Yes, we have made mistakes in the past, everybody does. However, to say those mistakes outweigh any potential future good, leads credence to the old Soviet tales that most Americans were still standing in Depression era soup lines in the 70s. The truth is, the Clinton Administration were all high minded (or in Billy BJs case low browed) idealists unsuitable for running a super power. There are times when military muscle is simply the only way to solve (or at least stop) a problem. Due to his loathing of the military, Clinton never really understood, or was willing to acknowledge that. Had he allowed the military to handle the operation in Somalia to their liking versus trying to play politics with it, a LOT of the subsequent terrorist attacks may not have happened.

The really dangerous one in the bunch is Hillary who strikes me as being of the truly radical, bomb the ROTC building, mindset. I honestly believe that if she thought that there were anything to be gained from it, she’d order the assassination of anyone on the planet. If she ever becomes President, Billy had better count on not getting any for at least 4 years. Otherwise, she’ll bury him like she did Vince Foster. Hell, she might do it during the election just so she could get the widow sympathy vote.

Terrorists are like wild animals, they only attack when they sense weakness or fear. With the outcome of the debacle in Mogadishu, they learned that the Americans don’t like taking casualties. They have since keyed on that according to their own words. In WWI, a German general stated that he knew the war was over when the Americans entered it because unlike the British or French who would fire 10 volleys of Artillery and send 1000 troops to attack a German trenchline, the Americans would fire a 1000 volleys before sending 10 soldiers to attack a German position. The Americans didn’t care how much the ammunition cost or how much they had to destroy as long as it saved American lives. That was also the way that the Israelis won the first three wars against the Arab countries that attacked them. We used that approach in Desert Storm. Enemies who are killed, encapacitated or totally demoralized from being shelled day and night for days on end, don’t put up much of a fight. If you drum it into the enemies head that he is going to LOSE because HE picked a fight with the country, he stops wanting to keep fighting. If you don’t take away his hope of winning, you not only end up having to kill him, but also everyone who his minor successes (including his survival) help to rally to his cause. Bin Laden and Al Zawahiri laid out on slabs or hung from lampposts, combined with a propaganda campaign of “If we can get them, we can get you. Let’s all live in peace so you can live to see your kids grow up.” will do more to reduce terrorism in the world than anything else. We’ve really dropped the ball with not taking the propaganda campaign up a few notches since Zarquawi’s death. Of course the Democrats constantly being idiotically contrarian over the whole thing isn’t helping. It’s only boosting the morale of the very people we are attempting to defeat

The irony of this whole issue is that while yes, looking at the actions of the Klinton Admin is hindsight, the same people who can’t handle this scrutiny are the same ones who have been doing exactly that to Bush ever since 9/11. Even though Bush had months in office and klinton had had 8 years in office, they have stridently been Monday-morning quarterbacks analyzing every detail of the Bush Admin’s actions. Yet now, when obvious missteps and gaffes of the Klinton Admin are broguht to light, they howl with dismay.