Clinton defends himself in Fox interview

Associated Press ^ | 09/24/06

[presidio9]

In a combative interview on "Fox News Sunday," former President Clinton defended his handling of the threat posed by Osama bin Laden, saying he tried to have bin Laden killed and was attacked for his efforts by the same people who now criticize him for not doing enough.

"That's the difference in me and some, including all of the right-wingers who are attacking me now," Clinton said in the interview. "They ridiculed me for trying. They had eight months to try, they did not try."

Clinton accused host Chris Wallace of a "conservative hit job" and asked: "I want to know how many people in the Bush administration you asked, 'Why didn't you do anything about the Cole?' I want to know how many people you asked, 'Why did you fire Dick Clarke?'"

He was referring to the USS Cole, attacked by terrorists in Yemen in 2000, and former White House anti-terrorism chief Richard A. Clarke.

Wallace said Sunday he was surprised by Clinton's "conspiratorial view" of "a very non-confrontational question, 'Did you do enough to connect the dots and go after Al Qaida?'"

"All I did was ask him a question, and I think it was a legitimate news question. I was surprised that he would conjure up that this was a hit job," Wallace said in a telephone interview.

Clinton said he "worked hard" to try to kill bin Laden.

"We contracted with people to kill him. I got closer to killing him than anybody's gotten since," he said.

He told Wallace, "And you got that little smirk on your face and you think you're so clever, but I had responsibility for trying to protect this country. I tried and I failed to get bin Laden. I regret it, but I did try and I did everything I thought I responsibly could."

The interview was taped Friday during Clinton's three-day Global Initiative conference.

On NBC's "Meet the Press," also taped Friday and aired Sunday, Clinton told interviewer Tim Russert that the biggest problem confronting the world today is "the illusion that our differences matter more than our common humanity."

"That's what's driving the terrorism," he said. "It's not just that there's an unresolved Arab-Israeli conflict. Osama Bin Laden and Dr. al-Zawahiri can convince young Sunni Arab men, who have — and some women — who have despairing conditions in their lives, that they get a one-way ticket to heaven in a hurry if they kill a lot of innocent people who don't share their reality."

[anonsquared]

Too true. I wish Wallace would have said, "Well Bill, if you don't want to talk about Osama, maybe you'd like to explain to the American people why you gave nukes to North Korea?" Talk about future blood on his hands!

[hophead]

"Every president has those people with whom they can "contract with" to do special work...for the country, of course."

Who? Americans? Is it legal? Did the September 11 Commission hear any of that?
WHAT DID GORELICK KNOW about that? Is that why she did not testify to the Commission? I could go on and on.

[A CA Guy]

Don't know about actual nukes to North Korea, but for sure he did pass on rocket and missile guidance technology to China and now for the first time they can bomb any inch of the continental USA they want to.

They couldn't do that without Clinton/Gore.

[DeweyCA]

I wonder if Mike Wallace thinks that his son, Chris, did a "hit job" on BJ. Also I wonder what Mike Wallace thinks of BJ's performance? And is any reporter going to ask Hillary what she thought of BJ's performance?

[skinkinthegrass]

Did they watch the same show? Maybe they are smoking all those drugs.

just another chapter, of BUBBA et. al., still trying to rewrite the history books.....and yes, they were smoking "used tampons."

[A CA Guy]

Just for you.

[oyez]

Aw Hell, Bill we just wanted you to use some of the audacity in the Oval Office that you did in the bedroom. Oh, wait.

[SERKIT]

Every president has those people with whom they can "contract with" to do special work...for the country, of course.

Clinton was used to putting out contracts when Governor of Arkansas. Remember the term "Arkancide"?

[Snardius]

No, not just Americans. People who are most able to do the job. Mostly contracted through the CIA. These are the methods that the Church commission tried to stop.

I think it's not legal and can be horribly misused...but my opinion is that all presidents have used some form of "contractor."

[mplsconservative]

Great list of all that is truly frightening about the leftist agenda.

Please permit me to add one more:

11) Create a Department of Peace as envisioned by Dennis "the kook" Kucinich. The main focus will be grovelling to third world countries and begging their forgiveness for all of the perceived wrongs we've inflicted on them. Of course we'll need to increase our funding to them 1000%.

[skinkinthegrass]

Who was "contracted"?

Why? ....who else, "The Little Rock Mafia."
....Sidney Blumenthal

[BunnySlippers]

Woo Woooooo ... !

[Neverforget01]

Was the former president attempting to blame the right wing for his lack of action against Bin Laden? He was the president--what kind of leader can't make tough decisions and take action when it isn't popular? Thank God this man no longer is in a place of authority.

[ConservativeGreek]

Putting Clinton on the front page again only helps Republicans get out the vote.

[LexBaird]

We contracted with people to kill him.

Unfortunately, he mixed up photos, and the contractor got a picture of Web Hubble or Ron Brown instead.

[P-40]

From the 9/11 Commission Report...

Beneath the acknowledgment that Bin Ladin and al Qaeda presented serious dangers, there was uncertainty among senior officials about whether this was just a new and especially venomous version of the ordinary terrorist threat America had lived with for decades, or was radically new, posing a threat beyond any yet experienced. Such differences affect calculations about whether or how to go to war.

Therefore, those government experts who saw Bin Ladin as an unprecedented new danger needed a way to win broad support for their views, or at least spotlight the areas of dispute, and perhaps prompt action across the government. The national estimate has often played this role, and is sometimes controversial for this very reason.10 Such assessments, which provoke widespread thought and debate, have a major impact on their recipients, often in a wider circle of decisionmakers.The National Intelligence Estimate is noticed in the Congress, for example. But, as we have said, none was produced on terrorism between 1997 and 9/11.

By 2001 the government still needed a decision at the highest level as to whether al Qaeda was or was not “a first order threat,” Richard Clarke wrote in his first memo to Condoleezza Rice on January 25, 2001. In his blistering protest about foot-dragging in the Pentagon and at the CIA, sent to Rice just a week before 9/11, he repeated that the “real question” for the principals was “are we serious about dealing with the al Qida threat? . . . Is al Qida a big deal?” One school of thought, Clarke wrote in this September 4 note, implicitly argued that the terrorist network was a nuisance that killed a score of Americans every 18–24 months.If that view was credited, then current policies might be proportionate. Another school saw al Qaeda as the “point of the spear of radical Islam.” But no one forced the argument into the open by calling for a national estimate or a broader discussion of the threat. The issue was never joined as a collective debate by the U.S. government, including the Congress, before 9/11.

We return to the issue of proportion—and imagination. Even Clarke’s note challenging Rice to imagine the day after an attack posits a strike that kills “hundreds” of Americans. He did not write “thousands.”

[hophead]

"Was the former president attempting to blame the right wing for his lack of action against Bin Laden?"

Very observant of you, are you a detective? If someone parsed his words like he did (the meaning of "is") this interview would absolutely tarnish his legacy. (if it can be tarnished any further).

[skinkinthegrass]

....James MacDougal....and the other 140 people connected w/ the Clintoons. :D

[oyez]

Yup, the Clinton's are disposable at this point and are going under. There are a lot of Clinton loving die hards that going to be confused by all this, but maybe once that they dig themselves out of their confusion they will realize that Bill Clinton isn't Elvis and the DNC aren't nice people.

[Enterprise]

LOL!!