Posted on 07/24/2004 9:51:25 AM PDT by Libloather
Sept. 11 commission treads lightly on Lewinsky scandal
By DEB RIECHMANN / Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON — The Sept. 11 commission's final report says there's no evidence suggesting President Bill Clinton ordered airstrikes on Osama bin Laden targets to distract attention from his affair with Monica Lewinsky.
But the report says the affair, coupled with other issues, likely affected later discussions about using force against the terrorist leader.
Following U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, the Clinton administration planned and launched cruise missile strikes on alleged terrorist assets of bin Laden in Sudan and Afghanistan. The report said reaction to the Aug. 20, 1998, strikes included "scalding criticism" that the action was "too aggressive."
"At the time, President Clinton was embroiled in the Lewinsky scandal, which continued to consume public attention for the rest of that year and the first months of 1999," the report said. "As it happened, a popular 1997 movie, `Wag the Dog,' features a president who fakes a war to distract public attention from a domestic scandal. Some Republicans in Congress raised questions about the timing of the strikes."
In testimony, Clinton aides told the commissioners that their advice to Clinton about the airstrikes was based solely on national security considerations. "We have found no reason to question their statements," the commissioners said.
The commission's final report treads lightly on Clinton's affair with the one-time White House intern, which led to his impeachment and later acquittal by the Senate. Although only tiny sections of the report refer to the affair, the commissioners spent a lot of time discussing how and whether to discuss it in the report, deciding, in the end, that it was important to do so.
"The language was carefully chosen," Philip Zelikow, the commission's executive director, said Friday. "We wanted to flag it and note its significance."
In a chapter cataloguing initial U.S. responses to al-Qaida assaults, the report said that by the early morning hours of Aug. 20, 1998, Clinton and all his principal advisers were agreed to strike the bin Laden camps in Afghanistan near Khowst, as well as al Shifa, a pharmaceutical plant in Khartoum, Sudan.
Intelligence reports said the plant was "manufacturing a precursor ingredient for nerve gas with bin Laden's financial support," although the commission said no independent evidence has emerged to corroborate this assessment.
"The air strikes marked the climax of an intense 48-hour period in which (former national security adviser Sandy) Berger notified congressional leaders, the principals called their foreign counterparts, and President Clinton flew back from his vacation on Martha's Vineyard to address the nation from the Oval Office," the report said.
The report said everyone involved in the decision to strike were aware of Clinton's problems.
"He told them to ignore them," the report said. Berger recalled the president saying to him "that they were going to get crap either way, so they should do the right thing."
While the commission said it found no reason to doubt the motivation of Clinton and his advisers, their report stated: "The failure of the strikes, the `wag the dog' slur, the intense partisanship of the period and the nature of the al Shifa evidence likely had a cumulative effect on future decisions about the use of force against bin Laden. Berger told us that he did not feel any sense of constraint."
The day the impeachment was final, *Crinton had just finished bombing Iraq, calling it a success.
Just as *Crinton recently mentioned - the timing was suspicious...
...The Sept. 11 commission's final report says there's no evidence suggesting President Bill Clinton ordered airstrikes on Osama bin Laden targets to distract attention from his affair with Monica Lewinsky...
IDIOTS AND TRAITORS! ALL OF THEM!
The Lewinski crap was the distraction from the terrorism and treason. Not the other way around.
Tell us how you really feel. But seriously, am I correct in believing that during the hearings, the commission found out at some point that BERGER was involved in withholding documents from them? And they said nothing about it? Thus, RAT commission members can be seen as having engaged in the proverbial smoke screen by trying to excoriate Republicans, when they had clear evidence that members of their own party were clearly culpable, not only by means of incompetence, but in conscious deliberate acts of active deception.
Some democrats have said that the damned dirty republicans made Clinton afraid to act against terrorism and Bin Laden because of the Lewinsky stuff and fear of accusations of "Wagging the dog". I can think of no greater idictment of a sitting president than to say he placed his own polling and approval ratings ahead of national security. A courageous president would understand that there might be political consequences but the president must act in our best interests despite them. Like, for instance, President Bush has. Clinton is even worse a president than I might have imagened.
Imagine the worst things you can about Clinton. And he will still be worse than that.
as well as al Shifa, a pharmaceutical plant in Khartoum, Sudan.
Clinton acted on total speculation. It turned out to be an aspirin factory and the US taxpayers later had to reimburse the factory owner for his loses.
IIRC, Clinton ordered the bombing of an asprin factory in Serbia to distract from the Monica testimony.
Isn't this a non-story?
Future history students will get a few 'snickers 'n snorts' out of that.
The year is 2075, on a little quiet campus in Trailerpark, U.S.A.:
'Hey, Dude! Guess what I just found?
'Wuzzat, Rathead?'
'Remember that dark period in American politics just before the turn of the century before anyone knew what the meaning of 'Is' was?
'Yup, I remember hearing about that, but all references to that period were blacklined in the history books.'
'Ah, so, rumhead. But check this clue I just found in some of these old security documents just re-classified and released.'
'Hummmmmmmm. Lemme see! 'Monica?' What's so significant about that? Everybody knows what a 'Monica' is.'
'No, dummy, it's not 'WHAT!' -- it's 'WHO' Monica is? Read on.'
'...uhh...Okay, So what is 'IS?' Are you telling me she was the rumored mystery lady in the red dress?'
'Not so, junglefoot. That was Dillinger's moll . We're talking about the Mystery Lady in the BLUE Dress. Remember that old tune, "IS you or IS you ain't my baby?" You'll never guess who the bulbous one was singing that to when the house collapsed around him.'
'Says right here, "Lewinski." Think back. Didn't they call this kind of a caper something like 'Wag the Lewinski?'
'Dog!'
'I agree . . there is a resemblance.'
'No, I meant, 'Wag the DOG!' -- not Lewinski.'
'Gotcha. Well, that ends that mystery. I don't think it's Pulitzer material, but I think we should at least get extra credit for it.'
Forgive me for my choice of words; but these people don't want to get into the President was to busy getting his wick wacked instead of paying attention to what was going on in the country.
I am so sorry for my choice of words; but someone has to say it.
The pharmaceuticl firm and the tents in afghanistan were still, like Lewinski, coverups in themselves. Just some fireworks to distract the sheeple from more sinister things, by far.
The true root of the Clinton Administration evil, besides the Clintons themselves, was treason and the cancer of free flowing Chinese Communist cash.
That issue has never been resolved. Washington still swims in Chinese money.
It will someday come back to be reckoned with.
In 2075, I'm assuming we'll all be ragheads. Butts up! <;P
Clueless 9-11 Commission Cheats American Public http://joevialls.altermedia.info/wtc/clueless.html
Our only defense is to invent a new cult which requires kneeling to the west ten times a day. Send the group to Michigan to compete, singing heavy metal in reverse speech, and displaying warning signs which state: "Don't get caught in the crosswind." On the reverse side of the signs, print: "Why wait to go to paradise? Join our happy group today and get 144 virgins immediately!"
Anything the 9/11 comission releases is compromised. It is a failed effort because they didn't have everything
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.