Time: Did Clinton Do Enough?

Time ^ | Apr. 26, 2004 | JOHN CLOUD

[Semper Paratus]

He too will have to explain why bin Laden is not yet dead.

Unlike Clinton, it wasn't from lack of trying.

[blastdad51]

Headline should read :

"Did Clinton do anything?"

[blastdad51]

Headline should read :

"Did Clinton do anything?"

[blastdad51]

Headline should read :

"Did Clinton do anything?"

[Miss Marple]

How interesting. President Clinton brought along both Sandy Berger and Bruce Lindsay for his "conversation."

I would like to ask Chris Matthews to therefore SHUT UP about why Cheney and Bush are being interviewed together.

[Southack]

No kidding. The dirty little secret in the press is that President Clinton pissed away 8 years without accomplishing *any* stated campaign goal...much less improving any of our security.

Tell me again how the 1993/4 Assault Weapons Ban or the 1995 "anti-terrorism act" stopped 9/11...

[Bronzewound]

Don't you love the implication in the title that Clinton did all he could, it just wasn't quite enough? Give me a break.

[Bronzewound]

Yes. My point exactly.

[mtbopfuyn]

Did Clinton do enough? No, he didn't do anything to prevent 9/11 because he was too busy doing Monica, Gennifer, Paula, and every skirt he saw. He was handed OBL on numerous occassions but was too distracted to deal with world and national affairs due to so much glad handing affairs closer to home.

[familyofman]

In hindsight the answer is a definite - no. WJC did not do enough - but who would have supported him if he had? In hindsight we all probably would have - but I doubt he would have received much support for doing more at the time.

It's all so easy now to see what should have been. The CIA, FBI, INS.... all should have done more. Let's all jump in the'time machine' and change it.

[OldFriend]

Even the question is an outrage.

We all know what Clinton was doing, and it had nothing to do with national security.

[Eala]

Time: Did Clinton Do Enough?

Whaddya mean? Clinton didn't do any time, more's the pity...

[Eric in the Ozarks]

WelllBJ did appoint Algore to improve airport security in the US. Thank goodness for that !

[TruthShallSetYouFree]

Clinton didn't do any time

When I get solicited by telephone from the RNC, I ask the caller what prison Bill Clinton is in. They will then say, "He's not in jail." and I explain to them that that is why I stopped donating.

[Maceman]

In hindsight the answer is a definite - no. WJC did not do enough - but who would have supported him if he had? In hindsight we all probably would have - but I doubt he would have received much support for doing more at the time.

But, if he really saw the threat as he claims, wasn't it his job to explain the threat to the American people and at least try and create public support for action?

Shouldn't he have done everything he could to bring al Qaeda to Bush's attention?

I know that personally, the first time I ever heard the name Osama bin Laden was when Monica was testifying before the grand jury, and that same day Clinton tried to control the news cycle by going on TV to announce his cruise missile attacks on the Sudanese aspirin factory and the terrorist training camps in AFghanistan.

I might have been more open to believing that Osama was a serious threat if Clinton had seen fit to take more aggressive action on a day when it was not so transparently to his political advantage to create a diversion.

The day Lewinsky testified was the ONLY day during his whole tenure in office that he ever mentioned Osama bun Laden in public. If understanding the bin Laden threat was so important to the American people, how come that is so?

[jmstein7]

BUMP!

[familyofman]

"Shouldn't he have done everything he could to bring al Qaeda to Bush's attention?"

Who says he didn't? Again, hindsight is 20/20. People will also say in perfect hindsight that GWB didn't take the threat seriously enough. Finger-pointing has become a major 'sport' in DC recently, or haven't you noticed. Everyone looks like the Scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz - pointing every which-way, except at themselves.

[Cicero]

Wouldn't you think this article would at least mention that clinton had several opportunities to have bin Ladin handed over to him, but refused to take him? Wouldn't you think Tom Kean would have asked about this? The topic was raised recently by reporters, and clinton lied about what tape recordings demonstrate he said.

[Mr. Bird]

Hey, I gotta 'fess up on this one. When Clinton fired cruise missiles and Maddy declared war on Bin Laden, I didn't believe them, and I didn't care. Because of his total lack of credibility, Clinton could not convince me that Bin Laden was anything other than a conjured bogeyman useful for deflecting domestic trouble. This is why, for Clinton, the general criticism wasn't "just about sex". You could never trust the guy to be on the up-and-up.

For all I know, Clinton was concerned about OBL and Al Qaida, and did what he thought was best. It looks pretty clear that at least one senior member of his admin (Gorelick) had a hand in making it more difficult to catch him. But I can't honestly place the blame at anyone's feet other than the bastards that did the deed, and those who bankrolled them. They got us good.