[Campion]

Reagan helped put the Taliban in place

An amazing achievement, considering that Reagan had been out of office for 6 years when the Taliban came into existence.

The Pakistani government of Harvard-educated Benazir Bhutto, whom you see regularly interviewed on CNN (as if she were part of the solution, rather than part of the problem) put the Taliban in place almost single-handedly. Reagan had nothing to do with it.

Xlinton had the CIA investigating such national security issues as global warming and the plight of whales. He had the FBI terrorizing his political opponents. He had the BATF harassing thousands of small gunshops out of business.

All the while al-Qaeda was establishing a foothold in the US.

If recognizing that is "simple-minded," I'm content to be simple-minded. I visited the CIA once on a high school trip. (This was during the Carter administration.) They defined their mission to us as, "preventing the next Pearl Harbor."

On 9/11, a CIA whose leadership was 100% Clinton-era appointees failed to prevent the next Pearl Harbor.

[sakic]

You can call the Taliban something else in their origin but the U.S. under Reagan trained, financed, and armed them. It's a fact. The C.I.A. of that era put this all into action and this same C.I.A. under Reagan and Bush Sr. did zero to prevent 9/11. This in no way gives Clinton a free pass but to solely place the blame on him is pure slanted nonsense.