Tuesday, September 7, 2004
Unfinished Thoughts From A Long Labor Day Weekend...
Following up on a discussion I had at the NC State-Richmond game, here are some bits of info I promised a few people (read this part, BRAD!) regarding Bill Clinton's actions against terrorism.
First, is a very telling article from 1996 that outlines Clinton's plan to move new anti-terrorism laws through Congress.
A quote from Clinton:
"We need to keep this country together right now. We need to focus on this terrorism issue," Clinton said during a White House news conference.
...and a sampling of the Republican response. First from then-Senate majority leader Trent Lott:
Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Mississippi, doubted that the Senate would rush to action before they recess this weekend. The Senate needs to study all the options, he said, and trying to get it done in the next three days would be tough.
Then, from Sen. Orrin Hatch:
Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, emerged from the meeting and said, "These are very controversial provisions that the White House wants. Some they're not going to get."
Hatch called Clinton's proposed study of taggants -- chemical markers in explosives that could help track terrorists -- "a phony issue."
The resource for the following info is another blog that had basically listed many of these bullet-points:
September 1996: Republicans in Congress refuse all of Clinton’s requested counterterrorism spending. Orrin Hatch (R-UT): “The administration would be wise to utilize the resources Congress has already provided before it requests additional funding.”
Summer 1998: Clinton issues series of top secret directives to the CIA authorizing the assassination of Osama Bin Laden and several of his top lieutenants.
Paul Bremer (the guy Bush chose to run Iraq, BTW) to the Washington Post on Clinton: “he correctly focused on bin Laden”.
“Overall, I give him very high remarks” – Robert Oakley, Reagan counterterrorism czar.
January 2001: Outgoing Clinton officials say “The Bush team thinks we’re obsessed with terrorism”.
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