Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Bill Clinton says Bush erred by giving Saddam priority over bin Laden
Boston Globe (AP) ^ | 5/11/2004 | RICHARD PYLE

Posted on 05/11/2004 6:28:30 PM PDT by wjersey

NEW YORK -- President Bush wasted international sympathy for the United States after the 2001 terrorist attacks by shifting from the search for Osama bin Laden to the ousting of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, former President Clinton said Tuesday.

The move alienated many U.S. allies and created a false impression among Americans that Saddam had a key role in the al-Qaida-engineered terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, Clinton said. "I think the world was really pulling for us after 9-11," he said, but the Bush administration "divided the world ... to pursue our vision _ not because of any imminent threat but because that's what they wanted to do."

(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...


TOPICS: Breaking News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: elvisbinladen; muslims; shut; stfux42; up; x42
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 61-8081-100101-120 ... 201-218 next last
To: MamaB
CNN's Christian Amanpour's husband, Jamie Rubin, Bill Clinton's mouthpiece during the Kosovo war.
81 posted on 05/11/2004 7:00:41 PM PDT by kcvl
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 76 | View Replies]

To: wjersey
Clinton had a global terrorist network of thousands built right under his nose.

That says it all.
82 posted on 05/11/2004 7:01:23 PM PDT by Finalapproach29er (" Permitting homosexuality didn't work out very well for the Roman Empire")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: jla
sounds self serving.
83 posted on 05/11/2004 7:01:23 PM PDT by Kackikat
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: MamaB
Rubin was Clinton's State Department spokesman. He is also married to Christianne Amanpour of CNN.
84 posted on 05/11/2004 7:01:52 PM PDT by BlueAngel
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 76 | View Replies]

To: PolitBase
How about Bin Laden, Saddam, and the Clintons?

Heck...they could be cell mates.

85 posted on 05/11/2004 7:03:23 PM PDT by Northern Yankee (Freedom Needs A Soldier!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: Dr. Frank fan
Bin Laden's current position? San Francisco, I'd guess.
86 posted on 05/11/2004 7:03:36 PM PDT by PolitBase
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 77 | View Replies]

To: Spotsy
If the "world" only loves us when we are dying, then they can go to hell.
87 posted on 05/11/2004 7:04:53 PM PDT by roses of sharon
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 74 | View Replies]

To: MamaB
Why would anyone in their right mind

I don't believe they're in their right minds. What woman wears a black suit everyday and would you really have to define "is"? To them all the world's a stage and apparently they see us as their audience of fools.

88 posted on 05/11/2004 7:05:06 PM PDT by swheats
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 72 | View Replies]

To: wjersey
FU slick.
89 posted on 05/11/2004 7:05:06 PM PDT by b4its2late
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: wjersey
Billy Clintooooooon gave no preference to either of them. His primary focus was Monica!
90 posted on 05/11/2004 7:05:41 PM PDT by leprechaun9
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MamaB
Fu-- him
91 posted on 05/11/2004 7:05:44 PM PDT by patriciamary
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: wjersey
I say Clinton erred by giving Monica priority over bin Ladin.
92 posted on 05/11/2004 7:07:18 PM PDT by atomicpossum (Hey, I wouldn't touch Camryn Manheim's uterus on a bet.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: roses of sharon
Exactly. Unlike Demo-rats, we don't want international pity- we want them to help us us succeed.
93 posted on 05/11/2004 7:08:43 PM PDT by Finalapproach29er (" Permitting homosexuality didn't work out very well for the Roman Empire")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 87 | View Replies]

To: wjersey
This coming from a guy who a few opportunities to get bin laden.....A couple of times he said he had no legal reason to get him, and when the CIA had bin laden in their sites via remote camera, they couldn't locate clinton to get the order to take him out. He was probably getting serviced from Monica......
94 posted on 05/11/2004 7:09:10 PM PDT by b4its2late
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: wjersey
Shut up, Clinton. Just shut up.
95 posted on 05/11/2004 7:09:19 PM PDT by savedbygrace
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: wjersey
STFU!
96 posted on 05/11/2004 7:09:26 PM PDT by The G Man (John Kerry? America just can't afford a 9/10 President in a 9/11 world. Vote Bush-Cheney '04.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

Comment #97 Removed by Moderator

To: wjersey
Who the heck are YOU to talk? Look at who you married?!

