Why didn't Bush keep this up pre-9/11? You 20-20 hindsight conservatives certainly didn't ENCOURAGE Clinton to escalate the actions!
en.wikipedia.org
"About 75 cruise missiles landed in Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan at four militant training camps around Khost and Jalalabad: three camps in the Jarawah area near Khost, one of which, El Farouq, trained primarily Afghan Arabs, and Al Badr camp 10 miles to the west which also trained Afghan Arabs and was run by bin Laden.[7] The Khost camp, Zawhar Kili, was reportedly 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.[8] Whether bin Laden would definitely attend was uncertain to the Americans, but the attack was made partly in hopes that bin Laden would attend and be killed.[9] After the attack, the CIA heard that bin Laden had been at Zawhar Kili but had left some hours before the missiles hit.[10]
According to Pakistani journalist Ahmed Rashid, the Al Badr camp controlled by bin Laden and Muawai camps run by the Pakistani Harkat-ul-Mujahideen[11] were the main targets. However, Harkat-ul-Mujahideen was training to fight Indian troops in Kashmir, not Americans.[12] According to Rashid, 20 Afghans, seven Pakistanis, three Yemenis, two Egyptians, one Saudi and one Turk were killed.
U.S. President Bill Clinton announced the attacks in a TV address, saying the Khost camp was "one of the most active terrorist bases in the world,"[13] adding that "I want the world to understand that our actions today were not aimed against Islam" which he called "a great religion."[14]
Some, however, including bin Laden, saw this as a way of attracting attention away from the Lewinsky scandal. On August 17, three days prior to the missile strike, President Clinton admitted in a nationally televised presidential address[15] that he had an inappropriate relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. This address followed President Clinton's grand jury testimony earlier that day.
The Operation Infinite Reach attacks became known as "Monica's War" among TV newspeople, due to their timing. ABC-TV announced to all stations that there would be a special report following Lewinsky's testimony before Congress, then the planned special report was pre-empted by the report of the missile attacks. The combination of the timing of this attack and Operation Desert Fox led to accusations of a Wag the Dog situation." |
