Who Really Missed Getting BinLaden? Three Guesses, and One of Them ISN'T George W. Bush!
First Chance - February 13, 1998 - Aides to the President "scuttled the CIA plan to kidnap and ferry BinLaden to the U.S. to stand trial, ludicrously, "for fear that he might be killed!" His death "might be perceived as an assassination."
(Note - Assassination of foreign leaders by the Americam government is against American law, but to my knowledge, assassination of an American President by foreign governments is not against anyone's law, except, PERHAPS, ineffectual "international law.")
Second Chance - The U.S. launched cruise missles to kill BinLaden on August 20, 1998. (Apparently he's no longer considered to be a foreign leader at this point and an airstrike "would not be an assassination." Figure that one out!)
Third and Final Chance - May 1999, the CIA reported that Bin Laden would be in Kandahar, Afghanistan for five days. Again he could have been grabbed up!
Why didn't they go through with it? Remember the "accidental" bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade? American officials were afraid of being seen as "trigger happy." Instead, now we're seen as either ineffectual or as bullying "cowboys." And there was also a partisan problem - the other side would claim that they were "wagging the dog," referring to a movie of the same name in which an American president contrived an incident as a political distraction and coverup.
But wait, there was yet a Fourth Chance, previous to the other three not mentioned by the authors of the FrontPage article. Bin Laden was long in the Sudan The Sudanese government offered to arrest BinLaden and turn him over to the Saudis in February of 1996. The Saudis didn't want him back and caved in to U.S. pressure to expell him after which he then went to Afghanistan.
Knock me over with a feather! We almost had him four times, yet a tentative and hesitant president LET HIM GO!
As you probably have already guessed, Bill Clinton was the sitting President that was so tentative and hesitant that allowed BinLaden to get away. Thanks a lot, Bill. We see that you'll do wonders at the U.N. if you are chosen as Secretary General. In fact, you'll fit right in; tentative and hesitant is the U.N. way!
Tentative and hesitant are September 10th reactions. We can no longer afford such a luxury.
First Chance - February 13, 1998 - Aides to the President "scuttled the CIA plan to kidnap and ferry BinLaden to the U.S. to stand trial, ludicrously, "for fear that he might be killed!" His death "might be perceived as an assassination."
(Note - Assassination of foreign leaders by the Americam government is against American law, but to my knowledge, assassination of an American President by foreign governments is not against anyone's law, except, PERHAPS, ineffectual "international law.")
Second Chance - The U.S. launched cruise missles to kill BinLaden on August 20, 1998. (Apparently he's no longer considered to be a foreign leader at this point and an airstrike "would not be an assassination." Figure that one out!)
Third and Final Chance - May 1999, the CIA reported that Bin Laden would be in Kandahar, Afghanistan for five days. Again he could have been grabbed up!
Why didn't they go through with it? Remember the "accidental" bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade? American officials were afraid of being seen as "trigger happy." Instead, now we're seen as either ineffectual or as bullying "cowboys." And there was also a partisan problem - the other side would claim that they were "wagging the dog," referring to a movie of the same name in which an American president contrived an incident as a political distraction and coverup.
But wait, there was yet a Fourth Chance, previous to the other three not mentioned by the authors of the FrontPage article. Bin Laden was long in the Sudan The Sudanese government offered to arrest BinLaden and turn him over to the Saudis in February of 1996. The Saudis didn't want him back and caved in to U.S. pressure to expell him after which he then went to Afghanistan.
Knock me over with a feather! We almost had him four times, yet a tentative and hesitant president LET HIM GO!
As you probably have already guessed, Bill Clinton was the sitting President that was so tentative and hesitant that allowed BinLaden to get away. Thanks a lot, Bill. We see that you'll do wonders at the U.N. if you are chosen as Secretary General. In fact, you'll fit right in; tentative and hesitant is the U.N. way!
Tentative and hesitant are September 10th reactions. We can no longer afford such a luxury.
posted by Eleanor © @ 11/02/2004 02:15:00 AM
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