Posted on 09/22/2006 5:09:49 PM PDT by blogblogginaway
Edited on 09/22/2006 9:34:57 PM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
FORMER PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON ON NOT CAPTURING BIN LADEN: 'At least I tried. That's the difference between me and some, including all the right wingers. They ridicule me for trying. They had eight months to try, they did not try. I tried. So I tried and failed'...
Video... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UwJabtvSUQ
Can you believe this? Can you believe he's going to GET IN OUR FACES about stuff WE know the facts about?
Does he think people aren't going to parse every single word he says?
I had forgotten how much I despise him until I watched this video.
I am ready with my bookmarks, as I know you are.........LOL.
First time he has ever been asked a semi-tough question and he blows a vein!
At least he's aging well, barely looks 80.
Pray for W and Our Troops
I think the guy is on medication, and a bit loose. The calm Bill would never make "harsh" statements like that...in such a huff. Although he is such a great actor...maybe this has ties into Hillary's campaign, and he must demonstrate anger to appease his poll numbers.
If you want something to look forward to, just think about what Rush Limbaugh is going to do with this on Monday.
Yip yip yip yahoo. And he'll do it with half his brain tied behind his back just to make it fair, having more fun than a human being ought to be allowed.
Hey Bubba, have a nice weekend -- BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
The MSM will never cover this - but talk radio will. The public needs to hear this.
weeks later family members of many of the dead were called to Washington, D.C., to testify at congressional hearings into the debacle.
"When Clinton heard they were in town, he called them into his office for a meeting and told them that part of the reason they were dead was their own fault," McKenny said. "He said they may have been responsible for their own deaths because they were 'too aggressive' in Mogadishu."
President Clinton, unwilling to risk further loss of American life, immediately called off the humanitarian mission and pulled the troops out of the ongoing Somalian conflict.
******
The kind of sweaty-palmed cut-and-run sentiment now gripping the Democratic Party over the question of Iraq was personified in the Oval Office 10 years ago by a panicked President Clinton. His hasty retreat after the "Black Hawk Down" battle created an image of American weakness that was noted by Islamic terrorists at the time and that the United States is still working to undo to this day.
In 1993, the forces of Somali warlord Mohamed Farah Aideed -- hunted by U.S. forces -- brought down two Black Hawk helicopters and precipitated a vicious daylong firefight. In the immediate aftermath of the battle, Clinton managed a burst of bravado, telling an aide: "I believe in killing people who try to hurt you." But soon enough he would be worrying to George Stephanopoulos: "I hope I didn't panic and announce the pullout too soon."
Clinton briefly faked resolve publicly, vowing that "you may be sure that we will do whatever's necessary ... to complete our mission." About a week later he was saying, contradicting his administration's own policy to that point, "It is not our job to rebuild Somalia's society." In a letter to Congress, the White House promptly began rewriting history: "The U.S. military mission is not now nor was it ever one of 'nation-building.'"
Massive reinforcements were sent to Somalia, but only for show. Just days after Aideed's forces had killed 18 Americans, Clinton dispatched former ambassador to Somalia Robert Oakley to Mogadishu to tell Aideed that he was off the hook, the United States would no longer seek his capture. Aideed's clan, perhaps taken aback by the American pusillanimity, didn't believe it.
Mark Bowden, author of the book "Black Hawk Down," writes of how terrified the warlord's allies were after the battle: "Some of Aideed's strongest clan allies had fled the city fearing the inevitable American counterattack. The clan's arsenals of RPG's were severely depleted. Others were sending peace feelers, offering to dump Aideed to ward off more bloodshed." They didn't have to bother. Aideed could look forward, shortly after his attack, to becoming part of negotiations for peace.
Clinton's retreat broadcast a signal of weakness around the world. As it happens, al-Qaida operatives had provided assistance to warlord Aideed's forces. "It cleared from Muslim minds the myth of superpowers," Osama bin Laden said of Somalia in his interview with ABC News journalist John Miller in May 1998. "The youth were surprised at the low morale of the American soldiers and realized more than before that the American soldier was a paper tiger and after a few blows ran in defeat."
