Clinton's disrespect for the military helped embolden Osama.
THE WESTERN FRONT
Sept. 11's Echoes of 1969
BY BRENDAN MINITER
Monday, May 20, 2002 12:01 a.m. EDT
opinionjournal.com
"We are especially not going to tolerate these attacks from outlaw states, run by the strangest collection of misfits, loony tunes, and squalid criminals since the advent of the Third Reich."--Ronald Reagan, July 1985
That was the kind of line the Gipper loved to deliver, and a legacy Bill Clinton squandered. Mr. Reagan was responding to a recent hijacking, and he went on to describe an international terrorist network he described as "Murder Inc." that comprised Iran, Libya, North Korea, Cuba and Nicaragua. Two of those countries made George W. Bush's "axis of evil."
It's worth remembering this history as official Washington is now asking "What did the president know, and when did he know it?" In a town run on political advantage, we should expect such a question to dominate discussion when new information surfaces that George Bush was briefed weeks before Sept. 11 on pieces we all now recognize as part of an al Qaeda terror puzzle.
What the rest of us need to ask is, What does official Washington know that it's not admitting?
The answer is quite simple. Until 8:46 a.m. Sept. 11, America was in no mood for the aggressive military and intelligence operations required to head off, neuter and destroy a band of terrorist thugs. And Bill Clinton personified this lackadaisical attitude about national security.
Mr. Clinton, of course, is no more responsible for Sept. 11 than Mr. Bush is. But Mr. Clinton did fail America with his nonchalant attitude towards the military and military operations. As a college student in 1969 Mr. Clinton famously wrote a letter in which he described himself as "loathing the military." He may have overcome his loathing by the time he entered the White House a quarter century later, but it's clear he hadn't learned to respect or understand the military.
A case in point: One of his first actions as president was to announce his intention to scrap the military's ban on homosexuals. Whatever the merits of Mr. Clinton's position, the high-handed way in which he attempted to impose it reflected a disregard for military culture. Congress and the military leadership balked, so the result was a political compromise: "Don't ask, don't tell."
Mr. Clinton also planned to put aside a bit of Reagan-era symbolism. The 40th president had started the presidential tradition of saluting soldiers--particularly the Marine who stands guard at the steps leading into Marine One, the president's helicopter. Keeping the saluting up was the only piece of advice the departing commander in chief offered George Bush as he handed over the reins in 1989. Bill Clinton quietly hoped to do away with the tradition, but then reversed course when it was clear the military was outraged.
Mr. Clinton wasn't shy about using the military. He sent the armed forces on so many missions that by the end of his second term the military was complaining about deployment fatigue lowering morale and contributing to low retention and recruiting rates. But he did so in a passive way that sent a message of weakness to America's enemies.
In 1999 Mr. Clinton decided to intercede in Kosovo in hopes of preventing genocide. Early in the conflict, the president announced the U.S. would not wage a ground war. Later in the conflict bombers held off hitting one of Slobodan Milosevic's palaces because it contained a Rembrandt painting. The message? We'll fight this war, but not if it takes a real commitment. When three U.S. soldiers were captured, President Clinton sent in Jesse Jackson to kiss Milosevic's ring.
Perhaps the clearest example of Mr. Clinton's halfhearted approach to the military came in Somalia. In Mogadishu, U.S. forces were led into a trap and 18 Americans were killed and two Black Hawk helicopters were shot down. Anti-American fighters dragged the naked body of a fallen Army ranger through the streets of Mogadishu. The operation had many flaws, one of which was the American forces were not given tanks and other armored vehicles. Mr. Clinton quickly pulled U.S. forces out, sending the world the message that America wouldn't fight if it meant real danger.
Osama bin Laden got that message. He has said that his followers, trained during the Soviet-Afghan conflict, were among those who fought the Americans in Somalia. In a 1998 interview with ABC News's John Miller, bin Laden said: "The youth were surprised at the low morale of the American soldiers and realized more than before that the American soldier was a paper tiger and after a few blows ran in defeat. And America forgot all the hoopla and media propaganda . . . about being the world leader and the leader of the New World Order, and after a few blows they forgot about this title and left, dragging their corpses and their shameful defeat."
The American people must shoulder some of the blame for the failures of the Clinton years. After all, we elected Mr. Clinton, and democracy tends to give us the leaders we deserve. Voters in 1992 weren't very worried about foreign threats, which seemed to have receded in the wake of America's victories in the Cold War and the Gulf war. Mr. Clinton focused his 1993 campaign on domestic issues. "It's the economy, stupid," was his slogan. Americans never demanded more aggressive military and intelligence agencies.
But it's also the job of a leader to lead, and sometimes circumstances demand a change in focus. Mr. Clinton failed this test even when the United States was directly attacked. In August 1998 al Qaeda bombed the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, killing 224. In October 2000 the group bombed the USS Cole in Yemen, killing 17 American sailors. Mr. Clinton never made it a public priority to wipe out the terror network.
Four men were convicted for the embassy blast, and Mr. Clinton ordered a desultory missile strike against Afghanistan. In the waning days of the Clinton presidency, FBI agents were dispatched to Yemen to investigate the Cole attack, only to be lost amid diplomatic wrangling. Rather than strike back, the legacy-conscious Mr. Clinton devoted his final days in office to another failed Mideast peace attempt--and a series of questionable pardons.
The world changed on Sept. 11, and part of that change was the end of the Clinton military mindset. Last week a tough-talking Sen. Hillary Clinton took to the Senate floor. "The president knew what?" she demanded. "My constituents would like to know the answer to that and many other questions, not to blame the president or any other American, just to know." She might want to ask her husband the same question.
______________________________
Mr. Miniter is assistant editor of OpinionJournal.com. His column appears Mondays. |
