Weaker Osama is still on the run, says Rice (blames Clinton)

[sabra]

http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=3&art_id=qw1139778363746B223

Weaker Osama is still on the run, says Rice


Washington - Terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden may have escaped capture for years, but he's on the run with his al-Qaeda group "significantly weakened", American Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Sunday.

Speaking on ABC television, Rice defended the US effort to nab Bin Laden that has drawn fire from Democratic critics, including a potential presidential candidate, Senator Hillary Clinton.

...

"His organisation has been significantly weakened because of the international effort against al-Qaeda in places like Pakistan and Saudi Arabia."

The top US diplomat also took an implicit jab at the previous administration of Bill Clinton for failing to deal with Bin Laden before he launched the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and the Pentagon.

[neverforget]

1. No war for Monica! Fuck you Condi and the horse you rode in on!

[pinniped]

2. All hail the mighty power of the Clenis!

Hey repukes, if you're looking for that party of personal responsibility this sure as hell isn't it.

Allies my ass, these repuke pigs are scared shitless to walk the streets of these countries.

--
"We now have an ally in Afghanistan that is fighting against Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda," Rice said.

"We now have allies in Pakistan, who are fighting against Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda.--

[applegrove]

3. Wasn't it Fitzmas who wrote an email to a pal on Sept 10, 2001 saying:

"I'm in Chicago - don't leave NY, there will be an Osama Bin Laden attact"?

If only...

The adults were in charge.

[sabra]

6. link? first I have heard of this...

[applegrove]

11. Here is the LINK. He was on the Osama Case. He knew!!!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=103&topic_id=190551

[sattahipdeep]

30. Who told him John Ashcroft?....Lynn Stewart?

He had switched from international terrorism to political
corruption. One of his last emails for his old New York job
was to a colleague who was also leaving the terror field.
'You can't leave, they're going to hit us again and someone
has got to be around to work it,' he wrote. The email was
dated 10 September 2001.

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/magazine/story/0,,1707291,00.html

Patrick J. Fitzgerald began serving as the United States Attorney
for the Northern District of Illinois on September 1, 2001.
Mr. Fitzgerald was initially appointed on an interim basis by
Attorney General John Ashcroft before being nominated by
President George W. Bush.

http://www.apfn.org/apfn/Fitzgerald.htm

What Really Happened on 9/11?

Never Forget John O'Neil

[applegrove]

33. Sorry. I don't buy the 9/11 conspiracy. The fact that people in terrorism

in the 1990s - in the business of fighting it - knew that Osama was a threat - is well known. Bush and his cronies got into power and went with the issues they gave a fuck about. And Osama was not it.

[lyonn]

34. That's the part that drives me crazy

We knew Osama was a threat long before 9-11. Think the turn of the century, 2000, and the warnings by Bill Clinton that there could be a terrorist attack. Bush gets into office and he is thinking Star Wars not Osama, oh, and tax cuts for the rich. Bush does not Once mention the fact that he should attack Afghanistan and capture or kill Osama as Bill wanted to do, for the bombing of the U.S. Cole, which Clinton felt was not his duty since he was leaving office in a month or two. Bush Never mentioned the Cole and the Osama connection!!!! Yet he and his cronies say they are the keeping us Safe, unbelievable! What are our Dems bitching about? This should be a big issue with them. If we here on the internet know this they surely must.

[applegrove]

35. Total Policy Failure on terrorism. Why they tried to quash the 9/11

report.

Total Information Awareness is actually Total Policy Failure.

[catmother]

4. here we go again. blame it on bill. it's true. he could have

gotten osama but when he saw that there were children there, he called off the bombing. bush would have called it "collateral damage". also bushco was warned about osama but did not heed the warnings. that son of a bitch has everything so fucked up. i don't know how he sleeps at night.

[Psephos]

19. Before that, though, the Sudanese offered to hand him over

No women and children involved.

Clinton did a lot of things right and a few things amazingly well but he did that one wrong. Hillary would be wise not to kick a sleeping dog. She's going to have enough problems as it is; Warner's baggage is strictly carry-on.

Peace.

[warpigs]

22. Bull - stop spreading lies

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/06/21/eveningnews/main625205.shtml

Did Sudan have UBL in custody? The only thing they may have had was files on UBL.

