Posted on 10/14/2001 2:07:14 PM PDT by venturin
Clinton to terrorists: U.S. won't be intimidated
President calls for new legislation
July 28, 1996
Web posted at: 8:30 p.m. EDT
NEW ORLEANS (CNN) -- President Clinton sent a resounding message to terrorists Sunday: America will not be intimidated by "cowardly" acts of violence.
"As Americans, we can and must join together to defeat terrorism wherever it strikes and whoever practices it," Clinton said in a speech to disabled veterans in New Orleans.
Though the nation is "outraged" by Saturday morning's bombing at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, the president said the Olympic spirit has not been dampened, evident in the enthusiastic crowds and show of athleticism that filled stadiums Saturday.
The president also said nations that "sponsor and permit" terrorist acts "must face strong sanctions" -- specifically Iraq, Iran, Libya and Sudan. "We all have to say, 'We cannot live with this. It is wrong,'" Clinton said.
Source: CNN 1996
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Clinton Vows Terrorists Will Be Punished
By Linda D. Kozaryn
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON -- The United States will not rest in its efforts to capture, prosecute and punish those responsible for the terrorist bombing at Khobar Towers in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, according to President Clinton. The 19 airmen killed in the June 25 attack were "felled by hands of hatred in an act whose savagery is matched only by its cowardice," Clinton said June 30 during memorial services in Florida. "America stands with you in your sorrow and your outrage," the president told families, friends and fellow service members at services at Eglin and Patrick Air Force bases. Of the 19 victims, 12 were from Eglin's 33rd Fighter Wing and five were from Patrick's 71st Rescue Squadron. Two others were from units at Offutt AFB, Neb., and Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. Clinton called those who died "patriots" and "quiet American heroes." He said the Air Force pilots, communicators, engineers, mechanics, crew chiefs and technicians "represented the best of our nation and they gave America their best."
Clinton said America must fight terrorism and continue the struggle for freedom and decency. "Every American must stand against violence and hatred, and stand for dignity and tolerance, at home as well as abroad," he said. "We must honor the memory of those we have lost by upholding the ideals for which they lived and the mission for which they gave their lives," he said.
Source -- DefenseLINK News 1996
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Burton Reacts to President’s Assertion of Executive Privilege
Chairman asks President Clinton to level with Congress and the American People over clemency for FALN terrorists
Committee on Government Reform
September 16, 1999
Washington D.C., — Chairman Dan Burton (R-IN) today responded to President Clinton’s assertion of Executive Privilege in the F.A.L.N. clemency matter: “I am deeply disappointed that the President has chosen to assert executive privilege in the face of strong, bipartisan Congressional opposition. “The President has a moral obligation to the American people to explain why he let terrorists out of prison. By claiming executive privilege he is, in essence telling the American people that it’s none of their business. But it is their business and it is the business of law enforcement agencies across the country.
“The F.A.L.N. is responsible for 130 bombings. They have murdered people, they have injured people, and they have done irreparable harm to innocent people’s lives. Every American citizen has a right to know if they are going to be put at greater risk because of the President’s actions.
“One of the things about which we are very concerned is whether any of these individuals were planning more terrorist acts while they were in prison. If there is any evidence of that, the American people need to know about it. We also want to know if they expressed any contrition for the suffering and deaths the F.A.L.N. caused to so many innocent Americans and their families.
“Both the House and the Senate voted overwhelmingly to condemn the President’s actions in this matter. Virtually every law enforcement agency in the country opposed clemency for the F.A.L.N. terrorists. I ask the President to explain himself to the Congress and the American people and not hide behind executive privilege.
“The United States has asked other nations to support our tough stand against terrorists. How can we ask them to treat terrorists with the severity their crimes demand, when President Clinton releases terrorists from prison here at home?
“The President says that those he pardoned were not directly responsible for deaths. He expressed no such concern when he bombed the camp of Osama Bin Laden. There he struck at a terrorist organization. Here he has rewarded one. Why the different standard in this case?
“In a matter of such serious consequence to the nation, the President has a duty to present all the facts and tell the truth.”
