (Oh, if only 3,000 people had did while our Bill was in office, we could have gained so much political capital from it...woe are we), one may also consider the possibility that Clinton did not seriously pursue Bin Laden because he WANTED such an "opportunity" to occur in his watch.

[Vision]

Nope, he just wanted an extended adolescence of golf and groupies IMO.

[butternut_squash_bisque]

Seems to me Bubba Jeffy did have the opportunity, in spades:

1992 Bombing in Israeli Embassy in Argentina, March 17,1992
1993 Attempted Assassination of Pres. Bush Sr., April 14,1993
1993 First World Trade Center bombing, February 26th, 7 Killed, Hundreds injured, Billions
1994 Air France Hijacking, Dec 24,1994
1995 Attack on US Diplomats in Pakistan, Mar 8,1995
1995 Saudi Military Installation Attack, Nov 13, 1995
1995 Kashmiri Hostage taking, July 4,1995
1996 Khobar Towers attack
1996 Sudanese Missionary Kidnapping, Aug 17,1996
1996 Paris Subway Explosion, Dec 3,1996
1997 Israeli Shopping Mall Bombing, Sept 4, 1997
1997 Yemeni Kidnappings, Oct 30,1997
1998 Somali Hostage taking crisis, April 15,1998
1998 U.S. Embassy Bombing in Peru, Jan 15, 1998
1998 U.S. Kenya Embassy blown up, 100's murdered
1998 U.S. Tanzania Embassy blown up, 100's murdered
1999 Plot to blow up Space Needle (thwarted)
2000 USS Cole attacked, many U.S. Navy sailors murdered
2000-2003 Intifada against Israel - 100's dead and injured
2000 Manila Bombing, Dec 30,2000

JMO...

[zendari]

The attack was originally planned for Dec 31, 2000. He might have gotten his wish.

[KarlInOhio]

Did XXX-42 want an attack? No probably not, but he did have more than enough of them during his presidency.

What he probably fantasized that he was the one standing on the smoking rubble of the WTC saying with a bullhorn. He wanted that momentary unity of the nation behind the President. That lasted until the Dems thought it was safe to go back to business as usual of trying to destroy President Bush.

[Hazcat]

People, let's not do this "LIHOP" and "MIHOP" crap here on FR. That crap belongs at DU.

[JennysCool]

Forget the moonbat stuff. The Clinton Administration was just interested in pursuing "enemies" like Microsoft and making sure that everything APPEARED rosy so the fundraising could continue briskly. Their "War Against Terror" consisted of having Arafat visit the White House as often as possible.

[Andy from Beaverton]

[laotzu]

Shouldn't this be "Breaking News"?

[pgkdan]

I loathe Bill Clinton with every fiber of my being but saying that he courted a 9-11 type attack is every bit as despicable as saying that Bush was behind 9-11. We don't need that stuff here.

[b4its2late]

Nothing, and I mean nothing what the previous administration did, or wanted to do, surprised me after seeing 8 years of it.

[LibLieSlayer]

klintoon wants two things... booty and power... and he kills and rapes to get both. Tell me how this POS differs from Saddam?

LLS

[Ektelon]

I think Clinton knew "something" was going to happen. Anyone remember the weird transfer of power for the Emergency Response Program from the Secretary of Defense to the Attorney General (Janet Reno) that Clinton did in April, 2000 to take effect October 1, 2000 - which was only 3 months before he would be out of office? No reason was ever given for this - and it always seemed very odd.
Perhaps the "expected" attack just was delayed a year for some reason.
Something was up and Clinton was preparing for it.....and it likely wasn't going to be good for anyone but him.

"THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary ________________________________________________________________________ For Immediate Release April 7, 2000 Designation of the Attorney General as the Lead Official for the Emergency Response Assistance Program Under Sections 1412 and 1415 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1997 (Public Law 104-201) (the "Act")
Under sections 1412(a) and 1415(a) of the Act, the Secretary of Defense is responsible for implementing the Emergency Response Assistance Program, commonly known as the "Domestic Preparedness Program," to provide civilian personnel of Federal, State, and local agencies with training and expert advice regarding emergency responses to a use or threatened use of a weapon of mass destruction or related materials, and for testing and improving the responses of such agencies to emergencies involving chemical or biological weapons and related materials.
Under the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, including sections 1412(a)(2) and 1415(d)(1) of the Act, I designate the Attorney General to replace the Secretary of Defense as the lead Federal official with responsibility for carrying out these programs.
These designations are effective October 1, 2000, and constitute designations pursuant to sections 1412(a)(2) and 1415(d)(1) of the Act."

[Arrowhead1952]

Here is a thread from yesterday.

1998 Memo Cited Suspected Hijack Plot by Bin Laden [CLINTON FAILURE FLASHBACK!!]

[Mad Dawg]

Clinton's problem (I love long-range armchair psychiatry) is obvious: His eye is always on himself. What matters to him is not the well-being of the country EXCEPT insofar as that affects his "legacy". He didn't want to be president to lead the charge of Freedom, he wanted it because it makes for great yearbook lines. Kierkegaard says "Purity of heart is to will one thing." The one thing Clinton willed was the good of Clinton.

You don't get to be a Rhodes scholar without some smarts. It's not the lack of smarts, it's the lack of attention and intention that felled him, and his legacy will be that he squandered an opportunity for great good on himself and his lusts.

[SirJohnBarleycorn]

No, what Clinton "wanted" (if one would put it that way) was more of the Tim McVeigh (assuming for the moment that it was a completely American right-winger attack) type attacks.

The OK City bombing saved Clinton's presidency. He was highly unpopular (remember his first act as president - gays in the military - and the "middle class tax cut" going by the boards?) until his speech at the funeral for the OK City bombing, which sparked his political comeback.

From that time onward, the "narrative" from Clinton and his allies in the media was the militant threat from right-wingers (remember the dangerous Michigan Militia?) and Clinton milked that for all it was worth and more.

Foreign terrorism did not fit that "narrative" that Clinton was pushing for political reasons, which is why the first WTC bombing and other attacks by the Islamofascists were not taken very seriously, yet the FBI, the BATF and other agencies were spending large amounts of resources and manpower infiltrating right-wing militia groups.

A threat of foreign terrorism would play into the traditional Republican strength on foreign policy and strong national security, so it was simply ignored by Clinton. As Dick Morris, who was close to Clinton during these years, relates, Clinton simply never talked about this threat. It didn't fit his political narrative, and therefore was off the radar screen.

[Grampa Dave]

THE ABOVE MASS MURDER OF THOUSANDS OF INNOCENT AMERICANS WAS THE INHERITANCE OF 8 YEARS UNDER THE CLINTOONS.