Posted on 09/02/2003 11:36:22 AM PDT by presidio9
Edited on 07/12/2004 3:40:38 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
Part one of an exclusive four-part series of excerpts. Clinton administration counter-terrorism czar Richard Clarke attended a meeting with Secretary of Defense William Cohen, Director of Central Intelligence George Tenet, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Attorney General Janet Reno, and others. Several others were in the room, including Leon Fuerth, Gore's national security advisor; Jim Steinberg, the deputy National Security Advisor; and Michael Sheehan, the State Department's coordinator for counterterrorism. An American warship had been attacked without warning in a "friendly" harbor
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
Like I have said previously, it is going to take years and years of four-part articles to show the nation that Billy Jeff Blythe cared more about what other countries thought of him,rather than removing scum from the earth. Let me also state the Definition of a Liberal/Leftist/Weakling such as Bill Clinton,as it truly fits him: "Being a Liberal is easy because wanting to appear compassionate and likeable is easier than defending moral absolutes and taking a stand."Yes indeed, that defines him to a tee.
Attorney General Janet Reno insisted that they had no clear idea who had actually carried out the attack.
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright was also against a counterstrike but for diplomatic reasons. "We're desperately trying to halt the fighting that has broken out between Israel and the Palestinians," Albright said. Clarke recalls her saying, "Bombing Muslims wouldn't be helpful at this time."
Secretary of Defense Cohen also did not favor a retaliatory strike, according to Mr. Clarke. The attack "was not sufficient provocation," At the time, Clarke said that he had very reliable and specific information about bin Laden's location. Each objection was countered and answered with a yet another objection.
In the end, for a variety of reasons, the principals were against Mr. Clarke's retaliation plan by a margin of seven to one against. Mr. Clarke was the sole one in favor. Bin Laden would get away again.---"
We all know what those reasons were!!!
a variety of reasons = The Clinton's joint legacy!!!!!
It was intentional.
Ehhh...I tend to subscribe to Occam's Razor - it's a far simpler explanation that he was a self-centered, misinformed idiot. Don't attribute to malice that which can be explained by stupidity. I tend to view the Clinton administration as a high-water mark of stupidity.
Snidely
For the first several months of his presidency, GWB had several items that required priority, e.g. getting his economic agenda going in order to reverse the declining economy he inherited, getting his cabinet appointees confirmed, trying to restore some dignity to the White House and clean up the mess left to him, etc. Making wholesale efforts to correct every foreign policy blunder by the previous WH occupant in the first 8 months of his administration would have been futile and irresponsible. A massive, well coordinated assault like 9/11 demanded immediate AND sustained attention, and GWB has responded appropriately and effectively. Should GWB have placed a higher priority on apprehending OBL immediately after clinton squandered several opportunities to deal with him? In retrospect one might argue in the affirmative, but it is impossible to make that case based on information that was available at the time. Should clinton have taken advantage of the opportunities he had to deal severely with OBL? Absolutely.
Welcome to Free Republic. I see you waited until your third post to try to link 911 back to Bush and Reagan. Sorry, only Bill Clinton was offered Osama bin Ladin's head on a platter. And he refused.
"During his command, President Clinton reduced the active duty force by one-third to one-half, eliminating approximately 800,000 personnel. He reduced the Army from eighteen divisions to ten. He cut half of the Air Force combat fighter wings, chopping twelve from the existing twenty-four. He eliminated 232 strategic bombers and 2,000 Air Force and Navy combat aircraft. He reduced the Navy from 567 ships to just over 300. He decommissioned all the Navy's battleships...."
"He gutted military infrastructure and readiness capabilities, causing entire tactical air squadrons to ground half of their flights. He inflicted a dramatic decline in readiness ratings for ships in the Atlantic and Pacific Fleets."
"The president also gutted morale. He immediately froze military pay at a time when it had already fallen behind the private sector by almost 20 percent. The pay freeze was especially egregious when approximately 80 percent of the force was earning less than $30,000 annually and more than twenty thousand enlisted personnel were eligible for food stanps."
Source: Dereliction of Duty by Lt. Col. Robert Patterson, USAF (Ret.)
Try this: < P>
Anyway, Clinton was interested in other things.
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