Mark, Bush, Clinton, Bin Laden, and Saddam (no who)

[Sroundtable@xxxxxxx]

> Yes, obviously. That's where the "incompetence" comes in. Contrary to what Mc would like to suggest, Clinton's staff warned Bush's about Laden and Bush's team chose to ignore it. 
> Clinton tried to get Saddam with the UN and the GOP pounded him.


If I remember correctly, there was some delay between Saddam's expulsion of inspectors and Clinton's military attack on Iraq, which "coincidentally" occured at the height of the Lewinsky scandal.  In any event, Clinton did not follow through after Saddam comitted a blatant act of defiance.  Clinton bombed a bit, but it accomplished absolutely nothing.  Were the inspectors re-admitted?  NO.  Did Saddam succeed in creating several years to re-arm?  YES.  THAT is a failed policy of the Clinton administration.  

The containment policy is WAY too risky.  What good is containment when he is stockpiling bio and chemical and potential nuclear weapons that could very easily end up in the hands of terrorists (not limited to, but including AQ)?  Had Clinton parked the might of the U.S. military on Iraq's doorstep as Bush has, inspectors would have been re-admitted and this current situation would likely not be occurring.  This entirely logical and backed up by hard, cold facts.  The Albright "containment" Doctrine worked only for Saddam's benefit (FACT).

And exactly what evidence do you have that Bush ignored the Clinton warning about Bin Laden?  Again, you have not a shred of evidence to back this up.  It was Clinton who was offered a chance to have Laden turned over by the Sudanese government and TURNED IT DOWN!  That is a documented fact which can't be refuted, since Albright herself on live TV said that in retrospect it was a mistake.  We had solid evidence that he was responsible for the USS Cole bombing, a blatant act of war, and had every right to apprehend him.  

The truth is, 9/11 probably would have happened had BL been apprehended or not, so it is not Clinton's fault.  This being stated, it certainly is not the fault of Bush in ANY way.  For God's sake, he was only in office for 8 months before this happened.  Do you really think he told the CIA and FBI to ignore AQ and Bin Laden as a matter of policy?  It's a ludicrous assertion at best.

Mc