02 September 2003

Bill Clinton's failure on terrorism, Caspar Weinberger, Washington Times, 2 September 2003 I found my friends at Lucianne.com continuing to defend the current reign of the Republican village idiots, while gloating over Caspar's article. Interestingly, the article demonstrates, once again, the shallow, uncritical thought, uninformed by any sense of historical context. Point number one to counter the entire article: 9/11 changed everything. It changed the entire zeitgeist (spirit of the times) in which political life was occuring in the United States. One need only remember that whenever Bill Clinton advocated or took military action of any sort against anybody, it was always to "deflect attention from the Monica Lewinski scandal". That was the environment in which Bill Clinton was operating, and, oh by the way, I seem to remember a Republican majority in congress that attempted to restrict any military actions on the part of the U.S., including actions in the Balkans. The Republicans were borderline isolationists when it came to military interventions, as were many Democrats. It was a totally different world. Also, while stating that the foreign policy of the Clinton White House was to "get re-elected", the author appears to miss the rigorous engagement in the MEP, in which Clinton was demonstrating remarkable leadership. The article also misses the engagement with North Korea and, of course, the Balkans. I can recall Madeline Albright querying Congress regarding the purpose of having a military force if we never intend to use it. Guys like Hap Weinberger were essentially in Cold War mode. If it wasn't the "big one", the U.S. didn't play. The Republican administration intentionally REVERSED much of the engagement and foreign policy that was implemented by the Clinton administration. Certainly as good an argument can be made insinuating the CAUSE for current circumstances emanated directly from Dubya's abrupt  foreign policy reversals and subsequent implementation of a bellicose, unilateral foreign policy as early as inauguration day, and more rigorously after 9/11. The proof here is in the pudding. America under this Republican administration has alienated its allies and fortified the anti-american arguments of its enemies. And this on top of major failures estimating the conditions for the effective prosecution of war, in two theaters, and a failed road map for peace in the middle east, which bedevils this Republican administration regardless of denial. Interestingly, all of the discussion and advice that was offered at the time was consistent with international law and US foreign policy dating back through the Reagan administration and beyond. And, oh by the way, Bin Ladin and other arab mujahadeen were also, at least in part, the creation of US foreign policy in Afghanistan during the Cold War.  But Republicans wouldn't know that. Excerpts from the article and some Lucianne.com comments follow. "Richard Miniter's new book, "Losing bin Laden: How Bill Clinton's Failures Unleashed Global Terror," tells the sad, infuriating history of the number of opportunities President Clinton had to capture and imprison or kill the terrorist Osama bin Laden. Instead, we are still hunting. Bin Laden is still at large and alive enough to sponsor and concoct the details of the worst attack on America in our history... " "Attorney General Janet Reno insisted that they had no clear idea who had actually carried out the attack. The "Justice [Department] also noted, as always, that any use of force had to be consistent with international law, i.e. not retaliation but self protection from future attack," Clarke told the author. Reno could not be reached for comment."   "Director of Central Intelligence George Tenet joined Reno in insisting on an investigation before launching a retaliatory strike. Tenet "did not want a months-long investigation," CIA spokesman Bill Harlow said. "He simply believed that before the United States attacked, it ought to know for sure who was behind the Cole bombing." While Tenet noted that the CIA had not reached a conclusion about what terror group was behind the surprise attack on the USS Cole, "he said personally he thought that it would turn out to be al Qaeda," Clarke recalls." All sound advice in world that viewed terrorism, in general, as predominantly a criminal activity that should be handled by law enforcement and mechanisms for international justice. 9/11 changed all that for the US. Therefore the entire argument regarding Clinton's overall culpability for current affairs is deeply flawed. Lucianne commentor: "I simply want to say God Bless You Casper Weinberger for a job well done, and for your perspective of this new book. I respect you, and therefore your opinion counts, and we will obtain the book. (and read it)." They love to eat Republican propaganda. 8:10:28 PM    comment [] trackback []

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