Posted on 09/20/2001 3:15:16 PM PDT by Ragtime Cowgirl
Clinton knew this would anger not only the Taliban, but their terrorist pals across the world. His own State Dept. report on terrorism (see above links) shows clearly that the Clinton administration had knowledge of the size and scope of the international terrorist threat....complete with weapons, locations, history of actions of various cells, etc. The UN understood the danger...they pulled their own people out the same day, Dec. 20th, the new threat was issued.
On Dec. 18th, 2000, the electoral college elected President Bush, ending any debate. On Dec. 19th, Clinton went to the UN to push for tougher sanctions on our most deadly enemy. On Dec. 20th, the UN reluctantly issued the threat with the 30 day grace period....to go into effect Jan. 20th, 2001 - President Bush's inaugeration day.
Why would Clinton invite both Barak and Arafat to the White House those last days and encourage them both to make concessions that angered each and turned their people against them at home?
Why did the press report on the pardons and the vandalism, but neglect to investigate the most damaging actions of the departing President?
Why would Clinton leave so many landmines for the new President, knowing that our national security was at stake?
WH Press Briefing, Jan. 12, 2001, reporter questioned sanction date....begins Jan. 19th, 2001 (inaugeration EVE, not day....sorry).
Original NY Times story.
Original UN sanctions imposed Oct. 99.
Thanks for the "jog the memory" bump!
Seriesly, though...it is no small thing, imho, that Clinton intentionally (imho) incited Taliban wrath as he left the White House. He knew full well how his final actions would be received by our enemies.
Two more to share with the accusers of the Bush Administration re. 911, terrorism, truthtelling: (link, also now 'broken'):
*
(July, '99) The Boston Globe, on the 25th, said, "The 6-year-old boy watched intently as his father dusted off his favorite possession, a leather-bound scrapbook of Osama bin Laden, pausing at a photo of the Saudi dissident with a semiautomatic rifle tucked in the folds of his trademark white robe. ''Osama!'' his son squealed excitedly. ''That's me!'' The boy, whose name was changed to Osama last year, is one of hundreds of Pakistani children named for bin Laden since Aug. 20, 1998 - the day the United States launched missile strikes against alleged terrorist camps run by the Saudi millionaire in eastern Afghanistan. The attack sparked outrage throughout the Muslim world. But the response was particularly heated in Pakistan, which sends thousands of Islamic guerrillas to similar training camps in Afghanistan. ''I love his bravery and gallantry,'' the boy's father, Niaz Ali Salar, said of bin Laden. ''He boosted the morale of Muslims throughout the world.'' The local leader of the radical Barelvi sect of Muslims, Salar said he hoped his son would ''live up to his name'' and lead the war against ''the enemies of Islam.'' In Mardan, a crumbling tobacco center 75 miles east of the Afghan border, Islamic priests deliver diatribes against ''evil America'' during Friday afternoon prayers.
In Pakistan, few buy Washington's vilification of bin Laden, whom it accuses of masterminding the Aug. 7, 1998, bombings of two US embassies in east Africa and several other terrorist attacks. ''He's a man on the run, whose only friends are the Taliban. How can he be a threat to the world's most powerful nation?'' said Sahib Zada Khalid Jan Binuri, head of Pakistan's most influential Islamic seminary. ''It's all spin control. If America tells me, `You are a terrorist,' what can I say?''
(character counts in a US President who's fighting evildoers!)
Creators Syndicate - www.creators.com 12/27/98 L. Brent Bozell III: "Bill Clinton's decision to unleash the dogs of war as he tip-toes on the precipice of impeachment conjures up a vision of White House defense lawyer Greg Craig appearing before Congress declaring: "The President's military action was evasive, incomplete, misleading, even maddening - but it's not impeachable." There's no dodging the suspicion that Clinton is seeking to save his bacon by dropping some megatonnage on Saddam Hussein. After all, it's just what he did when he bombed Osama bin Laden's alleged facilities in Sudan and Afghanistan this summer. Both actions were launched with little or no consultation with Congress, and with too little consultation with the service chiefs at the Pentagon. Oh my, how the talking heads like Alan Dershowitz and NBC anchor-in-training Brian Williams are going nuts over that suggestion. How vile! How unpatriotic! What hypocrites. How about the Democrats? In 1983, Clinton defender John Conyers called for Reagan's impeachment for invading Grenada. (For good measure, he earlier called for impeachment over the Gipper's alleged "incompetence" in dealing with unemployment.) In 1984, as he ran for President, and again in 1986, Jesse Jackson suggested Reagan should be subject to an impeachment probe over U.S. actions in Nicaragua. Rep. Henry Gonzalez called for impeachment in 1983 over Grenada and again in 1987 over Iran-Contra. The National Organization for Women and the American Civil Liberties Union advocated impeaching Reagan in 1987. The major media didn't thump the tub for impeachment, but did suggest forcefully that Reagan's actions were even worse than the Watergate offenses that got Richard Nixon impeached. For example, in the January 9, 1984 New York Times, then-Senior Editor John B. Oakes proclaimed: "President Reagan's consistent elevation of militarism over diplomacy creates a clear and present danger to the internal and external security of the United States. Presidents have been impeached for less." Oakes wasn't alone at the Times. On December 12, 1986, columnist Tom Wicker offered an echo: "Mr. Reagan probably won't be impeached or forced to resign - though the offenses resulting from his policy, or his somnolence on the job, are more serious than any charge the House Judiciary Committee approved against Mr. Nixon.".So where are these noble folks today? Have you noticed how the words "War Powers Act" haven't been invoked much by the liberal media in the last, oh, six years, now that a President they favor is lobbing the bombs? Where are the calls for impeachment from John Conyers and Jesse Jackson? Where are the charges of abuse of power from the editorial pages of The New York Times and The Washington Post? Nothing but silence. Stinking dead silence.."
Does anyone else wonder why the Clinton administration chose Dec. 20, 2000 to give Osama another 30 day ultimatum? He left so many parting gifts for the new President.
I do believe he is capable of willfully planning and executing a series of parting gifts to hamper and hurt George W. Bush and his Presidency.
BTTT!
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