Hot Air: A time capsule from Australia via MSNBC, captured for posterity at what would have been around 11 p.m. New York time. The hijackers may have been ritually shaving themselves as he said it. Previewing the audio, the host says Clinton “almost brags” about his decision. Of course he does; at the time, it would have been a no-brainer for a politician to congratulate himself for sparing a terrorist in the name of also sparing dozens (or, if you believe Clinton, hundreds) of civilians, even if that terrorist was responsible for the U.S.S. Cole attack. Twenty-four hours later, I guarantee you he wasn’t bragging anymore. In fact, you can draw a straight line from this audio to America’s drone policy today. These 20 seconds or so are precisely why Obama ended up pulling the trigger on Anwar al-Awlaki and why he continues to pull the trigger on Al Qaeda’s bigger fish even if it means incinerating civilians in Waziristan or Yemen in the process. He’s never going to let a statement like this come back to haunt him. Post-9/11, when you’ve got a big fish on the hook, you reel him in come what may. A presidency can survive anger from doves and civil libertarians that the White House was overly aggressive in targeting jihadis. It can’t survive having skyscrapers knocked over by someone who, you’re sheepishly forced to admit, you had a clear shot at killing years before. By the same token, if the FBI had announced on the morning of 9/11 that they’d busted a spectacular Al Qaeda plot to fly planes into the Twin Towers, plenty of people would have chortled that that’s the most ludicrous, Michael Bay-ish nonsense yet cooked up by a government eager to find pretexts to roll back civil liberties. There’s a reason why the term “September 10th mentality” exists, and Bill Clinton’s not the only one who was guilty of it. (read more)
Here’s the clip. Link key audio @ 5:30
27 comments:
Clinton knows he screwed up -not killing OBL was a Ginormous Game Changer- I said that the other day right here on Lem's blog.
Clinton's lack of balls let Bin Laden live long enough to do 911 and the world changed forever.
Willie will always be trying to explain away that one. It might not have stopped 9/11, but it would have thrown their plans into a tailspin.
Fact is, the mess he made in Mog was his one show of bravado.
After that, he stuck to blowing up aspirin factories and Branch Davidians.
Why this now and who's behind pushing It?
Just askin'
Maybe they figured it's best to get it out now... oh my goodness , you can't use the term "get it out" in the context of Bill Clinton.
How low we sunk.
Do you have any theories Chicky?
I got nothing.
Lem said...
Do you have any theories Chicky?
Just crackpot theories. Winger stuff.
Clinton's "I could have killed him, but....." sounds eerily like some guy saying " I could have laid her, that waitress, but, there'd be damage to her husband and kids, but, yeah, I could have laid her."
Heck, Bill Clinton could have said it.
Just crackpot theories. Winger stuff.
Man shall not live by hard news alone... I think I read that somewhere.
How do people such as Bill even become, Presidents of these United States. How.
At best Bill should have been manager of a low rent trailer court (hate me, I don't care, I've lived in them), where "can't make the rent" pussy would have been readily available.
But then, he became a lawyer.
I'm thinking of another amendment, you can't enter political life with a JD behind your name.
Though, let me admit, I voted for the asshole, twice.
I'm not without my faults.
Some of you will say, ignorant ass. I have no rebuttal.
It's time to put the Clintons out to pasture.
Earlier, Hillary was making excuses for the Palestinian terrorists.
XRay said...
Though, let me admit, I voted for the asshole, twice.
I was out of the country in 1992 but would have voted for Clinton had I cared enough to vote from overseas. I did vote to reelect him in 1996.
I crossed the political aisle after 9/11. I have no regrets.
April Apple said...
Earlier, Hillary was making excuses for the Palestinian terrorists.
Ah, still likening herself to BHO then.
It's time to put the Clintons out to pasture.
That reminds me of Kwame Kilpatrick. When a Detroit group of rich and powerful tried to keep him from running for mayor by paying him off exiling him to Florida.
During this hearing, it was revealed that Peter Karmanos, Jr., Roger Penske and other business leaders had provided substantial monies to the Kilpatricks to convince the mayor to resign his office and plead guilty.
Though, there is probably not enough money in the world to pay the Clintons to go away.
Hillary's biggest donor is the Emir of Qatar. Most of the money for the Clinton Presidential Library came from Saudis. The Clintons have been purchased by those who favor Hamas.
"I crossed the political aisle after 9/11. I have no regrets."
Me too. And thank goodness for Den Beste for being there to help lead me out of the wilderness.
Not to endorse either the Saudis or the Clintons, but Hamas is too much even for them:
Egypt has led a new coalition of Arab states — including Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — that has effectively lined up with Israel in its fight against Hamas, the Islamist movement that controls the Gaza Strip.
"Oh the Huma-inanity!"
Oh, brother :)
Am I missing something here?
On the tape, I heard Mr. Clinton say, I could have gotten him, but I would have had to kill a whole village with lots of innocent people. So I didn't do that.
Here, I am seeing people condemn him for that judgment it seems.
Am I missing something?
FF, I think the argument is that sometimes It takes a village.
Chip -- that's he was wrong deliberately destroying a village for one guy?
That's insane. So many ways.
Martin, this is the crux of the matter:
"President Clinton and his national security team ignored several opportunities to capture Osama bin Laden and his terrorist associates, including one as late as last year.
I know because I negotiated more than one of the opportunities.
From 1996 to 1998, I opened unofficial channels between Sudan and the Clinton administration. I met with officials in both countries, including Clinton, U.S. National Security Advisor Samuel R. "Sandy" Berger and Sudan's president and intelligence chief. President Omar Hassan Ahmed Bashir, who wanted terrorism sanctions against Sudan lifted, offered the arrest and extradition of Bin Laden and detailed intelligence data about the global networks constructed by Egypt's Islamic Jihad, Iran's Hezbollah and the Palestinian Hamas.
Among those in the networks were the two hijackers who piloted commercial airliners into the World Trade Center.
The silence of the Clinton administration in responding to these offers was deafening."
Info Wars
Edit: wrong FOR NOT destroying...
Deborah:
I am not engaging the question of whether President Clinton handled the larger problem as well as he might.
I am focusing on one thing, which is the focus of this post: ought President Clinton be condemned for refusing to destroy a village in order to get bin Laden?
(Of course the claimed scenario may be false. If so, argue THAT.)
But to the posed dilemma: kill villagers v. Not kill bin Laden . . .
I say again that it's insane to say Clinton was wrong to spare the village.
I agree, destroying a village of 300 would have been wrong. Why didn't he send in SEALS?
Deborah: great question.
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