In Case You Missed This: In 98 Clinton Came Close to Toppling Hussein.

[Montagnard]

And it scared the hell out of everyone in the Middle East.

Thomas E. Ricks writes in his book,” Fiasco,” that on December 16, 1998, Clinton authorized the start of Desert Fox.

Desert Fox was Clinton’s response to a standoff on weapons inspections. The strike lasted only 4 days, but it shook Hussein so badly that he panicked resulting in his ordering mass arrest and executions, which backfired and destabilized his regime.

Despite Republican criticism, the strikes far exceeded expectations. Ricks writes that General Zinni was amazed at the results and his conclusion was that Saddam Hussein was on the ropes.

Arab allies began to besiege General Zinni with the question of “are you going to topple Hussein.” That worried them Zinni said, because that question was followed by, “do you people have a plan” for what would follow Hussein.

During the hunt for WMDs following the Bush invasion, David Kay, the man in charge of finding the WMDS, said that Desert Fox had once and for all put Hussein out of the WMD business.

Fiasco is one of a series of very good books that everyone should read.

[Cooley Hurd]

1. And guess what the Repiglican reaction was?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Desert_Fox

Criticism

Some critics of the Clinton administration expressed concern over the timing of Operation Desert Fox. The four-day bombing campaign occurred at the same time the U.S. House of Representatives was considering articles of impeachment against President Clinton. Clinton was impeached on December 19, the last day of the bombing campaign. Critics claimed the timing of this operation was a so-called "Wag the Dog" scenario aimed at diverting media attention away from the impeachment proceedings. Some congressional Republicans hinted at holding hearings to investigate the timing of the bombing campaign, but this never materialized. A few months earlier, similar criticism was leveled during Operation Infinite Reach, wherein missile strikes were ordered against suspected terrorist bases in Sudan and Afghanistan (August 20). The missile strikes began three days after Clinton was called to testify before a grand jury during the Lewinsky scandal and his subsequent nationally televised address later that evening (August 17), in which Clinton admitted having an inappropriate relationship with the White House intern Monica Lewinsky.
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[MH1]

2. I *had* missed that - thanks

It just proves the new truism of politics: whatever the Republicans tell you, the truth is the opposite.

[Tom Joad]

3. That was a war crime. of course.

[Wilber_Stool]

4. If Republicans would just stop lying about Democrats

Democrats would stop telling the truth about Republicans.