I just received a brief
I just received a brief second-hand note that, essentially, said the following: "See! Bush is an idiot! He had all these warnings and was so stupid he didn't do anything!"
This is, of course, in response to today's splashy headlines ("BUSH KNEW", "Justice Clarifies Ashcroft Threat," etc., so on and so forth.)
To which, I say the following:
Nonsense. Bush inherited a crippled, de-funded intelligence community from Bill "I Was Getting My Cock Sucked While American Embassies Were Being Bombed" Clinton.
Clinton was in charge when Marines were killed and dragged through the streets of Somalia in 1993. He did nothing. Clinton was in charge when al-Qaeda bombed the World Trade Center in 1993. He did nothing. Clinton was in charge when the Khobar Towers barracks in Saudi Arabia were bombed in 1996. He did nothing. Clinton was in charge when the President of Sudan offered to arrest and extradite Osama bin Laden to the U.S. that same year and to provide us with intelligence information about Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Hezbollah, whose members included two of the 9/11 hijackers. He did nothing. Clinton was in charge when al-Qaeda blew up two American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998. He did nothing--oh, excuse me, that's incorrect. He fired off some cruise missiles, and blew up some tents and a pharmaceutical factory. Now, to conclude the litany: Clinton was in charge when the USS Cole was bombed in 2000. He did nothing.
The Democrats controlled the House Intelligence Committee for a decade, and legislated intelligence budget reductions for every year of that time except 2000. Between 1990 and 1992 alone the intelligence budgets were reduced by nearly 20%. During the Clinton years, not a single Iran-desk chief could speak or read Persian. Not a single Near East Division chief knew Arabic, Persian or Turkish.
Clinton had all the information piling up on his desk for nearly his entire term. America was attacked five times during his presidency. What was he doing when terrorists blew up American Embassies in Africa, killing 245 and wounding 5,000? Getting sucked off in the Oval Office. What was he doing *after* that? Lying to the American people about getting sucked off in the Oval Office, and paralyzing the presidency by putting the entire country through an impeachment trial when he should have been figuring out how to defend us against the coming onslaught.
Clinton and his administration had eight years to react, and did nothing. Worse than nothing: he presided over the dismantling of the American intelligence infrastructure and put his own personal failings ahead of the welfare of the entire nation.
Bush had nine months. Since that time, he has destroyed the al-Qaeda infrastructure and deposed the Islamist regime that gave the terrorists succor. More will follow.
So, I say again: nonsense.
For a more complete (and far more ideologically rabid) indictment of the Clinton intelligence legacy, go here. (Although, be warned: like most Horowitzian screeds, this one is frustratingly short on sources. As in, he don't give none. But if you hunt you will find them. Have fun.)
