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Since many articles disappear from the internet, I have put them here so they are available to be read at any time. Check them out and - VOTE DEMOCRAT on November 2, 2004!
washingtonpost.com
Don't Put The Blame On Clinton
By Steve Ricchetti
Saturday, February 22, 2003; Page A25
Charles Krauthammer's column blaming all the world's problems on former president Bill Clinton [op-ed, Feb. 14] echoes attacks by ultraconservative writers and regurgitates their anti-Clinton bile to distort history. Krauthammer's allegations are wrong and misleading. At a time when our nation is preparing for war, we should be serious about serious things, rather than gathering debating points to please one extreme of the political spectrum. Consider:
Iraq. In 1991 we had 500,000 troops in and around Iraq. President George H.W. Bush decided on a strategy of containment, not overthrow. During the Clinton years, military force was deployed against Iraq on four occasions, including an intensive four-day air campaign in 1998 that significantly set back Iraq's program of weapons of mass destruction. As a result of the Clinton administration's efforts -- the combination of sanctions, strong enforcement of the no-fly zone and military action -- the Iraq our troops face today is far weaker than it was a decade ago.
North Korea. Pyongyang's nuclear program was built up during the 1970s and '80s, and the plutonium possibly used to make one or two nuclear weapons was created before Clinton took office. It was Clinton -- taking a firm stand, as opposed to the current confused posture of the United States -- who froze North Korea's plutonium production operation. Were it not for Clinton's leadership, North Korea would have enough plutonium to make at least 50 nuclear bombs today.
Terrorism. Krauthammer, citing terrorist attacks during the 1990s, claims we were on a "holiday from history" in our response. He should look a little farther back in the history books. Nearly 500 of our citizens died at the hands of foreign terrorists during the Reagan administration, including 241 Marines at barracks in Lebanon, to which that administration's response was promptly to withdraw. The 1980s were the most ravaging decade of terrorism against Americans before Sept. 11, 2001. Except for a single bombing run against Libya one day in April 1986, there was no significant military response.
Under the Clinton administration, fighting terrorism became a national priority. Counterterrorism funding doubled. Force was used against Osama bin Laden and Iraq. Multiple terrorist plots were stopped, including plans to blow up tunnels and the United Nations headquarters and to strike U.S. targets during our millennium celebrations. Al Qaeda cells were rolled up in more than 20 countries. Dozens of important terrorist fugitives were apprehended.
Where were Republican leaders then? Some were busy opposing key efforts to strengthen laws designed to combat terrorists. Others criticized significant counterterrorism funding requests. Perhaps I missed Krauthammer's column at the time chiding his Republican friends for "kicking the can" down the road.
By the way, if any leading Republicans were calling for military action against Afghanistan during the Clinton administration, it is hard to find evidence of it in the public record of that time. Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush certainly did not.
As for the allegation that Sudan "offered up" Osama bin Laden to us in 1996, it's a right-wing lie. It didn't happen. If a more robust strategy for combating international terrorism was obvious before 9/11, President Bush had nine months to initiate it. He did not.
The Balkans. Krauthammer's dismissive description of America's successful efforts to stop ethnic cleansing and genocide in the Balkans as "teacup wars" will come as a shock to the hundreds of thousands of people saved by American action and to the thousands of families who lost loved ones to Serbian aggression. His swipe at those conflicts also insults the courage of the U.S. soldiers who risked their lives in combat in Bosnia and Kosovo and grossly ignores the strategic threat that war in Western Europe's back yard represented.
Every president inherits a world full of problems. From the first President Bush, Clinton inherited a brewing genocide in the Balkans, growing tension in the Middle East, a standoff in Northern Ireland, unrest in Haiti, an unstable situation in Russia, a healthy and dangerous Saddam Hussein in Iraq, and an emerging terrorist threat. It's not former president Bush's fault that these crises carried over, and Clinton certainly didn't spend the next two years blaming his predecessor for them. America and the world were better prepared and able to meet each of these challenges at the end of the Clinton administration than at the beginning.
We should work together to confront the threats to our nation today. But by giving Bill Clinton no credit for his achievements and all the blame for our present problems, Krauthammer's "Holiday From History" column is one long holiday from reality.
The writer was President Clinton's deputy chief of staff.
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