Nightline: "The Failure by BOTH administrations to do nothing in response to the Cole was seen as a huge mistake"
Yes, and that was a comment I don't understand. We know the 9/11 attacks were already underway before the Cole bombing, so a retaliation against Cole would have done nothing to stop it, unless the retaliation was to invade afghanistan and overthrow the taliban.
Clarke sometimes talks like we should have done that, as if there was any chance that a newly elected Bush, with firm democrat opposition to his even BEING president, could have invaded another country. If Clinton, beloved by all, couldn't do it as an outgoing president, nobody could.