Credit and Blame Where Due
Oh boy. Here we go. I've listened. I've read. I've endured.
Now I must rant.
The blogosphere is all a-twitter at former President Clinton's recent temper tantrum in an interview with Chris Wallace. Apparently the former President is used to people sucking his...you know instead of probing him...on pertinent matters of the day.
Mr. Wallace asked Clinton what a great many people want to know: why he didn't do more to stop bin Laden after the first World Trade Center bombing or the USS Cole incident. It is a damn good question in terms of learning from past mistakes. As everybody knows, if you don't learn from your mistakes you are doomed to repeat them. In that vein, then, the question is important.
Clinton's cuckoo-for-cocoa-puffs routine, while humorous if you despise the don't-make-a-decision-without-floating-a-poll president who prefers blowjobs and snowjobs to just about anything resembling honesty, real work, or integrity, is not all that surprising.
More to the point, however, is the real issue in the importance of the question.
It isn't really important who failed. You can't go back and change history, afterall, so placing blame is a fool's exercise. Could Clinton have done more? Of course. Could the Bush Administration have done more prior to 9/11? Yes. So could have the FBI, CIA, FAA, and any number of individuals.
But I am of the opinion that playing "gotcha" achieves nothing. It is counterproductive. If we want to fix the problem so that it doesn't happen again, we have to stop trying to place the blame.
Personally, I blame Osama bin Laden and his lunatic followers who subscribe to a global caliphate-desiring view of Islam. And if I could get my hands on those motherfuckers I'd feed them a bunch of highly poisonous dates and dance to some highly suggestive and immoral Western music while they writhed on the floors of their caves in goat feces in horrendous pain. Those are the SOBs that deserve blame.
Clinton could have and perhaps should have done more. Of course, he is a Democrat and you have to expect him to deal with terrorism the way he did because of that. Democrats like to believe that you can fix all problems with law and order solutions, but you can't. I mean, they've been losing the battle on violent crime for some time now despite their very concerted efforts to legislate guns out of existence. It should be no surprise to anyone, then, that the Clinton administration acted (or failed to act) as it did.
Moreover, to a certain extent, Clinton was hampered by the Lewinsky Affair (heh heh, aren't I clever?) and the impeachment proceedings. Was he preoccupied? Hell yes, he lacks the personal fortitude to do the hard work and make the tough decisions required of a real leader, so yes, these things likely made him less likely to respond to bin Laden.
For that matter, the same argument can be made about George Bush. Democrats were still claiming that the 2000 election had been "stolen" on September 10th, and the Bush Administration was still trying to find its sea legs. The fact of the matter is up to September 10th, our biggest concerns were domestic issues, not global ones.
I can't blame either Clinton or Bush for not knowing what would happen on September 11th. No, instead we need to focus on the future: learning from our mistakes and preventing a similar occurence.
Clinton and Bush. They need to work together and root out the causes. Did the CIA and FBI fail to connect the dots in time? Did they fail to share information? Is there too much competition and animosity between the agencies? Is there a lack of HUMINT?
Personally, I think both Presidents need to be leaders and not blamers or blame assigners. I don't give a damn about either one's excuses. No excuse is going to bring the 2,996 people back that died that day.
As leaders of the free world, past and present, they have a responsibility. They should be able to look the camera straight in the eye and say "I failed." There is no shame in that, although as politicians they may disagree. I find it easier to respect someone who can admit an error than someone who refuses to take responsibility and attempts to deflect the blame to someone else.
Bill Clinton was the President of the United States. The buck literally stopped on his desk. His administration failed and so did he. The very same statement is true of George W. Bush.
The difference between the two men lies in what they have done since. And, in my opinion, this is where we separate the wheat from the chaff. Bill Clinton (and his intel-stealing-pants-stuffing minions) continue to deny any responsibility and are desperate to deflect any blame from landing on his wet member. George Bush...he became a leader that day.
I was lukewarm on GWB prior to 9/11/01. Don't get me wrong. I voted for him, but you could also say I voted against Al Gore, if you know what I mean. But it is the way George Bush became a leader in the days immediately following September 11th that earned my undying admiration. He doesn't float a poll before acting to make sure people like him. In fact, he makes the tough choices and has the temerity to stand by them in the face of incredible opposition.
He has the internal integrity to stand by his beliefs. He knows in his gut that he has a duty and a responsibility. He knows that his popularity isn't going to be important if the terrorists win this war and he becomes the last President of the United States. He knows that doing what is right isn't always easy, yet he has the guts to stick with it. I admire that. Not only that, I expect it from a President of the United States.
So, while I would urge everyone to stop playing the blame game, I would also urge them to get really fucking serious about this nation's security. We all have a responsibility. You need to keep your eyes and ears open and report anything that strikes you as suspicious. Congress needs to get their act together and work to close the vulnerabilities. The MSM needs to stop enabling the terrorists and realize that they are being played and have become a tool of the enemy. The former President needs to be more supportive of the current war on and our nation's leader. The President needs to stop the leaks and continue to execute the war on terror in an aggressive manner so that the murderous thugs die in a faster manner.
