Another Smear/Lie On Bill Clinton Is Circulating

In 1998 President Clinton launched a major attack on al Queda and tried to kill Osama bin Laden:

The United States launched cruise missile strikes in Afghanistan and Sudan yesterday against centres allegedly linked with the terrorist bombings of two American embassies.

At the time the right mocked him for it, claiming he was"wagging the dog" and "bombing an asprin factory" - a chemical plant that belonged to Osama bin Laden.

And just how many cruise missiles were launched at bin Laden in Afghanistan?

About 75 cruise missiles landed in Afghanistan at Bin Laden's camps around Khost and Jalalabad. The Khost camp, Zawhar Kili, was the scene of a meeting of "senior leaders of Islamic militant and terrorist groups linked to bin Laden," and was regarded by Pakistani intelligence as a "summit" convened by bin Laden.

75 cruise missiles launched directly at al Queda camps in Afghanistan. 75 cruise missiles!

Today Newsweek has a craftily-worded story that the right is using to smear former President Bill Clinton, saying he lied about trying to get bin Laden. The Newsweek story, The Report the CIA Didn't Want You to See, contains the following passages,

... The report also seemed to raise new questions about former President Clinton's angry claim to Fox News anchor Chris Wallace last year that he had authorized the CIA to "kill" Osama bin Laden--a directive that the report suggested was more ambiguous and limited than Clinton asserted.

[. . .] Clinton appeared to have been referring to a December 1999 Memorandum of Notification (MON) he signed that authorized the CIA to use lethal force to capture, not kill, bin Laden. But the inspector general's report made it clear that the agency never viewed the order as a license to "kill" bin Laden--one reason it never mounted more effective operations against him. "The restrictions in the authorities given the CIA with respect to bin Laden, while arguably, although ambiguously, relaxed for a period of time in late 1998 and early 1999, limited the range of permissible operations," the report stated.

So let's look at what the right is spreading today.

Don Surber: Clinton lied, people died,

Michael Isikoff, the reporter who broke the Monica Lewinsky story only to have his editors at Newsweek spike the story, has caught Bill Clinton in another lie: He never authorized the killing of Osama bin Laden.

Surber clearly doesn't understand what a cruise missile is - or what 75 of them can do.

Captain's Quarters, Did Clinton Lie About Targeting Bin Laden?,

It appears that Bill Clinton may have exaggerated his record when it came to strategizing against Osama bin Laden. Newsweek's Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball take a look at the Inspector General's report of the pre-9/11 intelligence failures at the CIA and find an interesting nugget. Despite Clinton's angry assertion to Chris Wallace in last year's controversial Fox interview, he never gave the CIA an assassination order regarding bin Laden.

Morrissey apparently also doesn't understand what a cruise missile is capable of.

Macsmind, To Slick Willie it depends on what you mean by "Kill",

Capt Ed notes that Newsweek (ugh) has apparently caught Slick in another (I've lost count) lie.

[. . .] the fact remains that Clinton didn't do squat because they didn't see Bin Laden as important as keeping his ass from being removed from office - it's that simple.

Liberty Pundit, Did Clinton Lie? Is The Pope Catholic?,

How do you know if Bill Clinton is lying? His lips are moving...

[. . .] So Bill Clinton, adamantly saying that he "tried to kill him" was a complete lie. And I'm not surprised one bit that it was.

... He did nothing.

We were attacked at least three times on his watch, and he did nothing (first WTC attack, the African embassies, and the USS Cole...I might be leaving one out).

More examples:

Hang Right Politics, CIA Report Unmasks Another Clinton Lie

Billy Boy Caught In A Lie, Again...

Wake Up America,

There is plenty of blame to go around for 9/11 and Clinton is going to have to start accepting his fair share of it.

Clinton Caught In Yet Another Lie

The Strate-Sphere,

The conservative bloggers have had Clinton on tape himself commenting on how he talked himself into impotence on Bin Laden. Clinton was not a lame duck in his second term - he was a hamstrung duck. He could not dare to make any bold moves because of his personal/professional issues. So while he was being serviced by an intern in the Oval Office he let Bin Laden run free to finish his work on 9-11. They ultimate screwing of the American people - and he did not even offer us a drink.

Q and O, Clinton caught in another fabrication,

That he lied about his order concerning bin Laden should come as no surprise.

