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FRUITS OF NEGLIGENCE, CTD
Andrew Sullivan
As each new story comes in about the scale of the
intelligence failure before the September 11 massacre, the clearer it
becomes that a large amount of anger is the appropriate response.
Bart
Gellman's piece
in the
Washington Post actually shows that the Clinton administration had a chance
to nab bin Laden as he was being expelled from Sudan. The reason they
fumbled the ball was that the Saudis were unwilling to take custody of bin
Laden, and the Clintonites decided they didn't have enough evidence to
indict bin Laden in an American court. Indict him? Why wasn't he killed?
Such are the fruits of treating terrorism as a simple criminal offense,
rather than an act of war. Thanks to former national security adviser, Tony
Lake, and to the secretary of state, Warren Christopher, bin Laden escaped
to Afghanistan to plot the further murders of Americans.
The Post also has a
damning article
about
Clinton's lame cruise missile strike against bin Laden after the embassy
bombings. As one expert put it, "I think that raid really helped elevate bin
Laden's reputation in a big way, building him up in the Muslim world. My
sense is that because the attack was so limited and incompetent, we turned
this guy into a folk hero." In other words, the Clinton administration let
the guy go, then succeeded in cementing his reputation. Way to go, guys.
A
similar sorry tale is told by Sy Hersh in
the New Yorker. If any of you think George Tenet has any reason to be still
running the CIA, you should read Hersh's article. Yes, the first Bush
administration needs to take a hit. But the largest responsibility for
running our intelligence services into the ground must be the Clinton
administration's. "From Bush to Clinton, what happened [in Afghanistan] is
one of the most embarrassing American foreign policy decisions, as bad as
Vietnam," says Bob Kerrey. "We also had a half-baked Iraqi operation and
sent a signal that we're not serious." Amen. Yes, I know this is hindsight.
But accountability matters. When will Tenet resign? And when will Clinton
himself fess up to his record of appalling negligence? In the last resort,
the only ultimate responsibility of the president of the United States is
the security of its citizens from foreign attack. Yes, both Bushes share
part of the blame for our intelligence collapse. But Bill Clinton shoulders
by far the most.
Andrew Sullivan is Editor of andrewsullivan.com
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