Sunday, July 08, 2007


The Ever-Diminishing List Of Excuses....

Republicans like to say that Clinton failed to take action on terrorists when he had the opportunity, and failed to take action against Osama Bin Laden when he had the opportunity.

Word on the street is that the Bush Administration, believe it or not, may be a little trigger-shy at points, as well. Looks like they had an opportunity to get Ayman al-Zawahri in 2005 and decided against it.

Scratch one more off the list for Republicans - they always thought they could rest on the "Clinton didn't take action against the terrorists" argument. Looks like the Bush Administration can now have the same criticism leveled at them.

And for those of you who believe that the Clinton Administration DIDN'T take action against the terrorists prior to September 11th, one might argue that you need to look at the facts:
* Republicans state that Clinton never took action against those responsible for the initial World Trade Center attack in 1993 - HOWEVER, four suspects were tried and convicted in 1994, each being sentenced to 240 years in prison. In addition, Ramzi Ahmed Yousef was captured in 1995 and was sentenced to 240 years in prison in 1997.

* Republicans state that Clinton never took action against those responsible for the attack in Riyadh in 1995. HOWEVER, the Saudi government arrested and put to death four Saudi nationals who confessed to that bombing - the Clinton Administration was denied authority to question them.

* Republicans state that Clinton never took action against those responsible for the Khobar Towers bombing in 1996. HOWEVER, once again Saudi officials took thirteen Saudis into custody and the United States was refused the ability to extradite these suspects.

* Republicans state that Clinton never took action against those responsible for the bombings at the embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam in 1998. HOWEVER, four suspects with ties to Osama bin Laden were captured and sentenced to life in prison without parole.

* Republicans state that Clinton never took action against those responsible for the bombing of the USS Cole in October, 2000. HOWEVER, the FBI was never allowed to interrogate Yemeni officials, and even if they had been allowed, the chance that the investigation would have been conplete by the time Clinton left office three months later is absurd.

* Republicans state that Clinton failed to take action against Bin Laden. HOWEVER, when he DID order missle strikes against Bin Laden, Republicans such as Arlen Specter accused him of trying to divert attention away from the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

* Republicans state that Clinton ignored terrorism. HOWEVER, under the Clinton Administration, the federal budget on anti-terrorism initiatives nearly tripled to $6.7 billion dollars. Reminding you, of cousre, that this was a PRE-9/11 budget increase. And when Clinton closed Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House following the Oklahoma City bombing, Republicans accused him of hysteria.
Maybe Republicans and Bush supporters (are there ANY of you out there anymore?) can explain the reasoning behind Bush ignoring the report in August of 2001 stating titled "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in US" prior to the attacks on the World Trade Center?
Maybe Rudy Giuliani can explain that the next time he's out campaigning on his "All-Terrorism-All-The-Time" Platform.

Posted by FleshPresser at 7:16 PM /

1 Comments

  • Blogger Leo posted at 5:15 AM  
    Well said, great post!

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