Posted on 09/26/2006 9:05:47 AM PDT by areafiftyone
WASHINGTON - Former advisers ridiculed ex-President Bill Clinton yesterday for saying he had a plan to invade Afghanistan, topple the Taliban and kill Osama Bin Laden after jihadists nearly sank the destroyer Cole.
"The only order we got from [Clinton] after the Cole was to put together a target list for air attacks," said Michael Scheuer, who led the CIA's hunt for Osama Bin Laden under Clinton.
"What I was involved in could in no way be called a full-fledged plan to attack and overthrow the Taliban," he said.
In his fiery interview on "Fox News Sunday," Clinton claimed he did more than President Bush to get Bin Laden before 9/11, disclosing that he had a secret plan to invade Afghanistan and wipe out the Taliban and Al Qaeda.
Clinton insisted he never ordered that invasion because the CIA and FBI could not "certify" that Bin Laden was involved in the Oct. 12, 2000, attack on the Cole in a Yemeni harbor.
Scheuer, who wrote the book "Imperial Hubris," said he met every 10 days with top members of Clinton's anti-terror team and plans for an invasion were never presented or discussed.
He also lashed out at Clinton for blaming subordinates for the failure to get Bin Laden, saying they had 10 chances to kill or capture the terror kingpin before 9/11.
"I was responsible for sending men and women into harm's way to get information he didn't use," Scheuer added.
Fran Townsend, a former top intelligence adviser in Clinton's Justice Department and now Bush's anti-terror czar, rolled her eyes when asked about Clinton's invasion plan.
"There were lots of things that seemed new" in Clinton's recollections on Fox, Townsend said.
Still, Team Clinton stood by its story. "A plan existed, but the ability to act on it was not corroborated by intelligence until after President Clinton left office," said Clinton spokesman Jay Carson.
P.J. Crowley, spokesman for Clinton's National Security Council and a retired Air Force officer with a security clearance, said many contingency plans existed at the Pentagon.
"It wasn't that there was a lack of plans, it's that there was a lack of actionable intelligence," Crowley said.
Scheuer and a retired senior FBI official agreed that they knew almost immediately that Al Qaeda was behind the Cole bombing. "We all said this was definitely Bin Laden," the ex-FBI official said. "But we couldn't take it to court and get an indictment."
Two sources that Clinton repeatedly cited in the Fox interview - the 9/11 commission report and Richard Clarke's book, "Against All Enemies: Inside America's War on Terror" - never mention plans to invade Afghanistan.
Originally published on September 26, 2006
"What I was involved in could in no way be called a full-fledged plan to attack and overthrow the Taliban," he said.
<SNIP>
Scheuer, who wrote the book "Imperial Hubris," said he met every 10 days with top members of Clinton's anti-terror team and plans for an invasion were never presented or discussed.
He also lashed out at Clinton for blaming subordinates for the failure to get Bin Laden, saying they had 10 chances to kill or capture the terror kingpin before 9/11.
"I was responsible for sending men and women into harm's way to get information he didn't use," Scheuer added.
Fran Townsend, a former top intelligence adviser in Clinton's Justice Department and now Bush's anti-terror czar, rolled her eyes when asked about Clinton's invasion plan.
"There were lots of things that seemed new" in Clinton's recollections on Fox, Townsend said.
History is showing that the main preoccupation of The Bent One during his days squatting in the White House was to unzip his fly and drop his pants around his ankles. To hell with the needs of the country.
bookmark bump
Clinton’s Loss? How the previous administration fumbled on bin Laden.
...and scroll down.
Miniter makes 16, count 'em, 16 points.
No, I don't think that Crowley is necessarily a shill for Clinton. The Pentagon has contingency plans for everything. It would be remarkable if it did not have plans in 2000 for the invasion of Afghanistan, the invasion of Iraq, the invasion of Iran, the invasion of France....
Everything few years, the story of US plans to invade Canada, ca 1920, is resurrected.
I've posted that article about 50 times in the last month........LOL.
A double super-dee-duper secret plan.
Sorry, but this article is pure BS. Clinton left the Bush administration with a highly effective plan which would allow the terrorists to attrit themselves 19 at a time.
Well, if we can find all this info, what's the MSM's excuse?
Yup. Even his so-called advisors know he's lying. They are not going to let him get away with it.
Heh. We can put that one on hold for awhile; Stephen Harper has brought Canada back to the adults' table. Many thanks, Canada!
He'd blame the CIA and FBI for that too no doubt.
In the same drawer where Gore's Global Warming Plan amd Kerry's Iraq Plan reside. Of course it's Demo-secretions so the Slimes and Compost would never reveal their contents!
BUBBA the BOOB.....! ( Can we say Boob? )
Bill Clinton was impeached and disbarred for perjury. He is a documented lying sack of Sh*t. This is all anyone needs to know.
Well, it's probably safe now - Mr. Carson describe the specifics of the impeached former president's "plan." Tell us about what you knew, when you were planning to strike, the means of attack and, of course define success.
"...disclosing that he had a secret plan to invade Afghanistan and wipe out the Taliban and Al Qaeda."
It was so secret he could not tell anyone about it???
That part is true.
The pentagon is suppose to have lots of plans for various scenarios ready to execute.
As Grenada showed us. not all plans are good
And this statement was supposed to defend the inaction of the Clinton Presidency? Sounds more like an indictment on the ineffectiveness of Bubba's intelligence community. It also reveals how Clinton was approaching terrorism as a civil matter that needed irrefutable evidence before prosecuting the enemy.
Clinton's Presidency was not only a complete failure, it did great harm to our country through his innaction, incompetence, and WRONG action. The only thing that ever held up the Clinton Presidency was the media. If the media reported truthfully he'd have been a disgraced, one-term President, and the damage he did would have been minimal.
Chickens coming home to roost!
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