You have NO credibility with me. None. Zero. Just go back to Arkansas and shut up.
98 posted on 05/11/2004 7:11:29 PM PDT by Brad’s Gramma (Take THAT Kerry and Hitlery! FREEPERS ROCK!!!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: wjersey
Why is it OK for Bill to try and stick to Bush (43) every chance he gets when Bush (41) remained silent about him?

Hillarie's unethical review/possible copying of 700+ FBI files?

99 posted on 05/11/2004 7:12:25 PM PDT by FreeAtlanta (never surrender, this is for the kids)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: wjersey
President Bush wasted international sympathy for the United States after the 2001 terrorist attacks

Oh there was so much "sympathy", as long as we were doing nothing. Bush wasted the opportunity to do nothing after 9/11 and get cheered for it by Frenchmen.

shifting from the search for Osama bin Laden to the ousting of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein

He "shifted from" the search for Osama bin Laden? Meaning we're not actually searching for him at all? Wow, that is news.

The move alienated many U.S. allies

Such as? I'm looking at our allies like Britain and Australia, they don't seem all that "alienated" to me.

It may have alienated some of our non-allies, i.e. neutrals, like France. But, so what.

created a false impression among Americans that Saddam had a key role in the al-Qaida-engineered terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, Clinton said.

Right, it's a false impression that he had a "key" role. Just a role. ;-)

''I think the world was really pulling for us after 9-11,''

...to do nothing. (Except: to sign the Kyoto Treaty.)

the Bush administration ''divided the world ... to pursue our vision not because of any imminent threat but because that's what they wanted to do.''

Right. How dare they do something they want to do.

It's not like Clinton tried to nationalize health care because it was something he wanted to do, or anything. There was an imminent threat! Um, wait.

However, he said, even those initiatives suffered setbacks when administration officials ''started doing things their own way and acted like we didn't care what other people thought.''

"acted"? ;-)

Bush had antagonized allies by ignoring or rejecting the nuclear test ban treaty and agreements on global warming, the international court and other issues.

Quite so. Obviously we don't have the right to determine whether we sign treaties. Frenchmen are supposed to decide for us.

That could come back to haunt the United States on other issues on which it needs international support, Clinton said.

Yes, if we had only signed the Kyoto Treaty, France would have supported the Iraq war.

Sure.

''The people in Washington, D.C., find something wrong with all of these things, and they could be right,'' he said, ''but most people expect partnerships to be two-way streets.''

Heh. So if I'm reading correctly, our representatives "could be right" that e.g. the Kyoto Treaty is a crock, but that doesn't matter, we should sign it ANYWAY because getting swindled partnerships is a "two-way street".

Remind me, why in the heck was this guy ever considered some kind of brilliant genius, again?

Clinton was not asked, nor did he volunteer any comments, about the current uproar over revelations of brutality by U.S. prison guards against Iraqi detainees in Iraqi prisons.

Why did you report it then? Was he asked about the hockey playoffs? No? Then why didn't you report that (his not being asked, and not commenting, about the hockey playoffs) too? Weird.

''Keep in mind that we had unanimous support from the United Nations to do what we had to do, unanimous support for going into Afghanistan, for going after the Taliban,'' Clinton said.

Right, that's great. But we didn't have unanimous support for ousting Hussein, in part because of the cozy bribery relationships he had made with e.g. France. That's the facts. The point being...?

We should only ever do things for which there is unanimous support?

''They (the United Nations) participated in the hunt for bin Laden ..

Heh. The word "token" comes to mind.

they also supported giving an ultimatum to Saddam Hussein to open his country to inspections for weapons of mass destruction. ''We were in good shape. What happened?

The "ultimatum" was only words and they had no intention of ever backing it up with force, that's what happened. What the hell is so hard to understand.

''There was a strong group of people in the administration who believed that Saddam Hussein was more important than Osama bin Laden and believed that dislodging him was important, without regard to whether he had weapons of mass destruction.''

So?

Clinton said U.N. chief weapons inspector Hans Blix was ''begging for four or six weeks more to finish the job'' but Bush officials cut him off and went ahead with the invasion of Iraq.

In fact, Blix had ALREADY "finished the job", he had found Saddam in violation of Resolution 1441. I don't know what he thought his "job" was, preventing the war presumably, but he had finished his actual "job".

He called it ''unbelievable'' that polls show that ''half of the American people still believe Saddam Hussein had something to do with 9-11, when there is not a shred of evidence.''

Stupid Americans, says popular ex-President Bill Clinton.

That's why we love him so, right?

100 posted on 05/11/2004 7:12:50 PM PDT by Dr. Frank fan
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 61-8081-100101-120 ... 201-218 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson