The following is the "official" Clintonista re-write of pre-9/11 history being passed around the internet (I don't pretend that the Bush team deserves an A+ for counterterrorism efforts pre-9/11, but this assessment is riddled with errors, peppered with lies, full of omissions, and tied up with wishful thinking. Clinton did a lot of talking, sometimes committed things to paper, but failed to implement, failed to follow through, and did everything possible to sweep the terrorism problem under the rug):
Clinton vs. Terror, Republicans vs. Clinton
President Clinton led the fight against terrorism over strong opposition from Republicans in Congress and the pro-Republican Media. Here's a partial - yet incredibly long - list of accomplishments against terrorism for which the Clinton Administration gets almost no credit or even recognition.
-- Clinton sent legislation to Congress to TIGHTEN AIRPORT SECURITY. (Remember, this is before 911) The legislation was defeated by the Republicans because of opposition from the airlines.
-- Clinton sent legislation to Congress to allow for BETTER TRACKING OF TERRORIST FUNDING. It was defeated by Republicans in the Senate because of opposition from banking interests.
-- Clinton sent legislation to Congress to add tagents to explosives, to allow for BETTER TRACKING OF EXPLOSIVES USED BY TERRORISTS. It was defeated by the Republicans because of opposition from the NRA.
When Republicans couldn't prevent executive action, Clinton:
-- Developed the nation's first anti-terrorism policy, and appointed first national coordinator
-- Stopped cold the planned attack to blow up 12 U.S. jetliners simultaneously
-- Stopped cold the planned attack to blow up UN Headquarters
-- Stopped cold the planned attack to blow up FBI Headquarters
-- Stopped cold the planned attack to blow up the Israeli Embassy in Washington
--Stopped cold the planned attack to blow up Boston airport
-- Stopped cold the planned attack to blow up Lincoln and Holland Tunnels in NY
-- Stopped cold the planned attack to blow up the George Washington Bridge
-- Stopped cold the planned attack to blow up the US Embassy in Albania
-- Tried to kill Osama bin Laden and disrupt Al Qaeda through preemptive strikes (efforts denounced by the G.O.P.).
-- Brought perpetrators of first World Trade Center bombing and CIA killings to justice.
-- Did not blame Bush I administration for first World Trade Center bombing even though it occurred 38 days after they had left office. Instead, worked hard, even obsessively -- and successfully -- to stop future terrorist attacks.
-- Named the Hart-Rudman commission to report on nature of terrorist threats and major steps to be taken to combat terrorism.
-- Clinton tripled the budget of the FBI for counterterrorism and doubled overall funding for counterterrorism
-- Clinton detected and destroyed cells of Al Qaeda in over 20 countries
-- Clinton created national stockpile of drugs and vaccines including 40 million doses of smallpox vaccine.
-- Of Clinton's efforts Robert Oakley, Reagan Ambassador for Counterterrorism says: "Overall, I give them very high marks" and "The only major criticism I have is the obsession with Osama"
-- Paul Bremer, current Civilian Administrator of Iraq disagrees slightly with Robert Oakley as he believed the Clinton Administration had "correctly focused on bin Laden. "
-- Barton Gellman in the Washington Post put it best, "By any measure available, Clinton left office having given greater priority to terrorism than any president before him" and was the "first administration to undertake a systematic anti-terrorist effort"
Here, in stark contrast, is part of the Bush-Cheney anti-terrorism record before September 11, 2001: -- Backed off Clinton administration's anti-terrorism efforts.
-- Shelved the Hart-Rudman report.
-- Appointed new anti-terrorism task force under Dick Cheney. Group did not even meet before 9/11.
-- Called for cuts in anti-terrorism efforts by the Department of Defense
-- Gave no priority to anti-terrorism efforts by Justice Department.
-- Ignored warnings from Sandy Berger and Louis Freeh about the urgency of terrorist threats.
-- Halted Predator drone tracking of Osama bin Laden.
-- Did nothing in wake of August 6 C.I.A. report to president saying Al Qaeda attack by hijack of an airliner almost certain.
-- Bush - knowing about the terrorists' plans to attack in America, warned that terrorists were in flight schools in the US - took a four week vacation.
-- By failing to order any coordination of intelligence data, missed opportunity to stop the 9/11 plot as Clinton-Gore had stopped the millennium plots.
-- Blamed Clinton for 9/11.