[lyonn]

36. A quote from the articlel by Clinton:

"Clinton: To the best of my knowledge it is not true that we were ever offered him by the Sudanese even though they later claimed it. I think it's total bull. Mr. Absurabi, the head of the Sudanese government was a buddy of bin Laden's. They were business partners together. There was no way in the wide world this guy who was in business with bin Laden in Sudan was going to give him up to us."


Why in the world would Clinton not accept this offer of Osama? This is too ridiculous to take seriously. The blind Sheik was given time to do, capture of Osama would have been even better for the world and Clinton. Remember Bush saying he wanted the terrorist and not in a court of law. Hence, Iraq. The media has done a number on this country that is mind boggling. Do they not realise what has happened because of their reporting? They rule along with bushco.

[Psephos]

40. Disagree if you want, but don't call me names

As soon as you do that you lose all chance for me to hear your argument.

Peace.

[Canuckistanian]

52. Be careful, this is a sore point

This whole "OBL offered to Clinton by the Sudanese" is an entirely made-up scenario that the RWers have been beating the Dems over the head with for years.

And to hear it again on a progressive board is very disheartening.

How many times does this story have to be debunked?

[Psephos]

53. There are two issues

One is the Clinton/OBL/Sudan issue. The other is the basic respect we owe each other when we disagree. Issue 2 does not depend on Issue 1.

As for Issue 1, the story needs to be debunked at least one more time, because I am ignorant. So be it. If someone feels like it, they can offer neutral evidence, then let me make up my own mind. If the prospect of responding makes someone feel weary, then I hope they *don't* respond. No one is obligated to interact with me. I come here for dialog, not recitations of holy writ. Dialog requires two people who are both interested in the interaction.

IMO what's "disheartening" to hear on a progressive board is that should one of the members have a different opinion from the herd, that enforcement techniques will be used to bring that apostate into line. I remember the same techniques used in high school. To put it mildly, groupthink is not in the best interests of either the group or thinking. Of course, the enforcers never think of themselves that way...they believe moral superiority gives license to barbarism and the attack of the person rather than the idea. They never see the irony of that.

Peace.

[Canuckistanian]

55. Well said, but a point of clarification

You said that others are entitled to their own opinions and that is certainly true and I have no problem with that.

I do have a problem with the misstatement of facts.

This is not a question of groupthink, although we're all guilty of that to some degree. And it is very destructive if taken to extremes.

And I apologize if I implied that you "should know" something that "everyone else knows". Personal attacks are never productive, and people here do have varying knowledge of what's really going on.

We tend to forget that sometimes.

[catmother]

31. i know. warner is looking good. nt

[Mythsaje]

5. The attacks on 9/11

ORIGINALLY weakened his position, until this band of powerful loonies took it into their head to help his position along.

[Deja Q]

7. Clinton fucked up. We get it. WHY DIDN'T BUSH DO ANYTHING?

9 months is a long time, Condi. It wasn't 9 days. It was 9 months. Plenty of time to do stuff if Bush was serious...

There's also a lot of "confidential" information from those nine months too. "Confidential" because of "national security" reasons (forgive me while I laugh; those documents are "national security" yet it's okay to offshore every job from manufacturing to engineering to countries that are next door to terrorist states or are in other other aspect no better than terrorists (aka our "friends" in China)... With American interests over there, it takes very little for terrorists to knock us out. O-O-P-S.)


And can we still find a way to blame Clinton for the last 4 years of RECORD TRADE DEFICITS as well? x(

[punpirate]

8. The Bushies, including Rice, have certainly got the drill down pat...

... never, but never, admit a mistake, and always blame someone else, all the time, and at every opportunity.

And if that fails to convince the doubters, lie.

[classysassy]

48. Clinton did it

all of the bush clowns must have a wrist band with "Clinton did it" ,written in caps on their slimey wrist.

[gratuitous]

9. But like a poor marksman, you keep missing the target

And Osama laughs at the impotence of the corrupt Bush administration.

We never had a problem with impotence while Clinton was in office, Condi. Maybe your husb--I mean, your boss should pay a visit to his old pal Bob Dole?

[LynnTheDem]

10. "weaker"...just like our security, our reputation & our civil liberties.

And Osama got handed his wetdream thanks to bush & rice et al.

[long_green]

23. this week he's weaker, next week he'll be back to being

the threat he's always been.

