Saturday, September 30, 2006

Clinton's Revisionist History

Appears the former president got a few details wrong in his recent interview with Chris Wallace, according to Richard Miniter:

In his Fox interview, Clinton said "no one knew that al-Qa'ida existed" in October 1993 during the tragic events in Somalia. False. Clinton's national security adviser, Tony Lake, told me that he learned of bin Laden in 1993 and by 1994 regularly briefed the president on the terrorist...

In 1994, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed (who would later plan the 9/11 attacks) launched Operation Bojinka to down 11 planes simultaneously over the Pacific, killing about 3000 people. A sharp-eyed Filipina police officer foiled the plot. The sole American response: increased law-enforcement co-operation with the Philippines.
In 1995, al-Qa'ida detonated a 100kg car bomb outside the US military's Office of the Program Manager in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, killing five Americans and wounding 60 more. The FBI was sent in.
In 1996, al-Qa'ida bombed the barracks of American pilots patrolling the "no-fly zones" over Iraq, killing 19. Again, the FBI went in.
In 1997, bin Laden repeatedly declared war on the Western world. In February 1997, bin Laden told an Arab television network: "If someone can kill an American soldier, it is better than wasting time on other matters." Clinton did not respond.
In 1998, al-Qa'ida simultaneously attacked US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, killing 224 people including 12 American diplomats.


And so on. In my own opinion, no one's to blame for 9/11 but Osama Bin Laden and his Al Qaeda cronies, but Clinton does the legacy he's so obsessed over a disservice by denying mistakes.