Source -- Committee on Government Reform
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POLITICS-US: US Warplanes Hit Targets in Afghanistan, Sudan
WASHINGTON, Aug 20 (IPS) - U.S. President Bill Clinton sent war planes into Afganistan and Sudan Thursday in simultaneous air strikes against ''terrorist'' targets in retaliation for the attacks on US embassies in Africa. Clinton said he ordered the attacks because ''we have compelling evidence that additional terrorist attacks were being planned...Today we have struck back.''
The U.S. planes struck a terrorist base in Afghanistan and an alleged chemical weapons facility in Sudan, the president said. ''We have convincing evidence these groups played the key role in the embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania'' on Aug 7, Clinton said. ''Terrorists must have no doubt that in the face of their threat, America will protect its citizens.''
Washington officials said all targets were linked to Osama bin Laden, the Saudi millionaire whom the United States has accused of being behind the embassy bombings.
''Today I ordered our armed forces to strike at terrorist- related facilities in Afghanistan and Sudan because of the threat they present to our national security,'' U.S. President Bill Clinton told journalists. But neither the president nor other U.S. officials gave precise details of the attacks.
While the attacks appeared to be in retaliation for the Aug. 7 embassy bombings, the Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Hugh Shelton, said the strikes were ''not simply a response to some specific act, but a concerted effort to defend U.S. citizens and our interests around the globe against a very real and a very deadly terrorist threat.''
U.S. intelligence, Shelton said, had ''provided us with convincing information ... that Osama bin Laden's network of terrorists was involved in the planning, the financing and the execution of the attacks on U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, attacks that killed over 300 people, including 12 Americans, and wounded thousands more.''
None of the U.S. officials gave any indication how many people, whether combattants or civilians, were killed in the attacks in Afghanistan or in Sudan, whose government described the Khartoum attack as a ''criminal act''.
Sam Huseini, a Middle East analyst dec.lared on television here that the U.S. operation Thursday operation was a terrorist act just as the Nairobi and Dar es Salaam bombings.
Hala Maksoud, president of the American-Arab Anti- Discrimination Committee in Washington, deemed the strikes ''rash''.
''I don't think we are satisfied that there is enough information leading to a final decision that bin Laden was involved (in the Aug. 7 bombings),'' said Hala Maksoud. ''It was rash judgement.'' Maksoud added that she was ''not sure the targets were properly chosen'' and that the way in which the target in Sudan, in particular, was described by U.S. Secretary for Defence William Cohen, left much room for doubt.
Cohen charged that the pharmaceutical plant targeted in Khartoum ''produces the precursors that can result in the production of VX'', a substance used in chemical warfare.
Maksoud said, however, that it was still too early to comment substantially on the issue since there were few details about the operation and, in particular, about so-called 'collateral damage'.
She told IPS that the attack had not come as a total surprise. Given the problems Clinton has been experiencing, she had expected that ''one of the reactions might have translated into strong action to show the U.S. public that the president is focussed on foreign policy, that he is able to function.''
Clinton admitted Monday to having had an ''improper relationship'' with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky. The admission came as independent investigator Ken Starr pursued an inquiry that could lead eventually to a move to impeach the U.S. president.
''The timing certainly is suspect,'' said Republican Senator Dan Coats of Indianna. Another Republican congressman, John McCain, intimated during a TV interview that the strike may have been a diversionary tactic on the part of the U.S. president.
Cohen, however, declared ''we recognise that these strikes will not eliminate the problem, but our message is clear: there will be no sanctuary for terrorists and no limit to our resolve to defend American citizens and our interests, our ideals of democracy and law against these cowardly attacks.''
And the Chairman of ther Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Jesse Helms, said that ''sooner or later, terrorists will realize that America's differences end at the water's edge and that the United States leadership always has, and always will, stand united in the face of international terrorism.''
In Cairo, reporters monitored a Sudanese TV statement by Sudan's Information Minister Ghazi Salah-Eddin , who branded the U.S. attack on his country as a ''criminal act.'' Salah-Eddin said two U.S. warplanes fired five missiles that ''totally detsroyed'' the Al-Shifa Pharmaceutical Factory. There was no indication of casualties.
Source -- oneworld.org 1998
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