Posted on 09/26/2006 1:10:16 PM PDT by Uncledave
Bush dismisses Clinton critique as "finger-pointing"
By Matt Spetalnick 52 minutes ago
President Bush on Tuesday dismissed as "finger-pointing" criticism from his predecessor Bill Clinton of his counter-terrorism efforts in the months leading up to the September 11 attacks.
Clinton, angrily defending his own administration's attempts to capture or kill Osama bin Laden, had accused the Bush administration of doing far less to stop the al Qaeda leader before the 2001 hijack plane attacks.
Bush, who is trying to stave off a Democratic takeover of Congress in November, seemed to bristle when asked about Clinton, only to sidestep his assertions.
"We'll let history judge all the different finger-pointing and all that business. I don't have enough time to finger-point," he said at a news conference with Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
"I've got to do my job," he added, "and that is to protect the American people from further attacks."
Bush spoke two days after "Fox News Sunday" aired a heated interview in which Clinton defended steps he took after al Qaeda's attack on the USS Cole in 2000 and faulted criticism by "right-wingers" of his efforts to capture bin Laden.
"They had eight months to try, they did not try," Clinton said of the Bush administration response. The September 11 attacks occurred almost eight months after Bush succeeded Clinton.
Clinton also said when his term ended he left the new Republican administration "battle plans" for going into Afghanistan, overthrowing the Taliban and launching a full-scale search for bin Laden.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice disputed Clinton's statement. "We were not left a comprehensive strategy to fight al Qaeda," she told the New York Post.
Asked about Clinton's comments, Bush said, "I've watched all the finger-pointing and namings of names and all that stuff. Our objective is to secure the country. We've had investigations. We had the 9/11 commission, we've had the look-back this, we had the look-back that."
Bush also said it was "preposterous" for opponents of his Iraq war strategy to call for a swift U.S. troop withdrawal.
He has sought to rally public support for the unpopular Iraq war by framing it as an extension of the "war on terrorism" he declared after the September 11 attacks. Many Democrats say Iraq is a distraction from the broader fight.
(Additional reporting by Caren Bohan)
That phrase is so bias laden it's stunning. I guess not stunning since it happens so often, but still...
LOL... Gee, maybe Clinton could have left instructions for every president in the coming 21st century.
Guaranteed. He is his mother's son after all.
"We'll let history judge all the different finger-pointing and all that business. I don't have enough time to finger-point."
Toooooo funny!!! Bet he had a little smirk on his face and thought he was being so clever when he said it!
"And that's much more important than the fact that I had 8 years to succeed, and I did not succeed."
"Remember, Ah bombed an aspirin factory and I bombed an empty camp. And I went on TV and emoted about how important it was to bring the terrorists to justice. All Bush did was try to salvage the economy I left him."
Shalom.
President Bush has all the hallmarks of a real man, not a name-calling defensive, egotistic, insecure panty-waist. This is the perfect response to the little man.
Maybe now the Bushs will stop trying to cultivate this A-hole. All they've ever gotten from their efforts is a kick in the butt everytime they turn around.
I will officially puke now.
President Bush was bristling, and the Don of Arkansas was "CRITIQUING" ????!!!
He was containing himself. Probably making notes for his memoirs: Bush on fire!
Wasn't really 8 months. Gore chewed up more than a month after the election with his challenge, so that the administration got a late start on appoiintments and transition. He barely had his main men in place by summer.
Ranting and raging is more like it. Honestly, if someone had poked me like he was poking Wallace, I would have slugged him.
And I will wager that when GW's Presidency is finished he won't be in the public eye much at all.
Clinton's presidency and post presidency has broken the mold for crassness!
He did a lot more than that when Timothy McVeigh blew up the Murrah Building in OKC. He went out to Okie City and promptly hung all those dead people around Rush Limbaugh's neck -- and Newt's too, for good measure. That was right after Slick made that "It's Nazi time out there" remark, before the bombing.
Slick did a lot of politics with those dead people. Never told us what the deal was with Camp Elohim, though.
That Condi was incorrect ... some have said she called Condi a "liar" although I find it hard to believe a blood thirsty politician like Hillary would say something that extreme.
Let's see.....believe Condi or Hillary???? I believe HELL would freeze over before I would believe Hillary on anything!
He did save us from that evil David Koresh. I forgot about that.
Shalom.
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