[Mavdog]

Originally Posted by kg_veteran

The only thing that Wallace said about the book was:

"There's a new book out, I suspect you've already read, called 'The Looming Tower.' And it talks about how the fact that when you pulled troops out of Somalia in 1993, bin Laden said, 'I have seen the frailty and the weakness and the cowardice of U.S. troops.'"

The article I cited referred to Wallace's statement as "historically factual." Isn't that true? And what the heck does that have to do with our discussion of whether Clinton lied when he said that "conservative Republicans" and "all of Bush's neo-cons" claimed he was obsessed with bin Laden?

It doesn't. Stay on topic, please.

no kg, the article referred to statments made in the book as "historically factual". the way that the above sentence was written shows the inaccuracies intertwined.

look at this: "when you pulled troops out of Somalia in 1993, bin Laden said, 'I have seen the frailty and the weakness and the cowardice of U.S. troops.'"

that's just flat out wrong. bin laden didn't say that in 1993.

look at correct words: "bin laden said after 9/11 that when you pulled troops out of somalia in 1993 he saw the frailty..."

recall this was the question that, in a way, was the match that set the clinton fireworks off.

I don't know how much simpler I can make this for you.

Clinton said: "And I think it's very interesting that all the conservative Republicans, who now say I didn't do enough, claimed that I was too obsessed with bin Laden. All of President Bush's neo-cons thought I was too obsessed with bin Laden."

In response to that claim, the writer of the article states: " . . . a thorough LexisNexis search identified absolutely no instances of high-ranking Republicans ever suggesting that Mr. Clinton was obsessed with bin Laden, or did too much to apprehend him prior to the bombing of the USS Cole in October 2000. Quite the contrary, Republicans were typically highly supportive of Clinton’s efforts in this regard."

The writer did the research and could not find ONE instance where someone was criticizing Clinton for being too obsessed with bin Laden. That indicates that he was LYING when he said that such statements were made.

Unless, of course, you can point us to such statements, in which case I will be happy to concede the point.

I do recall that the cole attack saw a unanamity typically seen in congress when the us is attacked. the same common purpose as after 9/11.

I also don't see how I could possibly research the quotes from the specified people over the remainder of clinton's 8 years either.

from my view, this is just symtomatic of the preoccupation of so many with clinton, and proving he "lies".

Show me a quote where Gramm said that Clinton was obsessed with bin Laden.

gee, does he have to use the word "obsessed"? gramm said the bill was unnecessary.

Of course it's a fair question. It's THE question. The fact that some Republicans gave support to Clinton doesn't prove that his remark is a lie, but the fact that not a single instance can be found of someone criticizing Clinton like he claimed DOES prove it.

from the article, i'd agree that it looks like it's not accurate. otoh, the recollection may be an accurate portrait of his dealings with them.

a lie? from my perspective he's puffing.

Again, you're trying to change the subject. If you want to talk about George Bush, do it in another thread. Let's talk about Bill Clinton.

If Clinton said "all" and the reality was "some", that might be an exaggeration. But when you can't point me to ANY, that's more than exaggeration. It's a lie.

Feel free to prove me wrong. Point me to one statement made by a "conservative Republican" or a "neo-con" where they said that Clinton was obsessed with bin Laden or doing too much to try and get him.

it is fair to compare these two, they both occupied the same office. my point is their position produces a great deal of rhetoric and hyperbole in their speaking. if you wish to hold clinton to every single word used, the same should be done with bush.

let's see what quotes from the mid 90's come out. the place where I expect to see them is when the "wag the dog" remarks were made, tht's what 1998?

it seems that you won't be satisfied until a republican is found who said the word "obsessed" and "bin laden" in the same sentence.

by focusing on if he "lied" about "conservatives" and "neo-cons" saying he was "obsessed over bin laden", the issue of what failings did clinton's administration have in the conflict with terrorism isn't even addressed.

that was clinton's point, not the criticism by the republicans he says he received, but the question of what did he do, or not do, to defeat the terrorists and perhaps stop 9/11.

likewise, he wants the same question asked of the current administration. that is a very fair request.