Posted on 09/23/2006 1:49:25 PM PDT by Brian Mosely
The liberal website Thinkprogress has published a rough transcript of Bill Clinton's interview with Fox News' Chris Wallace, and it appears to be even more contentious than the brief clip that has been released shows. Here are some excerpts from Clinton's angry defense of his conduct of the war on terrorism, beginning when Wallace asked him "Why didn't you do more, connect the dots and put [al Qaeda] out of business?"
I will answer all of those things on the merits but I want to talk about the context of which this arises. I’m being asked this on the Fox network…[note — these ellipses are in the Thinkprogress transcript]. ABC just had a right wing conservative on the 'Path to 9/11' falsely claim that it was based on the 911 commission report with three things asserted against me that are directly contradicted by the 9/11 commission report. I think it’s very interesting that all the conservative Republicans who now say that I didn’t do enough, claimed that I was obsessed with Bin Laden. All of President Bush’s neocons claimed that I was too obsessed with finding Bin Laden when they didn’t have a single meeting about Bin Laden for the nine months after I left office. All the right wingers who now say that I didn’t do enough said that I did too much. Same people….
I authorized the CIA to get groups together to try to kill him. The CIA was run by George Tenet who President Bush gave the medal of freedom to and said he did a good job.. The country never had a comprehensive anti terror operation until I came to office. If you can criticize me for one thing, you can criticize me for this, after the Cole I had battle plans drawn to go into Afghanistan, overthrow the Taliban, and launch a full scale attack search for Bin Laden. But we needed basing rights in Uzbekistan which we got after 9/11. The CIA and the FBI refused to certify that Bin Laden was responsible while I was there. They refused to certify. So that meant I would have had to send a few hundred special forces in helicopters and refuel at night. Even the 9/11 Commission didn’t do that. Now the 9/11 Commission was a political document too. All I’m asking is if anybody wants to say I didn’t do enough, you read Richard Clarke’s book…
At least I tried. That’s the difference in me and some, including all the right wingers who are attacking me now. They ridiculed me for trying. They had eight months to try and they didn’t….. {ellipses in the Thinkprogress transcript]. I tried. So I tried and failed. When I failed I left a comprehensive anti-terror strategy and the best guy in the country, Dick Clarke… [ellipses in Thinkprogress transcript] So you did Fox's bidding on this show. You did you nice little conservative hit job on me….
I worked hard to try and kill him. I authorized a finding for the CIA to kill him. We contracted with people to kill him. I got closer to killing him than anybody has gotten since. And if I were still president we’d have more than 20,000 troops there trying to kill him. Now I never criticized President Bush and I don’t think this is useful. But you know we do have a government that think Afghanistan is 1/7 as important as Iraq. And you ask me about terror and Al Qaeda with that sort of dismissive theme when all you have to do is read Richard Clarke’s book to look at what we did in a comprehensive systematic way to try to protect the country against terror. And you’ve got that little smirk on your face. It looks like you’re so clever…
Clinton's answers raise many points that call for answers. More tomorrow.
DU, KOS, and Huffington are falling all over this buffoon.
What a glorious thing.
Thank you for letting me know that, Cincinna! I'm a virgin to all three of those sites (seriously.)
My job is to hose down my fellow FReepers with hot water and disinfectant upon return from such dark, dank, diseased caves.
Where does The Grifter get this idea that Republicans think he was obsessed with bin Laden? We all know what Billyjob was obsessed with and it wasn't in Afghanistan, it was right under his desk.
If the moonbats love it, even better! They will only encourage him and that can only be good for us.
He has an interview on NBC with Fat Timmah on Meet the Press tomorrow also..
I wonder if it is LIVE or recorded??
If it is LIVE...look for Fat Timmah to have stocked up on anything he can find to be negative about Bush, so Clinton can point that crooked finger that way.
Fat Timmah will ATTEMPT to clean up this mess....but methinks Clinton has once again "stained" the evidence...LOL
***Hey, Slick: That ploy may psych out the ladies, but it ain't playin' here.***
LADIES? What "lady" was ever psyched out over blubber boy? The women in Clintoon's life have all been scum, including his Mafia-friendly mother.
Yep. This Clinton thrashing, plus Hugo Chavez's devil tantrum, both ought to seal it for the GOP in November.
Your example of the fictitious Nixon/Katie exchange would be wonderful if brought to life on a vid and put side-by-side with this one.
I have a feeling that the Sunday Talk show thread will have WAY over 1000 posts tomorrow....LOL
What is the crime? I appreciate you edifying me, it flew right over my head because I didn't realize he copped to a felony.
He also has a WC Fields nose.
Ohhh damn, great reply!!! LOL
He was to busy concentrating on things that really mattered to him and that's getting in womens' pants.
IF he damaged himself, WATCH for all this buttlickers to come out in droves defending him against FOX and those EVIIIIILLLL right wingers! Just you watch! The NYSlimes will be the first to lead off with accusing FOX and the extreme right wing with a conspiracy to destroy bubba's legacy! BANK ON IT!
Mr. President, here's what you said on Fox this morning [roll tape]:
I worked hard to try and kill him. I authorized a finding for the CIA to kill him. We contracted with people to kill him. I got closer to killing him than anybody has gotten since. And if I were still president we’d have more than 20,000 troops there trying to kill him.
What was your legal authority for authorizing the assassination of bin Laden?
Can the CIA kill bin Laden and has an American president ever before disclosed that the CIA kills people?
When did you get close to killing bin Laden and what prevented you from killing him at that time?
Did you ever brief Congress on your efforts or plans to kill bin Laden? If so, how and to whom was this information transmitted?
Did you discuss with foreign leaders, such as the Saudis, your efforts to kill bin Laden?
Did you ever ask other governments to assist you in your efforts to kill bin Laden? If not, why not?
Why did Richard Clarke testify to the 9/11 Commission that the Clinton administration had "no plan" at all on bin Laden? As the Chief of Counterterrorism, was he unaware of your administration's efforts to kill bin Laden?
Etc.
I wonder how Maverick POW John McCain will help?
Is that our new nickname for President Bush? I love it!
LOL, Jeff. I'll take this opportunity to gratuitously repost my El Diablo post from the other day:
Hey Hugo Honey! Here comes The Devil! Scream like a girl!
Uh-oh, better not turn out the light at night cuz The Devil might be under your bed, Huge-ster.
Holy Schnikies, Schavez! That Devil is in the turlit--better not sit down, he's likely to bite ya in the bung.
Watch out! Over there! The Devil is one sneaky dude and may pop out from just about anywhere and sceer ya bad into losing your ample lunch.
Halt with the slumber parties, Hugo! You can't handle any more "Bloody Marys" or two-fingered levitations (or any more freezing of your "Bro.") Already creeped out by the flicker of the candle light, you might think that you hear The Devil say BOO, and then you'd have to go and change your pants.
Whoa there Wormfeed! Better not look in the mirror--you might see That Devil off to the side acomin' fer ya.
And DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT see "Scary Movie," due to your already Devil-weary, weakened, and spooked state.
I'm really worried about you, pal. El Diablo himself is even worried about you. Maybe you should see someone about your fears--I know that they are very real to you.
Somebody hold him.
Clinton would order the death of Chris Wallace for embarassing him before he would risk his precious political capital against real enemies.
He and his minions have railed against the "right wing" since they came to office, and they have tried to imprison their domestic critics while ignoring real enemies of the United States.
This is not conjecture. I was one of those who suffered their rage, and their justice department.
Brilliant my FRiend.
Hillarious!
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