President Clinton led the fight against terrorism over strong opposition from
Republicans in Congress and the pro-Republican Media. Here's a partial - yet
incredibly long - list of accomplishments against terrorism for which the
Clinton Administration gets almost no credit or even recognition. President
Clinton:
-- sent legislation to Congress to TIGHTEN AIRPORT SECURITY. (Remember,
this is before 911) The legislation was defeated by the Republicans because of
opposition from the airlines.
-- sent legislation to Congress to allow for BETTER TRACKING OF TERRORIST
FUNDING. It was defeated by Republicans in the Senate because of opposition from
banking interests.
-- sent legislation to Congress to add tagents to explosives, to allow for
BETTER TRACKING OF EXPLOSIVES USED BY TERRORISTS. It was defeated by the
Republicans because of opposition from the NRA.
When Republicans couldn't prevent executive action, President Clinton:
-- Developed the nation's first anti-terrorism policy, and appointed first
national coordinator.
-- Stopped cold the planned attack to blow up 12 U.S. jetliners
simultaneously.
-- Stopped cold the planned attack to blow up UN Headquarters.
-- Stopped cold the planned attack to blow up FBI Headquarters.
-- Stopped cold the planned attack to blow up the Israeli Embassy in
Washington.
--Stopped cold the planned attack to blow up Boston airport.
-- Stopped cold the planned attack to blow up Lincoln and Holland Tunnels in
NY.
-- Stopped cold the planned attack to blow up the George Washington Bridge.
-- Stopped cold the planned attack to blow up the US Embassy in Albania.
-- Tried to kill Osama bin Laden and disrupt Al Qaeda through preemptive
strikes (efforts denounced by the G.O.P.).
-- Brought perpetrators of first World Trade Center bombing and CIA killings
to justice.
-- Did not blame Bush I administration for first World Trade Center bombing
even though it occurred 38 days after they had left office. Instead, worked
hard, even obsessively -- and successfully -- to stop future terrorist attacks.
-- Named the Hart-Rudman commission to report on nature of terrorist threats
and major steps to be taken to combat terrorism.
-- Tripled the budget of the FBI for counterterrorism and doubled overall
funding for counterterrorism.
-- Detected and destroyed cells of Al Qaeda in over 20 countries
-- Created a national stockpile of drugs and vaccines including 40 million
doses of smallpox vaccine.
-- Robert Oakley, Reagan Counterterrorism Czar says of Clinton's
efforts "Overall, I give them very high marks" and "The only major
criticism I have is the obsession with Osama"
-- Paul Bremer, Bush's Administrator of Iraq disagrees slightly with Robert
Oakley saying he believed the Clinton Administration had "correctly focused on
bin Laden. "
-- Barton Gellman of the Washington Post put it best, "By any measure
available, Clinton left office having given greater priority to terrorism than
any president before him" and was the "first administration to undertake a
systematic anti-terrorist effort."
Here, in stark contrast, is part of the Bush-Cheney anti-terrorism record
before September 11, 2001:
-- Backed off Clinton administration's anti-terrorism efforts.
-- Shelved the Hart-Rudman report.
-- Appointed new anti-terrorism task force under Dick Cheney. Group did not
even meet before 9/11.
-- Called for cuts in anti-terrorism efforts by the Department of
Defense.
-- Gave no priority to anti-terrorism efforts by Justice Department.
-- Ignored warnings from Sandy Berger, Louis Freeh, George Tennant, Paul
Bremer, and Richard Clarke about the urgency of terrorist threats.
-- Halted Predator drone tracking of Osama bin Laden.
-- Did nothing in wake of August 6 C.I.A. report to president saying Al Qaeda
attack by hijack of an airliner almost certain.
-- Bush - knowing about the terrorists' plans to attack in America, warned
that terrorists were in flight schools in the US - took a four week vacation.
-- By failing to order any coordination of intelligence data, missed
opportunity to stop the 9/11 plot as Clinton-Gore had stopped the millennium
plots.
-- Blamed President Clinton for 9/11.
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