"Nobody died when Clinton lied"

I love bumper stickers. True, I am too much of a perfectionist to slap one on my car -- it just makes the car look less nice -- but I certainly enjoy reading other people's ugly car decals. I saw one today that said, "Stop global whining!" I thought it was well delivered.

The one that I'd like to comment on is found in the title of this post. It comes from the W. presidency and relates to the Iraq war, and that Bush supposedly lied to get us into war. Now, there are a plethora of arguments regarding that assumption, and I've briefly lit upon them before in a previous post, but you can find even more reasons here. However, that's not the reason I am making this post. In fact, I intend to prove that people did die due to Clinton's lie, albeit in a roundabout sort of way.

Al Qaeda (i.e., meaning, 'the base') have been officially around since 1988, causing problems for lots of people in many countries. Sadly, we helped support the mujaheddin fighters in Afghanistan to defeat the Russians who afterwards would then build the foundation for the Al Qaeda network. Osama bin Ladin took issue with the US once we laid foot in Saudi Arabi in an effort to defeat Iraq the first time. The "land of two mosques" (Medina and Mecca) was defiled by infidels when we sought to help Kuwait. Yeah, I know, it's just a bunch of sand.

Anyway, in the 1990s, under President Clinton's 2 consecutive terms in office, the Al Qaeda network attacked us several times. The first major attack is one we rarely hear about any more; the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center. According to some, the tactic they used (a cubetruck full of explosives) was a CIA style idea which, again, we taught them. It killed 6 people, injured over a thousand and caused +$300 million in damages. The intent was to force one tower to collapse into another and potentially kill hundreds of thousands of people. Thankfully, it didn't happen.

Look at it this way; a group of 200-300 operatives, in less than 4 years, was able to get into the US, buy nearly a ton of explosives, and execute a decent plan of attack. Did we retaliate? Well, we prosecuted those involved, and deported some (one of which was acquited in Jordan and released), but where is the Special Forces group going into the terrorist training camp and eliminating subjects? Right, we wouldn't hear about that. Still, in 1998, Al Qaeda has the gall to bomb us again, twice. So if we did punish them at all, it certainly didn't bat an eye for them.

Two US Embassys in Tanzania and Kenya are blown to smithereens in 1998, and 300 people die in that process. We did respond with cruise missiles, but we managed to bomb a pharmacuetical facility which made 50% of the medicine for Sudan. After an investigation, it was determined that our intelligence was "faulty." An after report stated our efforts did not deter the Al Qaeda network. If anything, blowing up a country's medical supplies may have bolstered recruits.

But in 1998, the US is busy with allegations towards President Clinton and a certain intern. Words like "impeachment" and "what the definition of 'is,' is?" were floating around. Suspected cigars and stained dresses is the focus of the media of the Lewinski scandal (also of note, Jennifer Flowers and Paula Jones). Here's my main crux; Senator John Glenn was the first American in space back in the 1960s. Later he gets into politics and becomes a US Senator from Ohio in 1974. He also happens to be heading the Senate Committee in charge of the investigations against the president. Remember what happens then? At 77 years old, NASA decides to send him back into space. Why? Even gets a standing ovation during a State of the Union address by Bill Clinton for being the "oldest person going into space." And Bill Clinton retains his position despite perjury and (obviously) tarnishing the office of the presidency. Sure, sure, Nixon, Andrew Johnson, etc. But Nixon had the dignity to resign! (And the law used against Andrew Johnson was deemed unconstitutional later.)

Yemen, July of 2000 we have a Navy ship, the USS Cole refueling at a local port. Then, 2 suicide bombers ram into the side of the ship, causing a 40 x 60 foot hole and killing 17 sailors in the process, wounding even more. Here's what Bill Clinton said, "If, as it now appears, this was an act of terrorism, it was a despicable and cowardly act. We will find out who was responsible and hold them accountable". But nothing happened. Actually, it wasn't until President Bush's start that they even definitively said that it was actually Al Qaeda, even though Al Qaeda claimed it.

A little over a year later, the twin towers actually do come down, as Al Qaeda had planned back in 1993. In 1996, there was a bombing of the Khobar tower in Saudi Arabia that killed 19 servicemen from the US. Images of Osama bin Laden being congratulated were circulating around shortly thereafter, so the connection leading up to 9/11 would have been, at least from my perspective, a little obvious. Is it so obvious now that we've been in Afghanistan and Iraq? No, we've really put a beating on them. However, after reading Mark Steyn's book America Alone, maybe not.

Nonetheless, if perhaps had John Glenn not been bought out, and had he and others done their jobs, we could have moved on quicker from the impeachment and focused on pending issues such as the growing strength of the Al Qaeda. Maybe if Clinton hadn't cut the Department of Defense to 3% of the GDP, we would have been more astute. And a hundred more maybe's and if's as well. The point is that because of the long and drawn out political scandal, if Clinton hadn't lied about every little detail before the truth was finally brought forth, maybe we could have saved lives, maybe even a war or two, and could have been in a different place altogether. This is, of course, just conjecture. But it would be nice to know...