Clinton's Artless Equivocation on 'The Path to 9/11'

Real Clear Politics ^ | September 08, 2006 | Dennis Byrne

[kellynla]

If the worst criticism of President Bush is that he lied to us about Iraq, then we just got a whopping reminder of Bill Clinton's extraordinary talents for deception.

In a letter to ABC's chief Bob Iger, Clinton's attorney, Bruce Lindsey, alleges that the network's program, The Path to 9/11 is "factually and incontrovertibly" inaccurate in suggesting that the Clinton administration let Osama Bin Laden slip through its fingers. Clinton's defenders, from their high horses, arrogantly have demand that the program be edited to their satisfaction, or be pulled entirely.

Bristling at evidence that Clinton and his administration were wavering and indecisive, the letter asserted that the president aggressively tried to "take a shot at Bin Laden." It cites the 9/11 Commission Report for supposedly giving credit to Clinton for approving "every request made of him by the CIA and the U.S. military involving using force against Bin Laden and al-Qaeda.

This is close enough to the truth to make the "I-didn't-inhale" and "I-didn't-have-sex-with-that-woman" Clinton think he can get away with it. But it is far enough away from the truth to be classified as, if not a bold lie, an artless equivocation.

[SerpentDove]

The thing the Dems aren't counting on is the automatic response the average American has to Bill's self-defense:

"Aren't you that guy who lied to us?"

[auboy]

Osama was the wrong sex for Clinton to take a shot at.

[msnimje]

Do the Democrats really think having this thing pulled will make them the winners?

What is worse for them, having a docudrama they can claim is false SHOWN or their very own words and actions preventing free expression of ideas KNOWN?

[camas]

question: how do i know this filed under "editorials"???

[pankot]

Bruce Lindsey has been and is a Clinton shill.

[PajamaTruthMafia]

From Ghost Wars by Steve Coll, Page 244
"Woolsey [CIA Director] did not have a private meeting with the president during Clinton's first year in office... Try as he might, Woolsey could not get a meeting with the President. When a pilot on an apparent suicide mission crashed a single-engine Cessna into the south lawn of the White House in September, 1994, the joke quickly circulated that is was Woolsey trying to get an appointment with Clinton."

From Ghost Wars, Page 254
"Clinton's relationship with Louis Freeh and the FBI was perhaps even worse than his relationship with Woolsey and the CIA."

page 449
When the Clinton administration failed to authorize an attack on bin Laden during a desert hunting trip in 1999, "For some of the ground-level officers involved in the bin Laden chase the decision to hold fire seemed almost unforgivable. It had been one thing before the African embassy bombings to have their plan to raid Tarnak Farm [denied] ... but with the desert camp, recalled one participant, 'We knew he was there. We had assets in place. There was little risk to life and limb to anybody..and it would have been, we thought, definitive ... Some of them [CIA] blamed Clarke, speculating that he was so close to the U.A.E. royal family because of defense deals he had previously negotiated that he would never take the risk of offending them.... '"

Page 571
Even by late 2000, when many members of Clinton's national security cabinet and his Joint Chiefs of Staff at last accepted that hopes for Taliban cooperation against bin Laden were absurd, the Clinton cabinet adamantly opposed military action in Afghanistan. The caution prevailed despite week after week of secret intelligence cables depicting active, advanced, but unspecified al Qaeda plans to launch mass attacks against American civilians.

[petercooper]

Clinton National Security team relaxing, having fun, on The Path to 9/11.

[beyond the sea]

lol

[misharu]

What is worse for them, having a docudrama they can claim is false SHOWN or their very own words and actions preventing free expression of ideas KNOWN?

But isn't this the Leftist modus operandi? If they say it enough, even if untrue, it will be true.

[beyond the sea]

That is a CLASSIC

[GLH3IL]

"Osama was the wrong sex for Clinton to take a shot at."

Yeah, but if Clinton's pickings are getting slim...who knows....

[A Citizen Reporter]

"But isn't this the Leftist modus operandi? If they say it enough, even if untrue, it will be true."

Ask Dan Rather and Mary Mapes how that worked out for them.

[tflabo]

"I just want people to tell the truth" ... BJ Klinocchio

[LegendHasIt]

Here is just one example, putting the lie to the clintonistas claims (excerpted for brevity and copyright protection):

Page 129-130 Hardback, First edition. Dereliction of Duty By Col. Robert "Buzz" Patterson (Regnery Publishing, 2003)

....."It was the Fall of 1998 and the National Security Council (NSC) and the "intelligence Community" were tracking the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden, the shadowy mastermind of terrorist attacks on American targets...."We've got him!"... The watch Officer notified National Security advisor Sandy Berger; "Sir, we've located bin Laden. We have a two hour window to strike." ...

Berger ambled down the stairwell and entered the "Sit. room". He picked up a phone and called the President. .... Clinton was "Not Available".... For about an hour Berger couldn't get the Commander in Chief on the line.....

Finally, the President accepted Berger's call. There was discussion, there were pauses-- and no decision. The President wanted to talk with his Secretaries of State and Defense. He wanted to study the issue further.......

We didn't pull the trigger. We studied the issue until it was too late. The window of opportunity closed...."

Buzz Patterson was one of Clinton's Military Aides... When on Duty, He carried "the Nuclear Football" , a job which kept him within the sound of the President's voice at all times (Except those times when Clinton 'ditched' him to have a little fun.)

[hardworking]

"Aren't you that guy who lied to us?"

Aw-w-w comeon, you're being too hard on the boy. Afterall, it was just a little sorta sex and he didn't really wag his finger at us on TV and say he didn't have 'sexual relations with that woman'. It was all just a figment of our imaginations! That scene on the telly didn't really happen!

[Continental Soldier]

In light of all of the attacks on America that happened during Clinton's administration, how can any thinking American doubt that he and his administration dropped the ball, failed to act, betrayed our country and, now, seek to alter the facts of history?

[uncbob]

The thing the Dems aren't counting on is the automatic response the average American has to Bill's self-defense: "Aren't you that guy who lied to us?"

The same Americans that gave him that 70% approval rating

[A Citizen Reporter]

"The same Americans that gave him that 70% approval rating."

Why are you on every thread carrying clinton's water?

And let's see what you have stuffed in your socks.

[ladyinred]

Since the RATS have threatened ABC with their license to operate, I suspect we are going to see a final version where Clinton is once again the good guy and Bush is all to blame for 911!

This is an outrage beyond belief and just shows how the real Hitlers are the democrats. If the American people are paying any attention at all this should scare them half to death. Alas, the media they watch will make it the republican's fault !