[LynnTheDem]

27. It's the "ranch" holiday with BBQ, restores his strength.

Too bad it doesn't restore bush's brains.

[LynnTheDem]

12. And hey Rice, what did BUSH DO for the EIGHT MTHS prior to 911?

Not a damn thing.

[Amonester]

13. What? CondoLiesA Chevron lost her memory (again) and

blames the game of blame game on... (surprise!)

U.S. Concludes Bin Laden Escaped at Tora Bora Fight
Failure to Send Troops in Pursuit Termed Major Error

By Barton Gellman and Thomas E. Ricks
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, April 17, 2002; Page A01

The Bush administration has concluded that Osama bin Laden was present during the battle for Tora Bora late last year and that failure to commit U.S. ground troops to hunt him was its gravest error in the war against al Qaeda, according to civilian and military officials with first-hand knowledge.

Intelligence officials have assembled what they believe to be decisive evidence, from contemporary and subsequent interrogations and intercepted communications, that bin Laden began the battle of Tora Bora inside the cave complex along Afghanistan's mountainous eastern border. Though there remains a remote chance that he died there, the intelligence community is persuaded that bin Laden slipped away in the first 10 days of December.

More: http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A62618-2002Apr16?language=printer

That's just 1 miserable failure of the miserable failures in the WH out of how many?

:puke:

[lyonn]

37. Follow the trail

That article of 4-17-2002 explains what is being reported now by ex-CIA. Duh. Thanks for reminder, timely.

[Catch22Dem]

14. Clinton Admin officials tried to stress the importance of Al Q.

No one in the * admin was listening. They had their sights set on Iraq from the start.

[Lindacooks]

44. Yep, you're right on. And the 'media' conveniently forgets this

time after time after time.

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

15. Osama can walk briskly, but he cannot hide...

...while I, on the other hand, find myself at a loss for words when attempting to say HOW...COMPLETELY...FULL...OF...CRAP Condi is.



September 17, 2001



President George Bush gives a thumbs up to a crowded cafeteria while visiting the Pentagon September 17. After meetings, the President talked with hundreds of employees throughout the complex. White House photo by Eric Draper.

Guard and Reserves "Define Spirit of America"
Remarks by the President to Employees at the Pentagon
The Pentagon

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/09/20010917-3.html

Q Do you want bin Laden dead?

THE PRESIDENT: I want justice. There's an old poster out west, as I recall, that said, "Wanted: Dead or Alive."

Q Do you see this being long-term? You were saying it's long-term, do you see an end, at all?

THE PRESIDENT: I think that this is a long-term battle, war. There will be battles. But this is long-term. After all, our mission is not just Osama bin Laden, the al Qaeda organization. Our mission is to battle terrorism and to join with freedom loving people.

We are putting together a coalition that is a coalition dedicated to declaring to the world we will do what it takes to find the terrorists, to rout them out and to hold them accountable. And the United States is proud to lead the coalition.

Q Are you saying you want him dead or alive, sir? Can I interpret --

THE PRESIDENT: I just remember, all I'm doing is remembering when I was a kid I remember that they used to put out there in the old west, a wanted poster. It said: "Wanted, Dead or Alive." All I want and America wants him brought to justice. That's what we want.

[lyonn]

39. Words from an uninformed president of the United State of America

This guy was an uneducated idiot from day one. They call these comments leadership? We are doomed, doomed. Impeachment will be the only honorable way out in my opinion. That would tell the world that not all Americans are totally stupid.

[mitchum]

16. More lies from Stephanie Fetchit

[Amonester]

17. Who's brave enough to ask her why her "husband" is not...

concerned? :shrug:

(From the WH website...)

Q But don't you believe that the threat that bin Laden posed won't truly be eliminated until he is found either dead or alive?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, as I say, we haven't heard much from him. And I wouldn't necessarily say he's at the center of any command structure. And, again, I don't know where he is. I -- I'll repeat what I said. I truly am not that concerned about him.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/03/20020313-8.html

Yeah. And it shows.
Now who's brave enough to ask that simple question now:

Not concerned?

Why? :shrug:

[Name removed]

18. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[tanyev]

20. Oh, Condi. Just go buy more shoes, OK? Take your time.

[4dsc]

21. 9/11 MASSIVE REPUBLICAN SECURITY FAILURE!