After "Black Hawk Down," bin Laden probably asked himself: If 18 dead could shake America, well then, what could be accomplished by killing thousands? There were two lessons for the United States from Somalia: (1) Don't send U.S. troops somewhere unless it's truly important; (2) don't let setbacks scare you into retreat. The Bush administration seems to have learned both, and perhaps the world will eventually get a very different object lesson in U.S. staying power.
http://tinyurl.com/ftmky
We say to the Defense Secretary (Clinton's secretary, William Perry) that his talk can induce a grieving mother to laughter! and shows the fears that had enshrined you all. Where was this false courage of yours when the explosion in Beirut took place on 1983 AD (1403 A.H). You were turned into scattered pits and pieces at that time; 241 mainly marines solders were killed. And where was this courage of yours when two explosions made you to leave Aden in lees than twenty four hours!
But your most disgraceful case was in Somalia; where- after vigorous propaganda about the power of the USA and its post cold war leadership of the new world order- you moved tens of thousands of international force, including twenty eight thousands American solders into Somalia.
However, when tens of your solders were killed in minor battles and one American Pilot was dragged in the streets of Mogadishu you left the area carrying disappointment, humiliation, defeat and your dead with you.
Clinton appeared in front of the whole world threatening and promising revenge , but these threats were merely a preparation for withdrawal.
You have been disgraced by Allah and you withdrew; the extent of your impotence and weaknesses became very clear.
It was a pleasure for the "heart" of every Muslim and a remedy to the "chests" of believing nations to see you defeated in the three Islamic cities of Beirut , Aden and Mogadishu.
LA Times December 5, 2001 Clinton Let Bin Laden Slip Away and Metastasize Sudan offered up the terrorist and data on his network. The then-president and his advisors didn't respond. By MANSOOR IJAZ President Clinton and his national security team ignored several opportunities to capture Osama bin Laden and his terrorist associates, including one as late as last year. I know because I negotiated more than one of the opportunities. From 1996 to 1998, I opened unofficial channels between Sudan and the Clinton administration. I met with officials in both countries, including Clinton, U.S. National Security Advisor Samuel R. "Sandy" Berger and Sudan's president and intelligence chief. President Omar Hassan Ahmed Bashir, who wanted terrorism sanctions against Sudan lifted, offered the arrest and extradition of Bin Laden and detailed intelligence data about the global networks constructed by Egypt's Islamic Jihad, Iran's Hezbollah and the Palestinian Hamas. Among those in the networks were the two hijackers who piloted commercial airliners into the World Trade Center. The silence of the Clinton administration in responding to these offers was deafening. As an American Muslim and a political supporter of Clinton, I feel now, as I argued with Clinton and Berger then, that their counter-terrorism policies fueled the rise of Bin Laden from an ordinary man to a Hydra-like monster. Realizing the growing problem with Bin Laden, Bashir sent key intelligence officials to the U.S. in February 1996. The Sudanese offered to arrest Bin Laden and extradite him to Saudi Arabia or, barring that, to "baby-sit" him--monitoring all his activities and associates. But Saudi officials didn't want their home-grown terrorist back where he might plot to overthrow them. In May 1996, the Sudanese capitulated to U.S. pressure and asked Bin Laden to leave, despite their feeling that he could be monitored better in Sudan than elsewhere. Bin Laden left for Afghanistan, taking with him Ayman Zawahiri, considered by the U.S. to be the chief planner of the Sept. 11 attacks; Mamdouh Mahmud Salim, who traveled frequently to Germany to obtain electronic equipment for Al Qaeda; Wadih El-Hage, Bin Laden's personal secretary and roving emissary, now serving a life sentence in the U.S. for his role in the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Tanzania and Kenya; and Fazul Abdullah Mohammed and Saif Adel, also accused of carrying out the embassy attacks. Some of these men are now among the FBI's 22 most-wanted terrorists. The two men who allegedly piloted the planes into the twin towers, Mohamed Atta and Marwan Al-Shehhi, prayed in the same Hamburg mosque as did Salim and Mamoun Darkazanli, a Syrian trader who managed Salim's bank accounts and whose assets are frozen. Important data on each had been compiled by the Sudanese. But U.S. authorities repeatedly turned the data away, first in February 1996; then again that August, when at my suggestion