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Thursday, 20 September 2001 23:59 (ET)

Clinton: I was right to bomb bin Laden

NEW YORK, Sept. 20 (UPI) -- Former President Bill Clinton defended his use of Tomahawk missiles against Osama bin Laden in 1998 and called for tolerance to uphold the United States as a nation of immigrants in a speech Thursday in New York City.

"We did it because there was reliable information that Osama bin Laden and his senior lieutenants would be there," Clinton said in a speech at the Foreign Policy Association in Manhattan. "They were there, but left a few hours before the missiles arrived -- it was an intelligence failure." Clinton said the satellite-guided cruise missiles, surgically accurate and capable of delivering a 1,000-pound payload onto a precise target a half continent away, were programmed to strike at the heart of bin Laden's operations.

After the missiles hit, the administration said the strikes had crippled bin Laden's infrastructure. The United States fired more than 70 Tomahawk cruise missiles into eastern Afghanistan, targeting training camps operated by bin Laden. The attack killed about 20 people. "After that we trained commandos and kept the missiles on ready, but the intelligence never justified another reasonable opportunity," Clinton said Thursday. "Now the stakes, the consciousness and the possibilities of American action have all been increased and we must pursue them in all-deliberate speed."

Clinton approved the military strike in 1998 against bin Laden, after the bombing of U.S. embassies in Africa were linked to bin Laden. The former president was awarded a medal for supporting global trade and seeking to expand Americans' knowledge of international affairs from the Foreign Policy Association.

"We must remain united as we, in support of President Bush and his national team, build a global coalition to root out terrorism, their top aides, their money, and support from others, including governments," Clinton said. "We must improve our defenses, including better security for planes, pilots, airports and public transportation, as well as, better legislation to deal with money laundering.

"We must continue to demonstrate to the world's poor and all the developing nations that America is not their enemy and to do what we can to involve all the people in the possibilities of the 21st century, both to increase global growth and stability and to deprive terrorists of more potential recruits." Clinton also warned that the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon should not widen social divisions and that "we should hold on to the diversity of our nation."

"One of the things the terrorists are hoping for is for discord to be sown in the United States and I have been profoundly disturbed by reports of attacks on Muslims in America, on mosques, on non-Muslim Arabs, on Sikhs," Clinton said. "This is being done by people right now who are scared, angry and frankly ignorant of the real roots and belief systems of the people they are attacking."

Clinton added that these are the most exciting times in human history because of the breakthroughs in science and medicine. "We must remain united. We must remain visionary," he said. "We have to show terrorists that they cannot kill our spirit or way of life."

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-- Anonymous, September 21, 2001

Answers

oh geez! Let's strap this schmuck to a missile and send him to 'whatsleftofstan.'

-- Anonymous, September 21, 2001