9/11 Panel Member Faults Clinton Inaction

[twilight]

WASHINGTON - A Sept. 11 commission Democrat disagreed Friday with President Clinton (news - web sites)'s assessment there wasn't enough intelligence linking al-Qaida to a deadly attack on a Navy ship to justify an attack on the terrorist organization.


Former Nebraska Sen. Bob Kerrey said he believes Clinton should have launched a military strike against al-Qaida following the October 2000 attack on the USS Cole (news - web sites) that killed 17 sailors.

"I think he did have enough proof to take action," Kerrey said on ABC's "Good Morning America.

The commission interviewed Clinton behind closed doors Thursday for nearly four hours, with many of their questions focused on the Cole attack.

A person familiar with the Clinton session said the former president told the commission he did not order retaliatory military strikes because he could not get "a clear, firm judgment of responsibility" from U.S. intelligence before he left office the following January.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040409/ap_on_go_pr_wh/sept_11_commission_clinton_14

Tell me, why does this not surprise me? When all else fails, BLAME CLINTON!!! :grr:

:dem:

[arcane1]

1. Clinton and Bush both fail to retaliate over the Cole bombing

for Clinton it was a "fault" he should be blamed for... for Bush it was a "policy" he should br praised for

:eyes:

Bush is a hero for not swatting flies

Clinton is a traitor for not swatting flies...


it's amazing they can do the doublethink gymnastics they have to do on a daily basis....

[twilight]

3. my belief on this is ...

If * had not bombed Baghdad a week after he was inaugurated, maybe 9/11 wouldn't have happened ... just maybe. :shrug:

And we wonder WHY the entire Middle East hates America?

:dem: :kick:

[buff2]

2. Bob Kerrey

Is a freakin mental case. I can't stand that nasty loud mouthed bastard. Put a strait jacket on that asshole,lock him up in a rubber room and throw the key away.

[Prodemsouth]

4. How did he get ther anyway when di he come on board?

He could not be trusted.

[oasis]

32. I believe he was the replacement for Max Cleland who resigned.

[twilight]

5. one frustrated awhole!

I can't disagree with you on that point. Bob Kerrey is a complete freakin idiot! Lock him up with Skilling and toss the key in the ocean! :toast:

:dem: :kick:

[The Land of the Free]

6. My sentiments exactly

He sounds like he is covering his ass for his call to attack Iraq for the Cole Bombing

[PassingFair]

12. Kerry apparently believes in shooting first,

and never asking questions

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/1298289.stm

Why is this guy on the panel? Former Senator? He's an admitted baby killer.

[Carolina]

15. ditto

and his grandstanding sorry ass is just jealous because Bill Clinton beat him it the primaries in 1992.

[BostonTeaParty04]

7. Clinton followed the full of law, the rules for CIVILITY

He actually waited until an actual inquiry was conducted. And the results came out after Clinton left office. It was up to Bush to take out Al queda in the spring of 2001.

What side is bob kerrey on again?

[Zhade]

28. "What side is bob kerrey on again?"

Well, let's see...he's pro-war and involved with the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq, which is a group full of neocon hawks.

Pretty easy to figure out what side he's on. Fuck Kerrey.

[LastRebelDem]

8. What if a 911 widow felt the same thoughts?

Would she be fair game for our wrath?

[Mikimouse]

11. Can we assume that the widow would have access to ALL the

relevant information? If not, and that is the case in probability, then we would probably not attack her as vehemently and would rather suggest that she get all of the facts and think some more about it. If she had access to and had read all of the information, and had come to that conclusion, it is likely that most people here would pass on giving her a bad time. Kerrey, however, is supposed to be in a position of responsibility and as such, is expected to be objective rather than biased. His proclamations have the potential for influencing public opinion and therefore should be carefully constructed. Obviously he hasn't done this, and is responding to the whole matter based on a grudge that he still carries for Clinton. Not that the law really much seemed to matter to Kerrey during Vietnam, or have I heard incorrectly?

[Old and In the Way]

9. I don't recall Bob Kerrey making this case after the USS Cole attack

and 9/11. Maybe he did, but I never heard any statement to that effect.

IIRC, we needed to investigate who the perps were. Was Kerrey recommending going 1/2 cocked without evidence? By the time we had verification, it was the end of Clinton's term. Instead of creating an international incident for Bush to deal with, Clinton gave GWB a break by passing the info on and the recommendations on retaliation. Bush, of course, did nothing....but they did thank Bill by making up the story about trashing the WH....remember that BS story?

No doubt, Kerrey had a personal dislike for BC. Was it jealousy because of Bill's political popularity? I don't know, but I think Kerrey is going a bit overboard in his appearance to be impartial.

[The Land of the Free]

10. He's not being impartial

He's being hypocritical and blasting KindaSleaza when he was dead wrong

[DS1]

13. Kerrey should know about John O'Neil and how his investigations

in Qatar were stopped by a (R) Senator covering her own ass.

