 When Conservative spokesmen promote lies about President Clinton "doing nothing" about terrorism during his administration, and Conservative followers repeat those lies, it's time for a little history lesson :
President Bill Clinton's
Record on Terrorism
President Clinton led the fight against terrorism over strong opposition from Republicans in Congress and the pro-Republican Media. Here's a long list of accomplishments against terrorism for which the Clinton Administration gets almost no credit, in contrast to the record of the Bush administration "
After the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, which killed six and injured 1,000, in the first year of his administration, President Clinton promised that those responsible would be hunted down and punished.
The perpetrators of the 1993 WTC bombing were caught and punished. The blind Mullah ring-leader was already in jail, and was retried for the attack. His helpers were caught and tried, and they were sentenced to life in prison. That's called decisive action, as opposed to Republican hot air.
After the first 1995 bombing in Saudi Arabia, which killed five U.S. military personel; Clinton promised that those responsible would be hunted down and punished.
After the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia, which killed 19 and injured 200 U.S. military personnel; Clinton promised that those responsible would be hunted down and punished.
The perpretrators of the bombings in Saudi Arabia were caught, most likely with CIA help. Saudi Arabia had them beheaded. What else do you want?
In 1996 President Clinton pushed hard for anti-terrorism legislation and the Republican controlled Congress pushed just as hard to frustrate his efforts. See CNN.com/US/9607/30/clinton.terrorism/
After the 1998 bombing of U.S. embassies in Africa, which killed 224 and injured 5,000; Clinton promised that those responsible would be hunted down and punished.
The perpretrators of the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings were captured, and are now in jail for life.
Also, when President Clinton learned that Osam Bin Laden was having a top-level Al Qaeda leadership meeting in Afghanistan he ordered the site bombed and came very close to preventing the bombing of the World Trade Centers on 9/11/2001. And the response of the Republican leadership and the entire mainstream media was: "Bill Clinton, don't you dare try to "wag the dog", and distract us with all this nonsense about some far away terrorist! What America needs to attend to is the stain on Monica Lewinsky's dress."
There were several known terrorist attempts were thwarted un Bill Clinton's watch: - an attempt to blow up the Holland Tunnel,
- an attempt to blow up the Lincoln Tunnel,
- an attempt on the life of the Pope,
- an attempt to blow up the L.A.X airport.
- Two attempts over the Millennium weekend to plant bombs in cites in the Northeast and the Northwest of the United States.
Cole bombing – After the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole, which killed 17 and injured 39 U.S. sailors; Clinton promised that those responsible would be hunted down and punished.
Maybe, just maybe, if Clinton's Vice President had been elected in 2000, instead of a family friend of the Bin Laden family of Saudi Arabia, Al Gore might have been able to follow through on Bill Clinton's promise, and about 3,000 people in New York and Washington, D.C. might be alive today. The actual proof, however, that the bombing of the USS Cole was the work of Al Qaeda didn't come to light until February 2001. Who was President at that time?
Why didn't the Bush people punish Al Qaeda when they got proof that the group was behind the Cole bombings? Short answer: they were working on a deal with the Taliban regarding an oil pipeline that would run through Afghanistan and produce tremendous profits for all involved.
And not only hasn't George W. Bush caught and prosecuted Osama Bin Laden, but he now says he's not even thinking of Osama any more!
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| The Clinton administration
sent legislation to Congress to tighten airport security. (Remember, this is before 911) The legislation was defeated by the Republicans because of opposition from the airlines.
sent legislation to Congress to allow for better tracking of terrorist funding. It was defeated by Republicans in the Senate because of opposition from banking interests.
sent legislation to Congress to add tagents to explosives, to allow for better tracking of explosives used by terrorists. It was defeated by the Republicans because of opposition from the NRA.
When Republicans couldn't prevent executive action, President Clinton:
Developed the nation's first anti-terrorism policy, and appointed first national coordinator.
Stopped cold the planned attack to blow up 12 U.S. jetliners simultaneously.
Stopped cold the planned attack to blow up UN Headquarters.
Stopped cold the planned attack to blow up FBI Headquarters.
Stopped cold the planned attack to blow up the Israeli Embassy in Washington.
Stopped cold the planned attack to blow up Boston airport.
Stopped cold the planned attack to blow up Lincoln and Holland Tunnels in NY.
Stopped cold the planned attack to blow up the George Washington Bridge.
Stopped cold the planned attack to blow up the US Embassy in Albania.
Tried to kill Osama bin Laden and disrupt Al Qaeda through preemptive strikes (efforts denounced by the G.O.P.).
