Trying to blame Clinton for terrorism

There seems to be a push on, through leaks of old material, to re-emphasize the mistakes made during the Clinton administration regarding terrorism. Now, I gotta say, they made some pretty big mistakes, but I think it no coincidence that in the face of Bush's falling approval numbers, and especially with his falling "terrorism" number, that all this information blaming the Clinton administration is coming out.

First was the "Able Danger" stuff brought to light by Curt Weldon republican congressman. Basic outline is that a small group of military intelligence guys wanted/tried to warn the FBI about Atta and a few other hijackers entering the country. I have been hesitant to write about this because of its source. Weldon recently published a book about how Iran was the center of all terrorism, sourcing largely from Iran Contra affair and Iraq intel supplier Manuchar Ghorbanifar. In my opinion, that book made the Iraq pre war intel look honest. ( If you're interested in the whole ABLE Danger thing, this is a good starting point.)

And now, we get this,

The United States was "not out to destroy the Taliban," a U.S. diplomat told the regime just a year before a U.S.-led invasion toppled Afghanistan's Taliban government that had harbored al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden.

U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan William B. Milam held a secret meeting with an unidentified senior Taliban official in September 2000 and assured him that international sanctions on the Taliban would end if bin Laden were expelled from Afghanistan, newly declassified documents show.

As the approval numbers fall, I would expect to see more "Clinton's fault" type stories coming out, probably including a re-emphasis of the fact that they completely ignored Sudan's offer to turn over Bin Laden. But if we're gonna play the blame game, let's remember that the Taliban offered to extradite Bin Laden to a "muslim country" for trial after 9-11 in order to stave off invasion and remain in power. Who they meant by "muslim country," and the fact that all the rest of the structure would stay in tact in Afghanistan is the reason it was refused, but as they start throwing the Clinton mud, we should keep that in mind.