Clinton 'not soft on terror'

Austrailian ^ | 8/13/06 | staff

[pissant]

NEW YORK: Former US president Bill Clinton said yesterday that his administration had thwarted a number of large-scale terror attacks, but he acknowledged its efforts were "not enough" to prevent the horror of September 11.

Mr Clinton would not comment directly on the mini-series, which aired in two parts on Sunday and Monday in Australia, that suggested he was soft on al-Qai'da, but he said his administration had stopped other similar attacks.

During his administration "some attacks were prevented, acouple that would have done asmuch damage as 9/11", he said, at the dedication of a September 11 memorial in Bayonne, New Jersey.

"Many cells were rooted out, but in the end, it was not enough."

Clinton aides criticised the American Broadcasting Corporation's Path to 9/11.

A spokesman noted that the pro football game featuring quarterback brothers Peyton and Eli Manning overwhelmingly drew more viewers.

Mr Clinton "made the choice that most Americans made", said Jay Carson, a Clinton Foundation spokesman.

"Of a fictionalised drama version of September 11 or the Manning brothers playing football against one another, he chose the latter."

In Washington, the 9/11 commission co-chairmen politely disagreed about the movie.

Former Republican governor of New Jersey, Tom Kean, a consultant to the production, said: "I think they did a pretty good job."

But former Democrat congressman Lee Hamilton said: "It is either a documentary or it is a drama and to fudge it causes me a great deal of concern and suggests to me that news and entertainment are getting dangerously intertwined.

"And I do not think that is good for the country."

[GoLightly]

He won't name any of the attacks his administration stopped, cuz I'm sure Waco & Ruby Ridge are on the top of his list.