9-11 Panel Member Says Clinton Failed to Act on Terror Warnings Too

[Champ]

A Sept. 11 commission Democrat disagreed Friday with President Clinton'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 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.

http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_4375.shtml

[kalian]

1. Its amazing how they're spinning it....

launching an all out military attack against Afghanistan would have
been VERY detrimental. Besides, the repukes would have been all
over his ass.

[Kolesar]

17. I agree--the 'pukes were obstructing his Iraq and Balkans policies

Nothing that Clinton did got their support. I see revisionist history is alive and well.

[warrior1]

2. these guys really need to read

Richard Clarke's book

He's states that Clinton tried three times to kill Bin laden.


Clinton tried and bush did nothing, yet they will try and blame the former.

[mzmolly]

3. Huge difference between that and 911.

But, I am sure the RW will spin this to beat the band. Can't say that I'm disapointed, I am glad they are fair in their assesment. It will give the case against Boosh more credibility.

[Champ]

6. Boosh?

I never heard that termed used as another word for Bush. I like it. :thumbsup:

[mzmolly]

16. I heard it here first. But Franken uses it on his show doing faux

commercials. "George Boosh" :P

[Occulus]

26. I sometimes spell it 'Busch'

as in, the beer. My, how apropos.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

4. Bob Kerrey's full of crap.

[markses]

5. Are you fucking kidding me?

What would have been the reponse had Clinton cruise missiled Afhanistan during the election debacle? The right wing militias would have taken over small towns in Michigan. Puh-leez, Bob Kerrey. Go back the New School and STFU.

[Parrcrow]

7. Clinton would have been impeached again

for murder this time. He'd be sitting in a jail cell right now. The right-wingers would have been all over it.

[nodictators]

8. Richard Clarke formulated a plan to retaliate for the USS Cole

The problem was that it was December 2000 before they had proof that al-Qaeda was responsible for the attack. If Clinton had started an operation with only a month to go in his term, the Repubs and their "news" media toadies would have screamed.

The question has been asked: Why didn't the Bush regime retaliate for the attack on the USS Cole?

Answer: They wanted to invade Iraq!!!

[displacedtexan]

9. Had Clinton done that, Gore would have lost the election!

Don't you think that President Gore would have dealt with Bin Laden the day after being sworn in?

[sadiesworld]

10. Bob Kerrey is a war-lovin' mess.

He is the least useful dem on the panel (I don't count Hamilton as a dem). Never understood the Kerry/Kerrey posts.

:evilfrown:

[worldgonekrazy]

31. I think he is criticizing Clinton so as to appear non partisan

Seriously. This isn't to say that it isn't a legitimate criticism from Kerrey's point of view: he is a war hawk and really does think the Clinton administration should have reacted immediately to the Cole bombing (I am somewhat inclined to agree). But this criticism ABSOLUTELY PALES in comparison to Bush having plenty of intelligence on 9/11 and doing ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to prevent it. I think its a brilliant strategy. Nail your own guy with a petty misdemeanor to build up credibility for when you go after Bush for mass murder.

[goforit]

35. He's a G.Damn Fool!!!!.....W/soldiers dying daily, He looks foolish!!

Thank God he isn't president .....the whole world would
have been blown up by now!!!


Blow it out your ear Bob Kerry!!!

[slater71]

11. That would make Bush twice as guilty.

My view on that would be if this is true then Bush knew for sure.

[mouse7]

12. I guess that Millenium Plot bomber in prison is there for the food

He just LOVES shit on a shingle.

[leesa]

13. Ah yes, the old, "but everybody's doing it, therefore it must be OK" spin

Release the remaining Clinton papers and let's see what really happened.

[lumpy]

14. Very good idea, leesa

There is much more to the story to be digested.

[mainer]

15. Even US Intelligence says it didn't have proof until 2001

So Clinton was supposed to take action on something that US Intelligence wasn't absolutely clear on?

That's how we got into this Iraq mess in the first place. By thinking we have "actionable" intelligence when even the CIA can't make up its mind.

[Blasphemer]

25. Exactly....

But since Kerrey supported this Iraq mess, he doesn't seem to care about having absolute proof before launching massive attacks on another country. He has no credibility. If I don't want * starting wars based on (at best) shoddy intelligence, I surely wouldn't have wanted Clinton doing the same.

[The Backlash Cometh]

18. Kerrey has been a long time critic of Clinton.

It's an on-going feud.

[RedSock]

19. fine

let's get ALL THE INFO out in the open, have public days-long questioning of EVERYONE and get to the bottom of this.

fuck all this demo/repub shit. let the chips fall where they may.

whoever is guilty is guilty. clinton, gore, bush, nader -- who cares?

i want the TRUTH.

