Posted on 05/24/2002 1:04:25 PM PDT by GeneD
TO THE EDITORS:
Lawrence Kaplan's article, "Right Questions, Wrong President" (TNR Online, 5/20/02), offers an uninformed analysis of President Clinton's anti-terrorism record.
For example, he accuses President Clinton of rejecting more forceful options in response to the embassy bombings in Africa in 1998. That simply is not true. There was an aggressive and forceful response that was the result of a consensus by the president's key military and national security advisors. It included the firing of 75 Tomahawk missiles on an Al Qaeda training camp Afghanistan where a gathering of key Al Qaeda operatives was taking place. This attack killed 20 Al Qaeda operatives and just missed killing bin Laden by hours.
In addition, there was a continuing effort thereafter to pursue bin Laden. It has been reported that two nuclear submarines were stationed off the coast of Pakistan equipped with cruise missiles to strike him and that President Clinton authorized the CIA to capture him.
Kaplan says that "Bin Laden himself has said that the actions of the Clinton team--particularly in Somalia ... proved to him that the United States was a paper tiger." It is useful to point out that bin Laden has also cited the example of the tragic embassy bombing in Beirut in 1983 in which 242 Americans were killed and to which there was no response.
What Kaplan neglects to mention is that during the Clinton administration more than 50 important terrorists were caught overseas and turned over to the United States or third countries. Included in this group were those responsible for the first World Trade Center bombing and the attack on the CIA headquarters. Further, after the embassy bombings, U.S. intelligence operatives, working with our allies, smashed cells belonging to the bin Laden network in over 20 countries. The administration carried out the largest counterterrorism operation in U.S. history during the millennium, thwarting attacks planned by Al Qaeda in America and in Jordan, as it did throughout the tenure of the administration.
There was also reorganization during President Clinton's tenure to strengthen and intensify coordination of counterterrorism and related security actions in the federal government. Specifically, beginning in 1995 with Presidential Decision Directive (PDD) 39, the Clinton administration began to put in place a more effective system of dealing with counterterrorism, expanding the scope and role of a number of agencies not traditionally involved with this effort like the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). It is also worth noting that during this time spending on intelligence increased during a time of zero growth budgets, and FBI anti- and counterterrorism funding more than tripled, while the number of FBI agents assigned to counterterrorism was increased by 250 percent.
The administration made WMD terrorism a priority for national security planning for the first time. As a result of administration efforts, training for first responders in more than 150 cities began; equipment was distributed to deal with the catastrophic effects of terrorism; the cipro stockpile was established and development and procurement of anthrax and other new vaccines and antidotes to cope with chemical or biological attack were initiated.
Further reorganization occurred in 1998, establishing an office for the Coordinator for Counterterrorism, Critical Infrastructure and Security. A single coordinated budget process for counterterrorism was also developed.
Kaplan is right about one thing, the Clinton administration's terrorism policy is a matter of public record, and that record is a good one.
BILL DANVERS
Bill Danvers worked for the Clinton Administration State Department and National Security Council, where he was a Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs.
My understanding was - we hit a camel in the butt! Guess the spin still hasn't stopped!
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