[bpilgrim]

14. a lame duck president, on the heels of an election, with little evidence

after all the right had put him through they would have claimed he was wagging the dog to win the election for gore and we ALL knew it :argh:

anyways... he decided to hand it over to the next admin to let them make any large decisions yet ye still presued UBL... unlike the current admin :puke:

peace

[westhollywooddem]

16. Kerry is a bitter loser

Kerry has a bug up his ass regarding Clinton for many years. He never liked him as evidenced by his past actions regarding Clinton.

He, like Lieberman, said Clinton was a disgrace, during the impeachment hearings.

He is bitter mofo who is clearly a detriment to our party.

[billybob537]

19. Kerrey With 2 e's NOT Kerry n/t

[pschoeb]

23. Correct, Blaming Clinton is stupid

The Cole Attack happened on Oct 12, the investigation was still in progress in November, the correct stance for any President that's leaving is to coordinate his actions on such an important event with the next Administration. Otherwise it will be seen as Clinton forcing major policy on Bush by his actions.

Patrick Schoeb

[LiberalFighter]

27. And coordinating with the next administration was difficult to do...

considering that the election outcome was determined at a later than usual date.

[oostevo]

17. Correct me if I'm wrong, but ...

Richard Clark did say on Charlie Rose that Clinton ordered covert actions to assassinate bin Laden. Is this not military action?

[modrepub]

18. Headline misleading

Unless it's taken out of context, I read this as Kerry saying I think you had enough proof to go after Bin Laden. That's 20-20 hindsight in my opinion. If Clinton had enough support why didn't Bush go after him?

[1971]

20. Kerrey's ego is in his wallet

"I think he did have enough proof to take action," Kerrey said on ABC's "Good Morning America.

Kerrey thinks he did have enough proof...

Kerrey thinks he knows better than President Clinton?

Kerrey knows there is more to it than that, so Kerrey is obviously making public statements that will ensure he's gainfully employed after November, no matter who wins the WH.

[Martin Eden]

21. If Clinton can be blamed for one thing ...

... it is for not reforming the CIA & FBI to share & compare intelligence. I generally considered the Clinton administration to be accomplished policy wonks, but given the number of years they had to assess the terrorist threat they did very little to create a more integrated system for foiling terrorists within our borders.

Yes -- the Clintonites should be commended for preventing the millenum attack on the L.A. airport, and they undoubtedly made terrorism a much higher priority than did the Bushies. Also, I don't fault Clinton for not launching cruise missiles without solid intelligence on the Cole attack -- the object is to punish the guilty party, not any party. In fact, he should rightly be criticised for bombing the Sudanese pharmaceutical factory, which wasn't a WMD lab.

The "vast right wing conspiracy" arrayed against Clinton should also be criticized. Their relentless partisan assault was out of all proportion to any legitimate grievance, and it constrained the chief executive's capacity to perform his sworn duties. Clinton-haters would respond that he brought this upon himself through his faulty character and zipper, but by expending their energies on their partisan passions rather than on behalf of the people they serve, the Republicans failed in their own sworn duties.

There's plenty of blame to go around, but when they resort to the tried and false method of blaming Clinton, they expose their own refusal to take responsibility. They would have us believe the Bush administration apparently never makes a mistake.

[LiberalFighter]

29. The blame starts with the FBI and CIA

It wasn't until Clinton was in office that there began to be some communication between the FBI and CIA and other parties. Richard Clarke was able to work with Sandy Berger, Janet Reno and Tenet into communicating what they knew about terrorists. Louis Freeh of the FBI and Secretary of Treasurer Rubin were obstacles to it happening. FBI district agents worked behind Freeh's back with Clarke to get the information needed.

[drscm]

22. If he believes Clinton had sufficient info, what about *?

Did the information disappear?

[Ravy]

24. Kerrey wanted to bomb Iraq for it!

[KittyWampus]

25. President Clinton Sent HUNDREDS Of FBI Agents To Investigate

in Yemen.

They then had some bizarre issues with "security" and had to leave for some time.

It was fishy as hell...

WHY did those FBI agents REALLY leave Yemen?

[peacetalksforall]

26. Hey Bob, is there something we could help you understand?

Our intelligence departments take orders from the right wing cabal?

Check out their conglomerate motive and agenda before placing blame.

[Josh]

30. Actually, I recall reading in TIME magazine that they didn't want to

prejudice the election, which was less than a month away. Sandy Berger said something like that; that they would leave their action plan on al Qaeda to the next administration.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

31. Kerrey's full of crap.

[SarahB]

33. Kerry's ignores the facts and...

is disloyal to his party because of purely political reasons- to score points with and to keep getting elected in a strong red state. Sometimes though, you get to a point with those kinds of Democrats (there are a few too many) and you ask yourself, "Are they worth having?"