Gateway Pundit, Newsweek Reporters Catch Slick Willy in Another Lie?

Ace of Spades,

Didn't we already know Clinton had refused to actually give a kill order on bin Ladin? We know this, it's proven by documentation, but the media won't report it. I'd say it's possible the media will be shamed into finally reporting it by this new report, but that's simply absurd.

And it goes on and on. That's a whole lot of so-called "conservatives" who don't even know what a cruise missile is.

Comments

[JohnCP]

RSSRAI says Clinton missed being a great president because he got a BJ? Huh? It'll take more than a BJ to change my mind about Clinton being one of the best presidents we've ever had. If sex is the way Clinton entertained himself and laid back, that's fine with me. He certainly didn't mean to harm anyone. We didn't hold Kennedy's sexual proclivities against him; why should we put Clinton down for similar interests?

The real culprit here is NEWSWEEK. NEWSWEEK, like all the other less popular corporate trash, is nothing but a cheap gossip rag; perfect reading material for the mentally challenged nitwits in the Right wing.
jp

[nunzia]

Newsweek is trash. Don't subscribe, don't buy, don't read. I cancelled my scrip to that rag years ago when they went after Clinton like vultures. Haven't missed it, at all.

[Grulg]

I just would LOVE to see Hilary giving some sorta Oval Office Speech, then have her say-and now for a few words from my Sponser-and then here's Brother Bill, smiling that WC Fields grin of his and going off about Darfur or something, jest to STICK it to W and co. Boys that'd be great. I Loathe W and co. Anything to make them look, well, as idiotic as they really are-makes me happy.

[RobertPaul]

As Clinton told Chickie Wallace"At least I tried to get Bin Laden!"

This is just the begining of the smear trail coming up because the Repugs know they are gonna get their ass handed to them. This won't be a "thumpin." This will be a slam dunk!

Good post, let's just keep getting the truth out there so they can't swift boat anyone this time.

[rssrai]

Bill Clinton messed up by not getting Bin Laden when he had the chance. That said George Bush is an idiot. He dropped the ball on Bin Laden when he came into office, and he chose to go into a misguided war against Iraq. I would say that Bush is the worse president we ever had. Bill Clinton could have been a great president if he would have kept his pants zipped and stayed true to his liberal base. I can't forget that Bill Clinton passed NAFTA instead of a universal health care plan, and messed over gays by his don't ask, don't tell policy. I am glad we had Bill CLinton in the White House, but I am more glad that he can't be in the White House again. Oh I forgot, maybe he can. Bad for the democrats.

[seawolf77]

Bill Clinton is one of the greatest presidents ever, and certainly the greatest in my lifetime. Listening to the Nazi's on the right, you'd think he was a total bozo. Just ignore the imbeciles. It's the only way. Talk to them only if you must. And remember Ronald Reagan gives em a hard on.

[msbpodcast]

Uh... Bill Clinton isn't running for (or from) anything anymore. Why are they bothering with him?

[TheOtherMaven]

Why are they bothering with Bill Clinton? Because his wife, Hillary Clinton, is running for President.

Like, duh!

[lawyeredup]

Will definitely take 8 more years of Bill clinton to another day of Bush - cheney.
Having side that, It was said during that period, George "the slam dunk" tenet could not confirm for his then boss that Osama and his terrorist tugs was behind any of the attack because he was already playing politics. What he couldn't confirm for Bill was a "slam dunk" for George. All in the hope to make poor George look presidential.

[DemandTruth]

Funny how all the "respect for the president!" gets thrown out the window for Clinton.

Also funny how the word "lie" passes so easily off these peoples' lips, when they bumble and bluster all over themselves to explain W's pathological lies as "misstatements" or "misunderstandings" or the like.

Sickening.

[jfh]

Funny how after THREE months into his presidency President Clinton is to blame for the 1993 attack on the WTC.

Yet...

The Idiot-In-Chief, the Decider, the one and only Great Pretender to the Non-existent Throne ---"King" George is not responsible for the 9/11 attacks on the WTC even though he was "in power" for NINE months.

[LeftRight]

Having been on one of the ships prepared to send cruise missiles in 1999 (we never got the final shoot order, cause Saudi Arabia had some diplomats in the camp) I can confirm that President Bill Clinton did, in fact, want to take Osama Bin-Laden out, and would have done more were he not being cut off at the knees for lying about a goddamn blowjob!