This is what every republican needs to know!!

9/11 MASSIVE REPUBLICAN SECURITY FAILURE!

[Felix Mala]

24. Yet another "We're winning the war/They can strike us at any time" quote.

Mr. Prez, Ms. Rice... We can't both be winning the war and still be in eminent danger... Nations that are winning wars seldom come under attack. Nations that are LOSING wars are often attacked.

[superconnected]

25. Gee you'd think since SHE was National Security Advisor when

it happenend and SHE failed to read or take heed of the briefs from Clinton, it's HER fault. Instead we've got another Michael Brown here.

Clintons people did their job. That's why bin laden wasn't a problem.

I'm trying to decide if ALL republicans are incompetent and can't take responsibility, or just all bush appointees...

I have to add, when you hire a former coke head whos failed at everything, and he goes on a drunken-asskiss-payback-party nominating his failure friends for top gov positions, how could you expect anything less than the greatest REPUBLICAN security failure in history - 911.

I'm surprized the Ex COKE HEAD hasn't accidentally run a stop sign and killed someone or shot one of his crooked lawyers in the head yet. I figure they just know better than giving Cokie a gun or a car.

[Roland99]

26. That's interesting. We had allies in Pakistan in the 90s

that were helping us to support and train Zawahiri and bin Laden was there, too.

Only Zawahiri and bin Laden were on the fringe even back then. There is no network called al Qaeda. Most of the Islamists are fighting for Islamic states in their own countries. They give a shit about the US. That's Zawahiri with bin Laden as a money man.

[zann725]

28. 'On the run'...sure. Dragging his colon bag, equip. behind him....

And the guy's what...7 ft. tall? Even the guys on "Reno Cops" show could catch this guy by now.

[sinkingfeeling]

29. I'd like to make a bet with Condi that at the end of this glorious

administration, bin Laden will still be out there and Chimpy will have failed for years and years to get him, but she'll still say it's all Clinton's fault.

[Kierkegaard]

32. It never ceases to amaze me that these hollow-skulled

prevaricators know so goddam much about Bin Laden, except where he is and how to capture his ass! If you don't have him in custody, keep your greezy yap shut and go find him!

[Norquist Nemesis]

38. Funny how the SOS plays politics with National Security!

Actually, it's not funny at all. :grr:

[Dark]

41. I wonder who their going to blame once Clinton dies. n/t

[JeffR]

43. Chelsea

[DrZeeLit]

42. Okay... play that way. Pre 2001 = Clinton. Now... since 2001...who???

Can you say.... "We take responsibility for NOT getting OBL since 2001".... can you, Condi?

No...dint thin so.

Tsk. Tsk. It's always "play our way, or we'll take the ball home" with you guys, isn't it?

Poor sportsmanship all the way around.
High fives for our side.

Well, that's debatable.
Still.... your win/loss record sucks, Condi. Purely sucks.
Deal with it.

[Garbo 2004]

45. So why didn't Bush deal with Bin Laden prior to 9-11? What did Bush do to

follow up on the Cole bombing? Couldn't be bothered, eh? Not interested.

What did Bush do when given all those briefings on AQ and the chatter and threats throughout the spring and summer of 2001? Oh, yeah, it's Clinton's fault that you and Bush sat there and did nothing except dismissed any concern about AQ as a holdover of a Clintonian obsession with Bin Laden which you clearly did not share. That old dog won't hunt, Condi "Bin Laden determined to strike within the US" Rice.

Who had the special op folks withdrawn when they had tracked Bin Laden to Tora Bora, Condi? Did that happen on Clinton's watch too?

[judaspriestess]

46. Um ok Cuntileeza

how long has your fuckwad admin been in office now? WTF has your admin done besides use Bin Laden as a fucking excuse to go to war in IRAQ. I love when they quote shit from back in the 1800's and blame that on 2006 issues.......

[EndElectoral]

47. Condi..Go talk to Richard Clarke! Wait, you ignored him!

[populistdriven]

49. These Clowns Blame Clinton more than South Park Blames Canada!!!!!!!

[goforit]

50. Bla bla bla bla bla.....

[Supersedeas]

51. But the PDB (determined to strike US) was a historical document

[ContraBass Black]

54. Funny, I seem to remember a seven-mislle strike

That just missed OBL during the Clinton years.