Well, sure, if by “virtually nothing” you mean captured, convicted, and imprisoned all the guys responsible; foiled terrorist attacks on the Pope, 12 US jetliners, the UN headquarters, and the FBI building; tripled the FBI’s counterterrorism budget; increased antiterrorism legislation in his first and second crime bills; and authorized the assassination of Osama bin Laden. That is what you meant, right, Shodan?
“By any measure available, Clinton left office having given greater priority to terrorism than any president before him.”
–Barton Gellman, Washington Post
“The only major criticism I have [with the Clinton White House] is the obsession with Osama, which made him stronger.”
–Robert Oakley, counterterrorism ambassador for Ronald Reagan
“[Clinton was] correctly focused on bin Laden.”
–Paul Bremer, Iraqi administrator
Considering he dropped the ball the Clinton folks gave him seven months previously, damn straight.
No, that’s the Patriot Act, which Clinton had nothing to do with. Please do try to pay attention, won’t you?
**But I think Clinton did more to address the underlying fundamental problem of the Middle East - the Israeli/Palestinian situation - than any other U.S. president, and deserves praise.
**
On Israel-Palestine I agree. On the rest of the Middle East, I’m not so sure. The sanctions on Iraq were a serious problem that was never adequately addressed.
Well, sure, if by “virtually nothing” you mean captured, convicted, and imprisoned all the guys responsible
All but one. Guess where he ended up, and got a salary for his service?
**Considering he dropped the ball the Clinton folks gave him seven months previously, damn straight.
**
That’s not fair either. According to Bob Woodward’s Bush at War, there were already plans to aid the Northern Alliance against the Taliban as a way to disrupt Al Qaeda’s primary safe haven.
No, that’s the Patriot Act, which Clinton had nothing to do with. Please do try to pay attention, won’t you?
The anti-terrorism bill that Clinton wanted looked suspiciously like the Patriot Act, but that’s neither here nor there at this point. The Patriot Act has to go.
By your notion, the only flaw in Clinton’s anti-terrorism policy is an excessive focus on Osama bin Laden. Yet even this excessively obsessive focus did not work - Osama remains at large, and was allowed to plan and prepare for the greatest terrorist attack ever carried out on US soil. And most of this planning happened on Clinton’s watch, mind you.
And yet it is Bush’s fault for not bringing about in eight months what Clinton obsessed on for seven years. :dubious:
What’s next - blaming Bush because the North Koreans broke the promise they made not to develop nukes? Is that another example of how Clinton made the world safe for democracy?
Well, gee, Shodan, that’s hardly fair. Ol’ Bill just didn’t have the international subtlety and brilliance that GeeDubya has displayed with such verve and effectiveness. I really can’t imagine Bill having the subtle grasp required to publicly announce a direct and personal hatred for an unbalanced paranoid. That kind of stunning insight and intelligence is rare, indeed.
And the keen intellect to make demands that he couldn’t possibly enforce, only to cave in at every impasse. We won’t talk! Well, OK, we’re talking, but only in short, crisp sentences! NK must meet our demands immediatly! OK, pretty darn soon! Well, whenever you guys get around to it.
But as to the OP, you may have something there. “Everything that went wrong is Clinton’s fault, everything that went right is due to our leadership!”