Sudan's religious ideologue, Hassan Turabi, wrote directly to Clinton; then again in April 1997, when I persuaded Bashir to invite the FBI to come to Sudan and view the data; and finally in February 1998, when Sudan's intelligence chief, Gutbi al-Mahdi, wrote directly to the FBI. Gutbi had shown me some of Sudan's data during a three-hour meeting in Khartoum in October 1996. When I returned to Washington, I told Berger and his specialist for East Africa, Susan Rice, about the data available. They said they'd get back to me. They never did. Neither did they respond when Bashir made the offer directly. I believe they never had any intention to engage Muslim countries--ally or not. Radical Islam, for the administration, was a convenient national security threat. And that was not the end of it. In July 2000--three months before the deadly attack on the destroyer Cole in Yemen--I brought the White House another plausible offer to deal with Bin Laden, by then known to be involved in the embassy bombings. A senior counter-terrorism official from one of the United States' closest Arab allies--an ally whose name I am not free to divulge--approached me with the proposal after telling me he was fed up with the antics and arrogance of U.S. counter-terrorism officials. The offer, which would have brought Bin Laden to the Arab country as the first step of an extradition process that would eventually deliver him to the U.S., required only that Clinton make a state visit there to personally request Bin Laden's extradition. But senior Clinton officials sabotaged the offer, letting it get caught up in internal politics within the ruling family--Clintonian diplomacy at its best. Clinton's failure to grasp the opportunity to unravel increasingly organized extremists, coupled with Berger's assessments of their potential to directly threaten the U.S., represents one of the most serious foreign policy failures in American history. * Mansoor Ijaz, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, is chairman of a New York-based investment company.
Criminy, and the people of the USA elected this man President for EIGHT years. My God, what the hell were we smoking??
Sunday, Aug. 11, 2002 10:52 p.m. EDT
Disabled Vietnam vet retired Capt. James Smith, whose son James was killed during the disastrous raid in Somalia memorialized in the movie "Black Hawk Down," took exception Sunday to ex-President Clinton's recent attempt to blame President Bush's father for the 1993 debacle during a recent interview with Washington, D.C., TV station WJLA.
"He seems to forget that when Bush number one sent troops into Somalia he sent them in by the tens of thousands. And they had complete armor, mechanized infantry, artillery, air cover support," Smith told WABC Radio's Steve Malzberg.
While Bush the elder was president, the Somali warlords "decided to keep a low profile because they knew if they stuck their head up they were going to get it shot off," he insisted, adding, "So Bush number one did it correctly."
But things changed when President Clinton took over, the former soldier told WABC.
When his son's Ranger unit was sent to Mogadishu to capture notorious Somali warlord Mohamed Farah Adid, they didn't have the artillery, helicopter gunship or tactical air support they needed, he told Malzberg.
Smith's comments were prompted by Clinton's recent attempt to dodge responsibility for the episode, where he told WJLA, "Now, you know, I didn't blame [President Bush's] father for Somalia, when we had that awful day memorialized in 'Black Hawk Down.' I didn't do that."
Although then-Defense Secretary Les Aspin was forced to resign over the deadly blunder, Smith said he had no doubt that the decision to under-equip his son's unit came directly from the White House.
When he testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee on the episode, the former soldier said reporters privately agreed, telling him, "Les Aspin had nothing to do with this. This was a White House decision."
"They knew how the White House works. They knew there was no way Les Aspin made that decision on his own."
Smith recounted his trip to the White House to meet Clinton, an invitation he suspects was prompted by advanced word on his damaging Senate testimony.
Instead of taking responsibility, the Vietnam vet said, the president "blamed Les Aspin, he blamed the Defense Department, he blamed the Joint Chiefs ... he blamed everybody except himself."
At one point, Smith recalled, Clinton even attempted to blame the Rangers "for being too aggressive."
"There were three fathers there," he told Malzberg. "The three of us just leaned over instantaneously and he backed off of that one."
After the exchange, Smith refused to shake the commander in chief's hand, handing him instead a 3rd Ranger Battalion patch.
"Don't forget them," he remembered telling Clinton.
