Against All Enemies
In August of 1998, our military sent 62 cruise missiles into Afghanistan. They were aimed at terrorist infrastructure, the site where Osama bin Laden and his top lieutenants were reportedly holding a meeting. Unfortunately, a few hours before they hit bin Laden escaped.
In an interview on the Fox News Channel with Chris Wallace, Clinton vigorously insisted: “I authorized funding the CIA to kill him. We contracted with people to kill him. We got closer to killing him than anybody's gotten since. And if I were still president, we'd have more than 20,000 troops in Afghanistan trying to kill him.”
Clinton complained that he was hampered by inadequate intelligence, because the link between al Qaeda and the militants in Somalia in 1993 wasn't clear until years afterwards. After the bombing of the USS Cole in 2000, Clinton says that there was no consensus among law enforcement and intelligence sources that al Qaeda was behind it until after the presidential election. This was substantiated in the 9/11 Commission report.
Former Deputy CIA Director for Intelligence John McLaughlin said that from his inside perspective: “President Clinton did aggressively pursue Osama bin Laden. I give the Clinton administration a lot of credit for the aggressiveness with which they went after al Qaeda and bin Laden.”
Clinton argues that his efforts were undercut by partisan sniping, including some critics who charged the cruise missile strike was a "wag the dog" stunt to divert attention from the Monica Lewinsky scandal.
In “Against All Enemies” Richard Clarke outlines the Clinton’s administration's effort to stop al Qaeda. Clarke wrote that Clinton stated: “If we thought this was the best time to hit the Afghan camps, he would order it and take the heat for ‘wag the dog’ criticism, that we all knew would happen.”
Clarke saw an imminent al Qaeda threat and was disappointed by the Bush regime's inaction. He wrote: “Secretary Rice told me that the Principals Committee, which had been the first venue for terrorism policy discussions in the Clinton administration, would not address the issue until it had been ‘framed’ by the deputies. It meant months of delay.”
Clarke was a career counterterrorism expert, who served under four presidents beginning as an analyst on nuclear weapons under Reagan and established a record for continuous service in national security policy positions. His book "Against All Enemies" is a non-partisan chronology of the facts before, during and after 9/11. He was the nations crisis manager on 9/11 in the White House situation room.
In an interview on the Fox News Channel with Chris Wallace, Clinton vigorously insisted: “I authorized funding the CIA to kill him. We contracted with people to kill him. We got closer to killing him than anybody's gotten since. And if I were still president, we'd have more than 20,000 troops in Afghanistan trying to kill him.”
Clinton complained that he was hampered by inadequate intelligence, because the link between al Qaeda and the militants in Somalia in 1993 wasn't clear until years afterwards. After the bombing of the USS Cole in 2000, Clinton says that there was no consensus among law enforcement and intelligence sources that al Qaeda was behind it until after the presidential election. This was substantiated in the 9/11 Commission report.
Former Deputy CIA Director for Intelligence John McLaughlin said that from his inside perspective: “President Clinton did aggressively pursue Osama bin Laden. I give the Clinton administration a lot of credit for the aggressiveness with which they went after al Qaeda and bin Laden.”
Clinton argues that his efforts were undercut by partisan sniping, including some critics who charged the cruise missile strike was a "wag the dog" stunt to divert attention from the Monica Lewinsky scandal.
In “Against All Enemies” Richard Clarke outlines the Clinton’s administration's effort to stop al Qaeda. Clarke wrote that Clinton stated: “If we thought this was the best time to hit the Afghan camps, he would order it and take the heat for ‘wag the dog’ criticism, that we all knew would happen.”
Clarke saw an imminent al Qaeda threat and was disappointed by the Bush regime's inaction. He wrote: “Secretary Rice told me that the Principals Committee, which had been the first venue for terrorism policy discussions in the Clinton administration, would not address the issue until it had been ‘framed’ by the deputies. It meant months of delay.”
Clarke was a career counterterrorism expert, who served under four presidents beginning as an analyst on nuclear weapons under Reagan and established a record for continuous service in national security policy positions. His book "Against All Enemies" is a non-partisan chronology of the facts before, during and after 9/11. He was the nations crisis manager on 9/11 in the White House situation room.
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