In 1998 President Clinton launched a major attack on al Queda and tried to kill Osama bin Laden:
The United States launched cruise missile strikes in Afghanistan and Sudan yesterday against centres allegedly linked with the terrorist bombings of two American embassies.
At the time the right mocked him for it, claiming he was”wagging the dog” and “bombing an asprin factory” – a chemical plant that belonged to Osama bin Laden.
And just how many cruise missiles were launched at bin Laden in Afghanistan?
About 75 cruise missiles landed in Afghanistan at Bin Laden’s camps around Khost and Jalalabad. The Khost camp, Zawhar Kili, was the scene of a meeting of “senior leaders of Islamic militant and terrorist groups linked to bin Laden,” and was regarded by Pakistani intelligence as a “summit” convened by bin Laden.
75 cruise missiles launched directly at al Queda camps in Afghanistan. 75 cruise missiles!
Today Newsweek has a craftily-worded story that the right is using to smear former President Bill Clinton, saying he lied about trying to get bin Laden. The Newsweek story, The Report the CIA Didn’t Want You to See, contains the following passages,
… The report also seemed to raise new questions about former President Clinton’s angry claim to Fox News anchor Chris Wallace last year that he had authorized the CIA to “kill” Osama bin Laden—a directive that the report suggested was more ambiguous and limited than Clinton asserted.
[. . .] Clinton appeared to have been referring to a December 1999 Memorandum of Notification (MON) he signed that authorized the CIA to use lethal force to capture, not kill, bin Laden. But the inspector general’s report made it clear that the agency never viewed the order as a license to “kill” bin Laden—one reason it never mounted more effective operations against him. “The restrictions in the authorities given the CIA with respect to bin Laden, while arguably, although ambiguously, relaxed for a period of time in late 1998 and early 1999, limited the range of permissible operations,” the report stated.
So let’s look at what the right is spreading today.
Don Surber: Clinton lied, people died,
Michael Isikoff, the reporter who broke the Monica Lewinsky story only to have his editors at Newsweek spike the story, has caught Bill Clinton in another lie: He never authorized the killing of Osama bin Laden.
Surber clearly doesn’t understand what a cruise missile is – or what 75 of them can do.
Captain’s Quarters, Did Clinton Lie About Targeting Bin Laden?,
It appears that Bill Clinton may have exaggerated his record when it came to strategizing against Osama bin Laden. Newsweek’s Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball take a look at the Inspector General’s report of the pre-9/11 intelligence failures at the CIA and find an interesting nugget. Despite Clinton’s angry assertion to Chris Wallace in last year’s controversial Fox interview, he never gave the CIA an assassination order regarding bin Laden.
Morrissey apparently also doesn’t understand what a cruise missile is capable of.
Macsmind, To Slick Willie it depends on what you mean by “Kill”,
Capt Ed notes that Newsweek (ugh) has apparently caught Slick in another (I’ve lost count) lie.
[. . .] the fact remains that Clinton didn’t do squat because they didn’t see Bin Laden as important as keeping his ass from being removed from office – it’s that simple.
Liberty Pundit, Did Clinton Lie? Is The Pope Catholic?,
How do you know if Bill Clinton is lying? His lips are moving…
[. . .] So Bill Clinton, adamantly saying that he “tried to kill him” was a complete lie. And I’m not surprised one bit that it was.
… He did nothing.
We were attacked at least three times on his watch, and he did nothing (first WTC attack, the African embassies, and the USS Cole…I might be leaving one out).
More examples:
Hang Right Politics, CIA Report Unmasks Another Clinton Lie
Billy Boy Caught In A Lie, Again…
Wake Up America,
There is plenty of blame to go around for 9/11 and Clinton is going to have to start accepting his fair share of it.
Clinton Caught In Yet Another Lie
The Strate-Sphere,
The conservative bloggers have had Clinton on tape himself commenting on how he talked himself into impotence on Bin Laden. Clinton was not a lame duck in his second term – he was a hamstrung duck. He could not dare to make any bold moves because of his personal/professional issues. So while he was being serviced by an intern in the Oval Office he let Bin Laden run free to finish his work on 9-11. They ultimate screwing of the American people – and he did not even offer us a drink.
Q and O, Clinton caught in another fabrication,
That he lied about his order concerning bin Laden should come as no surprise.
Gateway Pundit, Newsweek Reporters Catch Slick Willy in Another Lie?
Ace of Spades,
Didn’t we already know Clinton had refused to actually give a kill order on bin Ladin? We know this, it’s proven by documentation, but the media won’t report it. I’d say it’s possible the media will be shamed into finally reporting it by this new report, but that’s simply absurd.
And it goes on and on. That’s a whole lot of so-called “conservatives” who don’t even know what a cruise missile is.