Replies to post #52 on FREEBIRD (FREEb)

[ergo sum]

Thanks for the article Vivian, I think it is about right. None of this is easy especially when you examine what was thought in say 1995. Here's a link to what I would call a typical NeoCon argument in 1995. The author Laurie Mylroie makes the case that Ramzi Yousef is or was directly connected to Iraq. Note that there is no mention of Bin Laden in this at all. http://www.fas.org/irp/world/iraq/956-tni.htm

She is in retrospect just plain wrong I think.

After some 13 years of civil war by 1996 the Sudan was a hot spot for "terrorists" while the Clinton Administration failed to arrest Bin Laden it did "succeed" in convincing the government there to stop aiding and abetting him.

The human rights report. This is the most atrocious place in the world. Makes Iraq's whole history look almost benign.
http://www.usis.usemb.se/human/1996/africa/sudan.html

And there was bipartisan support to do something. But nothing was ever done.
http://www.kstatecollegian.com/issues/v104/fa/n022/opinion/opn.guest.brow.html

"The Security Council this afternoon called on the Government of the Sudan to comply with requests of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) to extradite to Ethiopia the three suspects wanted for attempting to assassinate President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt on 25 June 1995, in Addis Ababa."
http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/1996/19960131.sc6170.html


But what happened when Clinton did try and do something?

"Bill Clinton epitomized the concept of "wag the dog."
The Clintons played each scandal like a volleyball, deflecting one scandal after another by contrived news events and even wars.
Bill Clinton's 1999 war over Kosovo was perhaps the most egregious use of presidential power to divert the public's attention and save a presidency."
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2002/6/13/211338.shtml

And of course the left wanted him impeached and to stand war crimes trials.
http://www.themodernreligion.com/terror/media_sudan.htm