After Ted Kennedy’s resounding speech on how GW “lied us into war” with Iraq, it seems ironic and sadly funny who he and his party spoke of WMD’s and so forth when their leader, Bill Clinton, was in office speaking of the same things. Now don’t count on the media to remind us of these facts, just blogs such as this one.

Bill Clinton: “If Saddam rejects peace, and we have to use force, our purpose is clear: We want to seriously diminish the threat posed by Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction program.”

Madeleine Albright, Clinton Secretary of State: “We must stop Saddam from ever again jeopardizing the stability and the security of his neighbors with weapons of mass destruction.”

Sandy Berger, Clinton National Security Advisor and Classified Document Thief: “[Saddam will] use those weapons of mass destruction again as he has ten times since 1983.”

Harry Reid: “The problem is not nuclear testing; it is nuclear weapons. … The number of Third World countries with nuclear capabilities seems to grow daily. Saddam Hussein’s near success with developing a nuclear weapon should be an eye-opener for us all.”

Dick Durbin: “One of the most compelling threats we in this country face today is the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Threat assessments regularly warn us of the possibility that…Iraq…may acquire or develop nuclear weapons.”

John Kerry: “If you don’t believe…Saddam Hussein is a threat with nuclear weapons, then you shouldn’t vote for me.”

John Edwards: “Serving on the Intelligence Committee and seeing day after day, week after week, briefings on Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction and his plans on using those weapons, he cannot be allowed to have nuclear weapons, it’s just that simple. The whole world changes if Saddam ever has nuclear weapons.”

Nancy Pelosi: “Saddam Hussein has been engaged in the development of weapons of mass destruction technology, which is a threat to countries in the region, and he has made a mockery of the weapons-inspection process.”

Not to take any of these out of context, I urge you to read Snops article in which these quotes are shown in full context. Granted, most of them are not pushing war — and this isn’t my point — but all do show there awareness to intelligence stating there was WMD activity in Iraq from the CLINTON ADMINISTRATION. So, did Clinton lie to us, too?

Clinton did nothing for eight years and after 9/11 Bush seemed pushed to react to all of this intelligence. I am convinced that there would have been pressure on Clinton to do something if he had been in office during 9/11. That cold day in September changed the play book and to say Bush lied us into war is hypocritical of these Senators and Representatives that spoke with firmness and no doubt in the above quotes when Clinton was our nations Commander-in-Chief.

7 Responses to “How Soon They Forget”

1. TOS Says:
   November 14th, 2005 at 19:22

   Yeah, all those people during the Clinton administration believed Saddam was a threat. Funny, though: They didn’t think launching an invasion of him after exaggerating the case against him with tales about nukes and direct threats to the US homeland was a good idea. Why not? Because it would have been a really stupid thing to do. And it remained a really stupid thing to do when Bush did just that.

   For Bush (and his echo chamber) to go around whining now about how “Democrats said Saddam was a threat, too!” is one of the weakest responses to a failed presidential policy I’ve ever seen.

2. Sven Says:
   November 15th, 2005 at 0:27

   Ya, getting Bin Laden in ‘98 would have been a really stupid thing to do, too, when Clinton had the chance not once, but twice. I agree, all those people that died in 9/11 because we didn’t get the master mind behind those attacks in the first place. Good thing we didn’t react on our “spotty” intelligence.

3. TOS Says:
   November 15th, 2005 at 8:30

   Yeah, back when the Republican’s were screaming “No wagging the dog! No war for Monica”, and they had Clinton by the testicles over a personal, private matter, Clinton should have started a war over the Cole bombing, right?

   And where is Bin Laden now? As Bush has even said publicly, our current president doesn’t even think about him anymore. But you go right on parroting your quotes from the past along with the other 36% of you who still support this failure of a president.

4. Sven Says:
   November 15th, 2005 at 9:19

   Still avoiding the point. Bush had zero chances to get Bin Laden before 4,000 plus American’s died in NYC. Clinton had two.

5. TOS Says:
   November 15th, 2005 at 10:01

   I’ll see your point when you actually make one. The same criticism you make of Clinton could be made of Bush, as it could be said that he let Bin Ladin escape Tora Bora a few years back. The reality is that neither situation was that simple.

   The Republicans made a big stink back when Clinton had his war in Bosnia. Yet now these same people are criticising him for not dropping enough bombs? Hypocrits. Its easy to look at the past and see what mistakes were made or not made. But you are avoiding my point: What is Bush doing about Bin Ladin now? Nothing.

6. TOS Says:
   November 15th, 2005 at 10:25

   I had one other point I would like to make. Believe it or not, before 2003 I was always registered as an independant. I didn’t even vote for Clinton. I voted for Ross Perot because I’m not especially a fan of either of the major political parties. The way I see it, 99% of politicians of both parties are not to be trusted. I did vote for Al Gore in 2000, however, as I concider Bush a mental midget by comparison.

   I was initially very supportive of Bush in our efforts in Afghanistan after September the 11th. But soon after he quickly changed course and turned his attention to Iraq, and forgot all about Osama. It was after this that I changed course myself, and registered as a Democrat. One more thing I have to be angry with Bush about.

7. Sven Says:
   November 16th, 2005 at 9:22

   ” What is Bush doing about Bin Ladin now?” — TOS

   Still in Afghanistan and working with the Pakistan government to locate him. Maybe you missed that on the news since they tend not to report all the facts. BTW, when you’re able to orchestrate a better plan to capture a fox in a fox hole, let the military know so we can stop wasting our time out there since it sounds like you could do better. Oh wait, that’s right, the Newsweek reporter knows how to get him. Okay, we’ll just ask him.