I agree. I fact Michael Scheuer stated that the US had the opportunity to capture bin ladin several times before the Embassy bombings, but we deferred to Saudi Arabia to jail their own citizen. They dinked around and let him get away. After the embassy bombings Bin Ladin went underground. Clinton took a couple of opportunities to kill him with missile strikes in retaliation for the embassy bombings, but missed. Bush took no retaliation at all after the USS Cole bombing. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/11/12/60minutes/main655407.shtml
One month before Clinton's term ended. There wasn't even time to conclude the investigation into who was responsible before Bush took office. Military action taken days before a new President was inaugurated is just not done. It is left to the incoming president. Two years later . . . after 9/11 got his attention . . . 1 of the planners was killed. 5 others convicted of the Cole Bombing in Yemen later "escaped" prison and are still at large. To cite your own source:
3 months. Don't think for second we didn't know who bombed us. It happened multiple times under Clinton. Maybe if Clinton would have retaliated after the 1st WTC bombing, like you expected Bush to do after the Cole, things would be different today. Strange how you have different standards for Clinton and Bush...
1 month before the election, I should have said. You are right, lets take a look: After the 1993 World Trade Centre bombing, President Clinton promised that those responsible would be hunted down and punished.--Four followers of the Egyptian cleric Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman were captured, convicted of the World Trade Center bombing in March 1994, and sentenced to 240 years in prison each. The purported mastermind of the plot, Ramzi Ahmed Yousef, was captured in 1995, convicted of the bombing in November 1997, and also sentenced to 240 years in prison. After the 1995 bombing in Saudi Arabia, which killed five US military personnel, President Clinton promised that those responsible would be hunted down and punished.--Saudi Arabian authorities arrested four Saudi nationals who confessed to the bombings and were convicted and beheaded in May 1996. After the 1996 al-Khobar towers bombing in Saudi Arabia, which killed 19 and injured 200 US military personnel, President Clinton promised that those responsible would be hunted down and punished.--A federal grand jury in Alexandria, Virginia, indicted thirteen Saudis and an unidentified Lebanese chemist for the Khobar Towers bombing. The suspects remain in Saudi custody. After the 1998 bombing of US embassies in Africa, which killed 257 and injured 5,000, President Clinton promised that those responsible would be hunted down and punished.--Four participants with ties to Osama bin Laden were captured, convicted in U.S. federal court, and sentenced to life in prison without parole in October 2001. Fourteen other suspects indicted in the case remain at large, and three more are fighting extradition in London. In August 1998, President Clinton ordered missile strikes against targets in Afghanistan in an effort to hit Osama bin Laden, who had been linked to the embassy bombings in Africa. The missiles reportedly missed bin Laden by a few hours because he had been tipped off by our Pakistani "allies." After the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole, which killed 17 and injured three US sailors, President Clinton promised that those responsible would be hunted down and punished.The USS Cole investigation was not completed until January 25, according to Condoleeza Rice. After Bush took office. Uhh . . . The ten 1993 WTC bombers were caught, prosecuted, and are serving 240-year sentences. What more retaliation do you want? They planned and executed the attacks from New Jersey, should Clinton have bombed Hoboken in retaliation? After the 1993 World Trade Centre bombing, which killed six and injured 1,000, President Clinton promised that those responsible would be hunted down and punished. And that is exactly what happened. After the 2001 World Trade Centre bombing, which killed 2,997 and injured thousands, President Bush promised that those responsible would be hunted down and punished. We're still waiting. Funny, I feel the same way about you.
Kudos to President Clinton for treating the first terrorist attack on U.S. soil as a criminal case. Let's not go after and destroy the terrorist organizations that planned the attack. Let's just prosecute a few for show, throw them in jail for life, and feel good about what we've done. And then do all over again after the next attack.
Well, Clinton tried to kill Bin Ladin twice with missile attacks. The Israelis have shown us that you have to make them pay for each and every attack. Kill or capture those responsible and make retaliatory strikes when a target is identified. Prosecution of our enemies is not "for show", it's retribution. I feel damn good about it, why don't you? 9/11 happened on Bush's watch and Osama bin Ladin and Ayman El-Zawahiri still run free. The mission ain't accomplished.
Because they continued to attack us after the 1st WTC bombing until they killed 3000 Amercians on 9/11. Not a damn thing to feel good about. Bush had 7.5 months to stop al-qaeda. Clinton had 95 months. Bush has damaged Al-qaeda's network. Many killed, many in prisons, and others hiding out in caves. No, the mission isn't complete, but at least he went after them instead of waiting for them to attack us again. If Bush would have followed Clinton's gameplan, he would have arrested a few terrorists, like Moussaoui, prosecuted them and given them life sentences. And al-qaeda would be just as strong as before the attack and plotting to kill more Americans. It's a question of proactive vs reaction.
More like 28 months. Bin Ladin did not deliver his fatwa against the US until 1996 and 1998 was the year of the first major terrorist attack reliably attributed to al-Qaeda- the U.S. embassy bombings in East Africa. Bush has had 76 months to eliminate Al Qaida like you propose. We are still waiting. It's a question of identifying our enemy and taking them out specifically vs. going out and taking down some arab country at random.