This thread has basically touched up on all the things I kind of wondered about myself. If you want to play the game "Did Clinton Spare Bin Laden?" It's going to come back with tough answers. People on the right will accuse him of doing it, and leftists will defend him...similar to what we have now with Bush.
Bottom line. I don't know. He fired those 60 tomahawk missiles into that factory, and it turned out to be a mishap. Other times, there were reports that we "might" have spotted him, but... well... hmmm... I just realized, we were in a tough spot back then.
I am using hindsight now. 9/11 basically justified a war in Aghanistan. Lot of people from various nations were victims, be it Britain, China, Japan, or other Muslims in NYC and DC. Created kind of united sympathy. Now, I do blame Bush for ruining that united feeling by going unilateral and rushing to act a bit (particularly when it came to Iraq). But that is not the issue, so I apologize.
Back in the late 90s we knew Bin Laden was somewhere in Afghanistan. Where, we were not sure. Efforts to extradite or get him were not plausible, because the Afghani regime (then the Taliban) was protecting him, as he was a source of finances. This was something I had forgotten. I too wondered why Clinton wouldn't go and get him. Remember reading about this in Time or on the net while I was in college. Can't simply go into a country and take a "diplomat" "leader" that that is under the county's protection. Could be an act of war--rise tensions.
Now, naturally, Hawkish and right-wingers would say, "Fuck that! We are America! Who cares? We can beat them any day!" Well, I need to remind you that there are lasting consequences for small, seemingly insignificant actions. History repeats itself at an alarming rate, and some people fail to pay attention. I would call this ignorance, because it is not stupidity. Maybe it is brashness or a rush to act.
Case in point--WWI started with an assassination. A friggin assassination of one guy who was part of a small country while in another small country. What happened? Everyone got involved because of treaties.
Likewise, Afghanistan could never hold their own against mighty US, and they would rely on local allies to come to aid. At this time, they were still close to other countries in the region, and the US did not buy off Musharraf or Pakistan. Plus, I am sure Russia would not like the potential of a US occupation or intervention in a country so close to their land.
See, stuff like this is possibly why Clinton did not get involved. A delta force strike team or something would have been nice, but if the Al Qaeda was a camp of armed thugs numbering in the thousands, then it would have been a difficult to impossible mission to pull off.
Thinking about it, I guess I sympathize for Bush now. How does one prevent something when he cannot directly eliminate the enemy. Based on the politics, it was not possible to invade or go to war in Afghanistan without just cause. 9/11 did that. Otherwise, it would be a constant battle of trying to prevent attacks.
Hmmm. tough call.
I will say this. We did help create Bin Laden. As you guys mentioned, it goes back to the 80s, when the powers that be sent in CIA specialists and whatnot to train the locals to put up a resistance against the Soviets. Had we known then what we know now, eh? So what should the title of this thread be? Reagan taught Bin Laden?
