Reply #17: Bush had no difficulty questioning Clinton in 2000 [View All]

[steven johnson]

We have a number of disconnects in this country. One is that Bill Clinton is somehow responsible for the events of Sept. 11, 2001, a claim made both by die-hard Clinton haters and others who feel Sept. 11 was revenge for the bombing of Osama bin Laden's Afghanistan training camps in 1998.

In 1996 -- on Sept. 9, to be precise -- Clinton asked Congress for $1 billion to improve airport security, to improve security at our nation's infectious-disease laboratories and to require that chemical markers be put in explosives to make them easier to trace, plus a host of other provisions designed to make air travel safer and to discourage terrorist attacks.


Nor did he weaken America's military might, as George W. Bush suggested in his acceptance speech in Philadelphia in 2000.
You'll recall that speech. It's the one in which Bush said the Democrats couldn't be trusted to preserve the national wealth created during the Clinton administration. Hanging on to that money, and using it wisely, was a job for Republicans, Bush said.
He also lamented "a steady erosion of American power and an unsteady exercise of American influence."
"Our military is low on parts, pay and morale," Bush said sadly. "If called on by the commander-in-chief today, two entire divisions of the Army would have to report, "Not ready for duty, sir.'"

In other words, Bush was full of it when he accused Clinton of maintaining a weak military machine
Don't Blame Clinton For Sept. 11