DONT FLAME ME!
What purpose would the Clinton Justice Dept have in not making this connection back then...
I repeat dont flame me ......just asking..
Then he couldn't blame talk radio after the '94 election drubbing.
It's also very distracting to have to deal with terrorists while receiving "head-ups" from interns.
The answer seems to be twofold. (1) Pointing out Iraq's involvement would have required him to take leadership and perhaps a military response (such as we are seeing from Bush) which is more than just dropping bombs on aspirin factories. Clinton never displayed any talent or skill at such things.
(2) Blaming it on domestic terrorists, of course, gave him a great political opportunity to demonize things like "right-wing talk radio" and sufficient momentum to counter and neutralize what must have seemed to him a threatening political force at the time which had arisen in opposition to his efforts at socialism and citizen disarmament.
All in all, if there is any truth to the charge it would have been a very rational thing for Clinton to do. Honorable no, but rational yes.
Domestic purposes.
The BATF assault on the Branch Davidian compound was supposed to be a huge anti-gun commercial such that Clinton was going to be able to ban guns in America just as the English were banning guns in the UK. That raid went wrong, but there was a large motivational factor to pin the OKC bombing (on that anniversary the following year) on right-wing zealots rather than on foreign agents.
By pinning OKC on right wing groups, more support could be gained for gun-grabbing (hint: the anti-terrorism legislation was ALREADY drafted and submitted to Congress when the Murrah building fell).
On the other hand, blaming the OKC on foreign agents would have provided ammunition to pro-gun groups and furthered gun ownership (note: that very thing has now happened after WTC on 9/11).
So Clinton and his anti-gun cronies had a very large motivational factor going for them to point the finger at domestic, right-wing zealots rather than on foreign agents.
No one ever accused Clinton of being slow on the uptake. He immediately gave the orders to his minions to kill any word of a foreign involvement. A homegrown rightwing terrorist was a made to order target for the Clintons. It was not only less threatening to the public, but it made all the Clinton scandals seem irrelevant.
The OKC bombing was seen initially as a heart-stopping moment to the American people - terrorists in middle America. Remember?
But just as suddenly, we will were all relieved to know that it was a captured, RIGHT-WING male who didn't like the government, and we marvelled at the feel-good news of the nation so seemingly worry-free under Clinton.
It also provided carte blanche to ridicule, humiliate and destroy any anti-government agitators. As a result, the only terrorist threats the FBI/CIA acknowledged and pursued were home-grown, white-skinned ones.
And for years, the media was complicit, warning us of the dangers of extremists on the right who opposed Clinton. Patriotism was a dirty word.
The world of 'fake' ruled our country - Hollywood, celebrities, sports. Bread and circuses.
The media et. al. rallied 'round the president to defend him to his last moments of office, and buried story after story of government corruption in the interim.
Even the story of his public fall from grace was spun by the left (and therefore the media) as a right-wing conspiracy, garnering him sympathy and public poll support even in his shameful acts. Ken Starr was demonized.
The TWA-800 missile attack, similarly, at a critical moment in the presidency (re-election of 1996, just prior to the Olympic games of Atlanta), was re-packaged as an accident. Don't worry, be happy! And you would be lying if you didn't feel relieved when you learned that it was just an 'accident'.
Now we know the truth.
In summary, with all due respect, we all need to
I mean look at it in reverse look how much politic capital OKC made for Clinton in the blame leads to Iraq what gain is there for Clinton he tack a hit for intelligences failer and then has to take a risk and do somthing about Iraq.
The OKC bombing being blamed on McVeigh was the prototype of Clinton's "VRWC" copout. It was the answers to Clinton politic "prays", OKC being Iraq is Clinton politic hell.
That is an excellent question. The immediate theory that leaps to my mind is that "official knowledge" by the Reno Justice Dept. of the Iraq connection would have required Clinton to wage war against those responsible. Possibly this would have meant bombings and assassinations of terrorists, and an invasion of Iraq proper with the ousting of Saddam Hussein.
All this would have meant the end of Clinton's peace initiatives in the Middle East, and thus the end of any chance of Bill Clinton being remembered as the Great Peacemaker that brought Arab and Jew together at the table of brotherhood.
All of this sounds laughable to you and me, but remember the arrogance of Clinton knows no bounds. Clinton wanted desperately to be remembered as the man who brought peace in our time. He was willing to go to any lengths necessary to get it. The above is only a theory, but I believe a plausible one.