Brought perpetrators of first World Trade Center bombing and CIA killings to justice.
Did not blame Bush I administration for first World Trade Center bombing even though it occurred 38 days after they had left office. Instead, worked hard, even obsessively – and successfully – to stop future terrorist attacks.
Named the Hart-Rudman commission to report on nature of terrorist threats and major steps to be taken to combat terrorism.
Tripled the budget of the FBI for counterterrorism and doubled overall funding for counterterrorism.
Detected and destroyed cells of Al Qaeda in over 20 countries
Created a national stockpile of drugs and vaccines including 40 million doses of smallpox vaccine.
Robert Oakley, Reagan Counterterrorism Czar says of Clinton's efforts "Overall, I give them very high marks" and "The only major criticism I have is the obsession with Osama"
Paul Bremer, Bush's Administrator of Iraq disagrees slightly with Robert Oakley saying he believed the Clinton Administration had "correctly focused on bin Laden. "
Barton Gellman of the Washington Post put it best, "By any measure available, Clinton left office having given greater priority to terrorism than any president before him" and was the "first administration to undertake a systematic anti-terrorist effort."
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Here, in stark contrast, is part of the Bush-Cheney anti-terrorism record before September 11, 2001:
Backed off Clinton administration's anti-terrorism efforts.
Shelved the Hart-Rudman report.
Appointed new anti-terrorism task force under Dick Cheney. Group did not even meet before 9/11.
Called for cuts in anti-terrorism efforts by the Department of Defense.
Gave no priority to anti-terrorism efforts by Justice Department.
Ignored warnings from Sandy Berger, Louis Freeh, George Tennant, Paul Bremer, and Richard Clarke about the urgency of terrorist threats.
Halted Predator drone tracking of Osama bin Laden.
Did nothing in wake of August 6 C.I.A. report to president saying Al Qaeda attack by hijack of an airliner almost certain.
Bush – knowing about the terrorists' plans to attack in America, warned that terrorists were in flight schools in the US – took a four week vacation.
By failing to order any coordination of intelligence data, missed opportunity to stop the 9/11 plot as Clinton-Gore had stopped the millennium plots.
On 9/11
our Air National Defense was directed to stand down.
the two fighter jets that were scrambled flew out to sea, away from Washington and New York and the attacking air liners.
After one of four airliners had crashed into the World Trade Center and 3 more airliners were still heading toward critical targets, the President continued to read "My Pet Goat" to third graders, claiming that he didn't want to scare them, and then had them gather around for his press conference to hear the dreadful news strait from the horse's mouth.
Although it was a city block away, World Trade Center buidling seven imploded just like a building scheduled for demolition.
After 9/11
Although the scene of the country's most deadly crimes, the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were "cleaned up" so fast and the steel was shipped so far away (to China), that it has been impossible for investigators to learn anything about the causes of the collapse or how to avoid such disasters in the future.
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The Republican cry of "Wag the Dog"
Originating from a 1997 movie, Wag the Dog was a phrase used by the right to suggest Clinton's airstrikes were driven by ulterior motives in an effort to distract the public. Some examples below:
- Rep. Jim Gibbons (R-NV):
"'Look at the movie Wag the Dog. I think this has all the elements of that movie,' Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., said. 'Our reaction to the embassy bombings should be based on sound credible evidence, not a knee-jerk reaction to try to direct public attention away from his personal problems.'" [Ottawa Citizen, 8/21/98]
- Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA):
"There's an obvious issue which will be raised internationally about the response here as to whether there is any diversionary motive involved. … I have deliberated consciously any references to Ms. Monica Lewinsky, but when you ask the question in very blunt terms, the president's current problems have to be on the minds of many people." [CNN, 8/20/98]
- Then Sen. John Ashcroft (R-MO):
"'We support the president out of a sense of duty whenever he deploys military forces, but we're not sure – were these forces sent at this time because he needed to divert our attention from his personal problems?' Ashcroft said during the taping of a TV program in Manchester, N.H." [St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 8/21/98]
- Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX):
"I'm very supportive of the strike that has happened, but I will tell you that the timing is very questionable. This was the day that Monica Lewinsky has gone back to the grand jury, evidently enraged. Certainly that information will be overshadowed." [Dallas Morning News, 8/21/98]
- Then Sen. Dan Coats (R-IN):
"Coats (R-IN), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in a statement, 'While there is clearly much more we need to learn about this attack and why it was ordered today, given the president's personal difficulties this week, it is legitimate to question the timing of this action.'" [CNN, 8/20/98]
- Rep. Dave Weldon (R-FL):
"'The obvious question is, are the two connected?' asked Rep. Dave Weldon (R-Fla.), who chairs the National Security Committee's research subcommittee. 'That's the unthinkable, and I would hope it would never occur in America, but I can tell you, a lot of people are wondering about it today.'" [Los Angeles Times, 8/21/98]
- Then Rep. Bob Barr (R-GA):
"All I'm saying is if factors other than good intelligence, military necessity, being prepared for the consequences entered into it, then it is wrong, and it appears that one of those factors that may have entered into it is to take something that could have been done a week ago and do it today in an effort to divert some attention." [Fox News, 8/20/98]
See also the non-partisan http://www.snopes.com/rumors/clinton.htm
and THIS about the false stories about Bill Clinton's draft record:
http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/politics/clintondraft.asp
According to NBC,
"Where his predecessor, George [H.W.] Bush, could find only one qualified woman, one African-American and two Hispanics for his Cabinet, Clinton nominated three black men, a black woman and two Hispanic men to join nine white Cabinet nominees – three of them women. George W. Bush's push for diversity in his own Cabinet this year [2000] can be seen as an affirmation of Clinton's work on that front...
