ratbastid

I don't think the Clinton administration is blameless. Not at all. Now, they didn't manipulate post-attack senitiment to launch a massively ill-conceived campaign against a country that had nothing to do with the attack, in the name of national security. Clinton isn't giving speeches right now praising himself for keeping America safe. Al Gore isn't talking about the "hellofa job" he did on national security.

I'm not really talking about blame. I'm not particularly interested in blame. I'm VERY interested in exposing lies and political manipulation, especially when the effect of those manipulations is still out in the future and I can still do something about it. These guys are making a pre-election attempt to parlay their failure into success, and I'm looking to call them out on it.

I don't blame Bush and company for 9/11. That attack might very well have been inevitable--it probably would have happened no matter who the president was. Since that time, though, he's done almost nothing I can approve of, including all the current bluster about homeland security. (I know, you might have examples of things he's done right... that's why I said "almost nothing". Ousting the Taliban was the right move. Keeping them ousted has been an utter failure, but that's another thread.)

As far as I can tell, all that our efforts domestically and overseas have done is to engender a new generation of terrorists, kill thousands of Americans and tens of thousands of non-Americans, and cause two civil wars. We're in for decades of insecurity as a result of those things. And I'm unwilling to ignore the irony that it was all done in the name of security.