You want to know the real reason OBL decided to go for the WTC and Pentagon, possibly Congress/White House attacks? I'll give you three guesses, and I'll give you a hint, his initials are WJC and he held the Presidency for two terms (1993-2001).
December 29, 1992-UBL targets the Goldmore and Aden Hotels in Yemen with bombings in order to kill American soldiers. Hotel Aden bombing is thwarted, Goldmore bomb explodes killing Yemeni citizens, but no American forces were killed because they had checked out the previous day. Goldmore still housed the Marine Corps' Aerial Refueler/Transport Squadron 352. These Marines were evacuated due to "security concerns". Bush Administration deferred to incoming Clinton Administration on this decision. In the weeks and months following, Yemen asked for international help (especially American help) to search for this new terrorist, Osama bin Laden. No help came, Clinton was more concerned with his economic package instead of responding strongly to terrorism and eliminating the Most Wanted Man in America. OBL's first success, didn't even have to kill Americans to get them the hell out of Dodge.
February 26, 1993-The first Twin Towers bombing carried out by the infamous Ramzi Yousef and various "expendables". Clinton never visits the damage site and hardly ever mentions the bombing to the public again, treating it more like a natural disaster rather than a murder. Launches the FBI on the case, while the FBI is successful in eventually capturing Ramzi Yousef, this sends the worse message possible to bin Laden, we won't strike back, we're only going to prosecute you. Bin Laden-2 Clinton-0.
September 25, 1993-Black Hawk helicopter Courage 53 is shot down by RPG fire over the streets of Mogadishu. The two pilots somehow survive, but thanks to a Clinton order back in June, no American armored vehicles are in the vicinity which are able to help the downed pilots. However, the United Arab Emirates fortunately had armored vehicles as part of their troop and were able to rescue the two downed pilots. Response from the White House is non-existent. Previously, the Clinton Admin had responded to a threat on former President George HW Bush's life with a cruise missile attack on an abandoned building. Bin Laden is emboldened and throws his support behind Mohammed Farrah Aideed and trains his men to use RPGs and Rocket Launchers to take down helicopters. Clinton doesn't learn this major lesson "Don't go to the well too many times", in several attempts to capture Aideed or his top advisors, the United States followed this action plan: using helicopters to set up a perimeter, using special forces as policemen, and using Humvees (not the Bradley Fighting Unit) as transports for the captured advisors. None of this worked, they used this plan six times, and Aideed's men pounced on it, using the techniques given to them by bin Laden's men, they subsequently caused what is know as the Battle of the Black Sea which caused the death of 18 soldiers from Task Force Ranger. Clinton again responds with weakness instead of swift justice and again, bin Laden is emboldened to do more because the score is now 3-0 in favor of "Sheikh Osama".
This is just three out of many incidents where Clinton didn't do enough to stop bin Laden before 9/11. What created bin Laden and his attacks was the weakness showed by Clinton and that weakness only furthered bin Laden's courage to continue his attacks because he knew that America would not respond with strength. Until he bit off more than he could chew.
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"This ain't no Ice Cream Social!"
"Hey Grif, Chupathingy...how bout that? I like it...got a ring to it."
"I have no earthly idea what it is I just saw, or what this place is, or where in the hell O'Malley is! My only choice is to blame Grif for coming up with such a flawed plan. Stupid, stupid Grif."
Last edited by archer2371; 12-28-2003 at 06:33 PM..
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