In [former President Ronald] Reagan and [George H.W.] Bush's 12 years in office, of the 545 federal judicial appointments, 65 were women, 22 Hispanic, two Asian American and 17 African American.
(which works out to 20% minority appointments)
In Clinton's eight years, of 366 federal judicial appointments, 104 were women, 23 Hispanic, five Asian American, one American Indian, and 61 African American. (which works out to 53% minority appointments)"
See these outsitanding sites :
Republicans for Bill Clinton & Gore &
Bush, Clinton & Other administrations compared.
Hillary Clinton's relationship to her church
Editorials http://www.arktimes.com/editorials/index.html
Political justice
December 26, 2003
Bill Clinton was cited for contempt, fined and eventually lost his law license after a Little Rock federal judge found that he'd lied, in response to an irrelevant and impertinent question, about an act of consensual sex. There was much blustering from the bench about the sanctity of the law, and how no one was above it.
Last week in federal court at Little Rock, it was revealed that Whitewater Prosecutor Kenneth Starr and his deputies had employed a nonexistent statute to get a conviction of former Gov. Jim Guy Tucker. This is a far more serious offense than Clinton's, but we do not hear the judicial posse riding out after Starr – not the famous citation-slinger, Judge Susan Webber Wright, who threw down on Bill Clinton so eagerly, not Judge Stephen Reasoner, in whose courtroom the Starr team fabricated its great fabrication. A peevish Tucker, victimized by the ruse, convicted of violating a law that was already repealed, complained after last week's hearing, "If any other attorney represented to a court that a law existed that didn't, he'd be in serious trouble."
Tucker probably should amend that to say "any other attorney of the wrong political party." The thread that ran so true throughout the Whitewater affair was that Republican lawyers and judges were not held to the same strict standards of conduct as were Democratic lawyers and judges. The law in its majesty forbids Democrats and Republicans alike to dissemble in court, but under a Reagan-Bush judiciary, only Democrats are gigged for it.
In his famous interview with President Clinton, in Sept..2 006, Fox mouthpiece Chris Wallace claimed that “when you pulled troops out of Somalia in 1993, [Osama] bin Laden said, ‘I have seen the frailty and the weakness and the cowardice of U.S. troops,’ ” which suggests that Clinton had “cut and run.”
Actually, Clinton resisted Republican demands for an immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Somalia—where President George Herbert Walker Bush had sent them—precisely because he wanted to preserve American credibility.
The Senate Republican leadership openly sought to weaken him by cutting off funding for the mission, which Clinton managed to sustain for another six months after the disastrous Black Hawk Down firefight in Mogadishu.
(Among those who counseled retreat was Sen. John McCain.)
But now the Republicans want to blame Clinton for doing what they forced him to do in 1993.
Or consider Clinton’s missile strikes against suspected Al Qaeda installations in Sudan and Afghanistan in 1998, which the Republican politicians and the press ridiculed as “wag the dog” maneuvering in the midst of the Monica Lewinsky scandal.
Now those same frauds complain that he didn’t try to hit Osama bin Laden often enough, when all they cared about back then was the blue dress.
Clinton’s recollection that he was mocked for his “obsession” with terrorism is accurate.
Indeed, whenever he took resolute action, whether in Haiti or Kosovo or Sudan, the brave Republicans could be relied upon to behave unreliably." |
Bill Clinton, 