[The Backlash Cometh]

20. I don't have a problem with the truth, but let's make sure you understand

that Kerrey has always had his own agenda. And you should know it so that you can balance the things he says.

[The Land of the Free]

33. agreed

Every President dating back to Carter is repsonsible in some manner for this shit. Let's just find out why everything went wrong. That is what is most important here. Human lives!

[Vitruvius]

30. Yup -- Clinton beat Kerrey in the 1992 Democratic primaries, and

Kerrey's been mad at Clinton ever since.

[John_H]

21. Another example that the Dem "message" people don't get it

This is painfully clear to anyone who watched the Condi testimony. Every single one of the Rethugs acted like a zealous defense attorney, while the dems, with the exception of Benveniste, acted like fair minded commission members. I guess thy seized the moral high ground once again, but strategically it was a disaster--Condi filibustered evaded and lied. They needed to act like prosecutors.

Now in full senate high-minded bullshit mode, Kerry, who called Rice Dr. Clark about ten times, decides to place almost equal blame on TBD, who by all accounts did ten times as much as bush to prevent and retaliate for attacks prior to 9-11.

Yeah, I know the excuse drill--the party can't make individuals do anything. But how do the rethugs achieve their message discipline? Do they have some magic potion? Or are they just smart enough to get it?

[worldgonekrazy]

32. No, no. This has only just begun.

The commissioners WILL act more like prosecutors as it becomes more and more obvious that the Bush Administration let 9/11 happen. Right now they are setting up the groundwork. As for the Repub commissioners, they are only making themselves look bad now. When it becomes too obvious for them to defend the Bush Administration anymore they will have to turn against him somewhat in order to retain their own credibility. I think its a brilliant strategy, and you must keep in mind that we still have THREE MONTHS until the report is due. They are interviewing AG Ashcroft and the acting FBI director next week. Those two interviews will be HUGE and I expect them to lead to a full on LIHOP investigation.

[opihimoimoi]

22. But But The attack was in 2001.... with enough warning to either stop

or at the very least reduce the impact/damage/casualties. The warnings were not made PUBLIC

THE WARNINGS WERE NOT MADE PUBLIC....it was the very least they could have done.

[frylock]

23. google "barbara bodine john o'neill uss cole"

and find out that they couldn't do jack because Ms. Bodine didn't want O'neill and his agents stepping on any toes. One of many reasons that forced Agent O'neill to just say fuck it, and bail.

[sampsonblk]

24. Rice Disagrees with that...

When asked on Thursday why the Shrub admin didn't retaliate against al Qaeda for the Cole attack, she said it wasn't clear who had attacked the Cole at the time the Shrubs took office.

[keithyboy]

27. No matter what Kerrey says, the Clinton admin prevented some serious

attacks during the millenium. They didn't have the proof they needed to go after Afghanistan before they left office. The record shows this. Kerrey's hatered of Clinton is legend so don't worry about him. He just gives more fodder to the Freepers but it doesn't change the facts. Besides, the record also shows that he loves killing enemy civilians.

[acmavm]

28. Screw Bob Kerrey. He's not exactly lily-white pure himself. And no matter

what Clinton did or wanted to do, his administration was all tied up in the impeachment hearings. Hearings on nothing that had to do with the American public or how he governed.

Kerrey and the rest of the democrats were soooooo afraid that they would be somehow tarnished if they pointed out the fact that Clinton's affair with Monica was a personal matter, not a matter of state, that they hid their cowardly little asses and let the republicans spend over $200 million of our hard earned dollars on something that never cost one American life.

[johnnie]

29. Clinton might have even taken more action....

...if he wasn't answering questions about fucking blowjobs every day. With the witch hunts that were being done to the poor guy, he did a surprisingly good job at running this country. If he would have been more assertive at getting al-Qaida at the time, it would have just been seen as another "wag the dog". It could have never happened.

[JCMach1]

34. This is contradicted by Clarke's testimony

We were only 100% sure it was al Quaeda after Bush took office.

[goforit]

36. Everybody is just laughing...."It's Clinton's fault " is getting OLD!!!

Yet nobody ever gives Poppy Bush credit for training Osama
Bin Ladin in the first place...now do they!!!

That's hush hush......Americans shouldn't know all the criminal
thugs that run our gov't!!!

[The White Rose]

37. Wait a minute. Doesn't Clinton's testimony undermine

somewhat Kerrey's case that the Bushies should have struck al Qaeda prior to Sept 11? At the very least they could point to Clinton's opinion as justification for their failure. Even if Clinton had actionable intelligence, he's got the excuse that he didn't want to leave the next Administration with the aftermath (unlike the way he was left with Somalia). And anyway, Clinton's had his eight years *and* can take the criticism in his stride. Isn't it more important to underline the fact that Bush had eight months to follow up and retaliate based on good information but failed to act?