Was There Peace During the Clinton Administration?

Many Americans have very busy lives and pay little attention to the news, especially foreign affairs.

Some hold President Bush responsible for the current situation in may have the impression that it was the Bush Administration's policies in Iraq. Most Americans love peace and hate war. They hope that if we withdraw from Iraq terrorists will leave us alone. But this ignores the many times America has been attacked before the war in Iraq.

It's difficult to fix the exact date that we've been at war with Islamic fanatics. Was it support for Israel in 1967 during the Six Days War? Perhaps it was when President Carter withdrew support for the Shah of Iran, which led to the rise of Ayatollah Khomeini. Carter's weak response to the Iranian hostage situation led Iran to conclude that America was a paper tiger. After a failed rescue attempt Khomeni said "America can't do a damn thing."

See: America Can't Do A Thing by Amir Taheri

http://www.benadorassociates.com/article/8781

Whatever the date, it was long before September 11, 2001. Whether Al Qaeda was in Iraq before the Iraq War is a debatable point. We have been at war with Islamic Fascists for a long time. That they are there now is not. There is no question that they are there now.

The terrorist menace grew increasingly worse during the Clinton administration and the attacks were never responded to effectively. Below is a partial list of the attacks just during Clinton's term in office. The following is a list is from:

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/015216.php

* January 25, 1993: Mir Aimal Kansi, a Pakistani, fired an AK-47 into cars waiting at a stoplight in front of the Central Intelligence Agency headquarters in Virginia, killing two CIA employees.

* February 26, 1993: Islamic terrorists try to bring down the World Trade Center with car bombs. They failed to destroy the buildings, but killed 6 and injured over 1000 people.

* March 12, 1993: Car bombings in Mumbai, India leave 257 dead and 1,400 others injured.

* July 18, 1994: Bombing of Jewish Center in Buenos Aires, Argentina, kills 86 and wounds 300. The bombing is generally attributed to Hezbollah acting on behalf of Iran.

* July 19, 1994: Alas Chiricanas Flight 00901 is bombed, killing 21. Generally attributed to Hezbollah.

* July 26, 1994: The Israeli Embassy is attacked in London, and a Jewish charity is also car-bombed, wounding 20. The attacks are attributed to Hezbollah.

* December 11, 1994: A bomb explodes on board Philippine Airlines Flight 434, killing a Japanese businessman. It develops that Ramzi Yousef planted the bomb to test it for the larger terrorist attack he is planning.

* December 24, 1994: In a preview of September 11, Air France Flight 8969 is hijacked by Islamic terrorists who planned to crash the plane in Paris.

* January 6, 1995: Operation Bojinka, an Islamist plot to bomb 11 U.S. airliners over the Pacific Ocean, is discovered on a laptop computer in a Manila, Philippines apartment by authorities after a fire occurred in the apartment. Noted terrorists including Ramzi Yousef and Khalid Shaikh Mohammed are involved in the plot.

* June 14—June 19, 1995: The Budyonnovsk hospital hostage crisis, in which 105 civilians and 25 Russian troops were killed following an attack by Chechan Islamists.

* July—October, 1995: Bombings in France by Islamic terrorists led by Khaled Kelkal kill eight and injure more than 100.

* November 13, 1995: Bombing of OPM-SANG building in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia kills 7

* November 19, 1995: Bombing of Egyptian Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan kills 19.

* January 1996: In Kizlyar, 350 Chechen Islamists took 3,000 hostages in a hospital. The attempt to free them killed 65 civilians and soldiers.

* February 25 - March 4, 1996: A series of four suicide bombings in Israel leave 60 dead and 284 wounded within 10 days.

* June 11, 1996: A bomb explodes on a train traveling on the Serpukhovsko-Timiryazevskaya Line of the Moscow Metro, killing four and unjuring at least 12.

* June 25, 1996: The Khobar Towers bombing, carried out by Hezbollah with Iranian support. Nineteen U.S. servicemen were killed and 372 wounded.

* February 24, 1997: An armed man opens fire on tourists at an observation deck atop the Empire State Building in New York City, United States, killing a Danish national and wounding visitors from several countries. A handwritten note carried by the gunman claims this was a punishment attack against the "enemies of Palestine".

* November 17, 1997: Massacre in Luxor, Egypt, in which Islamist gunmen attack tourists, killing 62 people.

* January 1998: Wandhama Massacre - 24 Kashmiri Pandits are massacred by Pakistan-backed Islamists in the city of Wandhama in Indian-controlled Kashmir.

* February 14, 1998: Bombings by Islamic Jihadi groups at an election rally in the Indian city of Coimbatore kill about 60 people.

* August 7, 1998: Al Qaeda bombs U.S. embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Nairobi, Kenya, killing 225 people and injuring more than 4,000.

* August 31 – September 22, 1998: Russian apartment bombings kill about 300 people, leading Russia into Second Chechen War.

* December 1998: Jordanian authorities foil a plot to bomb American and Israeli tourists in Jordan, and arrest 28 suspects as part of the 2000 millennium attack plots.

* December 14, 1998: Ahmed Ressam is arrested on the United States–Canada border in Port Angeles, Washington; he confessed to planning to bomb the Los Angeles International Airport as part of the 2000 millennium attack plots.

* December 24, 1998: Indian Airlines Flight 814 from Kathmandu, Nepal to Delhi, India is hijacked by Islamic terrorists. One passenger is killed and some hostages are released. After negotiations between the Taliban and the Indian government, the last of the remaining hostages on board Flight 814 are released in exchange for release of 4 terrorists.

* January 2000: The last of the 2000 millennium attack plots fails, as the boat meant to bomb USS The Sullivans sinks.

* August 8, 2000: A bomb exploded at an underpass in Pushkin Square in Moscow, killing 11 people and wounding more than 90.

* August 17, 2000: Two bombs exploded in a shopping center in Riga, Latvia, injuring 35 people.

* October 12, 2000: AL Qaeda bombs USS Cole with explosive-laden speedboat, killing 17 US sailors and wounding 40, off the port coast of Aden, Yemen.

Top Democrats have written a letter to ABC threatening to withdraw the network's broadcast license in response to the TV movie "Path to 9/11" because it shows that that the Clinton Administration's response to these attacks were weak and ineffectual. These same thugs are quick to cry "Censorship!" whenever a conservative raises objections to a controverial film or book.

The historical record is undeniable. President Clinton and his Administration never responded effectively to these attacks. They were treated as isolated incident and crimes. How could a movie be faithful to the truth and portray anything else?

President Clinton was quick to take credit when things did occasionally go right. Ahmed Ressam had planned to blow up Los Ingeles International Airport on December 31, 1999. The attack called the 'Millenium Plot' was thwarted by an alert female Customs agent during a routine inspection. Despite the claims of President Clinton, customs officials were given no special warning to be on alert at that time.

http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=ressam12m&date=20040412

It was police in the Philippines who thwarted the 'Bojinka' plot to kill Pope John Paul II and destroy eleven U.S. airliners over the Pacific Ocean. President Clinton tried to take credit for this too. He played no role whatsoever in uncovering this plot.

The Democrat Party has changed sice the days of Presidents Roosevelt, Truman and Kennedy. While many Republicans disagreed with their policies and decisions, hardly anyone questioned their detrmination to protect our nation from its' enemies. But times have changed. The modern day Democrat Party's reputation for being weak on national defense is well deserved.