He was not anxious to get involved due to the magnitude of the terrorists threats, of which he was well aware. He played footsie with Arafat, took money from Arab countries as DNC donations.
Herr Klinkton seized upon this to try to blame the Republican Party, specifically the Right Wing of the Party. This done to help him in the polls, etc.
It worked.
What policital gain could be had if the Iraqi connection had been established?
Start here, though it really doesn't set out the story detailed in the book. As I recall it, four years later, it had something to do with a cell of terrorst-extremists, and not wanting to blow the cover of an agent who was in some ways a participant. I must say, it was a confusing read, and he didn't ever get to connecting the dots very well. I don't know whether he or someone else did subsequently.
2. Using "two backwoods militia type wackos" as useful idiots to prop a wounded Presidency by being Middle America's best defense vs homegrown terrorism.
3. By not unleashing America's hatred towards the Middle East so x42 could forge a legacy as a "inclusive President" and an architect of a Israel-Pali peace.
4. By not putting Immigration policy in danger so their votes could be harvested in 1976.
DONT FLAME ME!
What purpose would the Clinton Justice Dept have in not making this connection back then...
I repeat dont flame me ......just asking..
How about this: Imagine that our country is led by a spineless commie sympathizer whose main interests center around his next bout of oral sex. "Gee, he says to his self ... we've got this tailor-made, gift-wrapped atrocity tied to right-wing extremists and even though the spy guys claim possible links to Iraq that guy Saddam scares me.
"How about I declare these links to Iraq and Islamic extremists out of the Phillipines to be a top secret national security secret? Yeah, that's the ticket! National security ... Course I'll have to make a few strong statements about our "war" on terror but then its back to "business" as usual - "Hey Betty? Did you get a call in to Monica?"
The same reason that George Stephanopolous would speak of the "bombing" of TWA 800.
He said that Clinton started to call a press conference about it and cancelled...something a President doesn't do in the event of a run-of-the-mill plane crash.
Maybe exposing Arab Muslims as "terrorists" didn't quite fit in with Hillary's Pro-Palestine/anti-Israel agenda.
Another question ... If the perps were middle eastern, why would they not want credit for the deed? Having it attributed to a domestic crazy (McVeigh) robs the attack of much of its psychological effectiveness, both against us and for them. While they would not want their names and map coordinates divulged, they would certainly want it known that Allah's forces had struck a major blow against the Great Satan.
I'm not necessarily buying into the theory, but I have to grant its plausibility.
As Rebelbase pointed out in his #11
"Evidence of Iraqi involvement would have meant that x42 would have had to take action and be a commander, which is something he is not. And it would have meant he would have had to curtial his obsession with Hollywood, sluts and money grubbing...all things he cannot live without."
An overstatement, perhaps. But, in Clinton's case, it can't be discounted.
But recall, however, the initial media spin (and unofficial White House spin) on the OKC bombing. Right-wing militias! Right? Incited by right-wing talk radio! Right? And who was, at that time, being assiduously demonized as the enemy of the American people? The evil right-wing! Right?
Recall the points the First Felon earned by touring the site and "feeling our pain" immediately after the bombing.
I believe it very plausible that, given a choice between two alternate scenarios:
a.) the sinister act of a foreign power, with all the difficulties such would entail...
versus b.) a demonic act by the extreme right, fraught with domestic political profit...
Clinton was perfectly capable of opting for b.).
I believe the "blame the right-wing" spin was a totally reflexive reaction. And it could be that, once the positive political benefit became apparent, and they had to confront the possibility that it may have been an international terrorist act, they decided to accept the former and bury the latter.
The American people would have demanded justice and the pervert in chief just wasn't up to the job. His moronic ex-aides keep belly aching about how the bustard never had his shot at greatness like FDR and now GWB...but you see, he did have it and he blew it because he wasn't serious enough or man enough to tackle the situation head on. He was willing to lob a few Cruise Missiles if he thought it made him look good, but this would have required an all out military response. Instead he went on TV and whined about 'hate' radio. And guess what...his poll numbers started to rise. No need to get messy, his ass was out of the fire.
Clinton's 8 years were all about Clionton...what the press thought about him, what the world thought about, what the NAACP thought about him. It was NEVER about America and what was best for the people of this country. Praise Jesus he's no longer President...I mean that sincerely from the very depths of my soul.