"I honestly believed that the Rangers had died in vain, that the failure to provide proper combat support would have made the difference," he lamented.
Capt. Smith also revealed that he has another soldier son now in Special Operations who recently served in Afghanistan.
During a recent conversation with his son's Special Ops commander, he asked, "Sgt. Major, are we doing this one right or is this just a knee-jerk reaction?"
After a moment's hesitation, Smith said the commander responded, "Sir, we've got a real commander in chief this time. This time we're doing it right."
http://tinyurl.com/ew4jz
When was EyeCondi finally confirmed, let alone Ashcroft??
Pray for W and Our Troops
8/16/02
Clinton's Somalia Fiasco
President Clinton may be forgiven for his latest attempt at legacy maintenance, recounted in your editorial on his comments regarding Somalia ("Clinton's Black Hawk History," Aug. 6). After all, his reality is defined by his desperate need to be a "Great Man." So, he sees the failure and deceit of the past as strength.
What amazes me, however, is that Mr. Clinton appears to remember little and regret less about that terrible, pointless day in Mogadishu nine years ago.
I will never forget what so many of my friends and comrades did that day, and what too many gave up. I will always regret how, with the enemy on the run and at such terrible cost, we were prevented from re-arming, kitting up and finishing the task. Mr. Clinton, by contrast, has forgotten, and regrets nothing. As with all else, Somalia was someone else's mess.
John Belman
Member, Task Force Rangers, Somalia
Ann Arbor, Mich.
http://tinyurl.com/k666h
On Tape, Clinton Admits Passing Up bin Laden Capture
listen here: http://www.newsmax.com/audio/BILLVH.mp3
read here: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1706790/posts
And he denies it all? Which is it Bill, did you try and fail, or not?
You know I am ready! He can get red in the face all he wants but the truth wins. He hopes we have forgotten but he is wrong. The closer Hillary gets to running with his big mouth out blabbing like a maniac the more GOOGLING I'll be doing! He ain't going to rewrite this part of history! Try as he may.
He just reminded me why he can't get anywhere near the oval office ever again! Anyone who thinks Clinton isn't evil enough to have someone offed had better watch that video and Fox News Sunday. Do you think he would have a problem trying to destroy someone who disputes him?!
Oh my goodness! Great googly-moogly!
Did I read that transcript right? Bill Clinton is blaming US for 9-11? He's blaming conservatives for his failure to stop Bin Laden?
What???
Didn't he blame the "right wingers" for another bombing on US soil during his administration? You know hateful rightwingers like Rush Limbaugh?
And then he was going to start on FOX News, too? I would have loved to hear him blame FOX for him not doing more than fiddle-faddling in the exective sink.
The way he talked himself right into a tizzy and trying to make 8 months sound more ominous than 8 years was so desperate, it was almost surreal. He really is pathetic. Those soundbites are going to be all over the airwaves (radio--MSM will ignore it) come Monday!
I know that Wallace is a Clinton sympathizer, but that exchange had to have left him shaking his head as well, I can just imagine during a commercial break: "You know, Bill, I gave you a forum to set the record straight in your conversational, likeable way, and you go off on this ridiculous tirade about how it is everyone else's fault that you didn't get Bin Laden. You blamed rightwingers for YOUR inaction. Where was the lip-biting guy? Where's your sax? At least I could have "tried" to shove that in your gaping maw. We had it handled out here in TV newsland; you coulda just let us do our jobs for you. I mean, what am I supposed to do with this, man?! UGH! You wagged that fricken-fracken' finger again! You need a vacation. Oh sure now you bite your lip. A little late, pal. Sheesh. Oh and, Bill? Yeah, don't go back home for awhile OK, Buddy? Just trust me on that one."
Middle America is going to be appalled.
Did you SEE the clip from that video? You should read the REST of the interview.
She must be DYING.
I'm setting my DVD recorder and we'll go over it word for word.
Dear Diary,
'At least I tried. That's the difference between me and some, including all the right wingers. They ridicule me for trying. They had eight months to try, they did not try. I tried. So I tried and failed'...
Signed,
President Lewinsky
>>>>"I can believe that man was commander in chief for 8 years">>>
Thanks for that Mr. Perot!
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