What did President BJ Clinton do to avenge the deaths of 17 sailors onboard the USS Cole?

Question

And I guess while we're at it, the embassy personnel killed in the two embassy bombings in 1998? Was there any response that sent a message that killing U.S. citizens would have serious consequences?

Answer 1

Hey now, Hillary came under sniper fire in Bosnia. What more do you want?

Answer 2

The Cole bombing took place 3 months before Clinton left office.  What has Bush done in nearly 8 years?

Answer 3

as far as i can tell he did more to those folks then bush has to the people we know were involvedi n 9/11 - none of whom were from or supported by anyone from iraq.

bush's answer to the 9/11 attacks is to invade a nation that had nothing to do with 9/11 and cozy up to the saudis, who had everything to do with 9/11.

Answer 4

Brian does make a good point, that Yemen rather than Iraq may have been the right country to have attacked after 9/11, but even before 9/11.

Now, just when did GWB plan to invade Yemen?

Is there any current plan to invade Yemen? It does seem to be required as a response.

Perhaps forces in Iraq could be redeployed there?

Answer 5

He gave a speech promising to bring the perpetrators to justice for that act of war.

That of course is all he did, and he never made an effort to bring anyone to justice. Interestingly, he gave the same speech several times and never once did anything to bring anyone to justice. The only individual ever caught for any attack against the US was caught completely by luck.  

Answer 6

Clinton lobbed some cruise missiles into an empty terrorist camp in Afghanistan, and then he blew up a Tylenol plant in Africa.

Take that, you terrorist scum!

Answer 7

He formed a plan to attack Bin laden and al quada in Afghanistan.  As it was finished at the end of his adm., he gave it over to Bush II.  Bush used his plan almost exactly as Clinton's people made it, except that he waited until after 9/11.  If Gore had been elected president at least Clinton's plan would have happened before 9/11

Answer 8

Let's look at facts...

Clinton Administration developed the nation's first anti-terrorism policy, and appointed first national coordinator of anti-terrorist efforts.

Clinton Administration stopped the Al Qaeda millennium hijacking and bombing plots.

Clinton Administration stopped the planned attack to kill the Pope

Clinton Administration stopped the planned attack to blow up 12 U.S. jetliners simultaneously

Clinton Administration stopped the planned attack to blow up UN Headquarters

Clinton Administration stopped the planned attack to blow up FBI Headquarters

Clinton Administration stopped the planned attack to blow up the Israeli Embassy in Washington

Clinton Administration stopped the planned attack to blow up Boston airport

Clinton Administration stopped the planned attack to blow up Lincoln and Holland Tunnels in NY

Clinton Administration stopped the planned attack to blow up the George Washington Bridge

Clinton Administration stopped the planned attack to blow up the US Embassy in Albania

-- Tried to kill Osama bin Laden and disrupt Al Qaeda through preemptive strikes (efforts denounced by the G.O.P.).

-- Brought perpetrators of first World Trade Center bombing and CIA killings to justice.

-- Did not blame Bush I administration for first World Trade Center bombing even though it occurred 38 days after Bush left office. Instead, worked hard, even obsessively -- and successfully -- to stop future terrorist attacks.

--Named the Hart-Rudman commission to report on nature of terrorist threats and major steps to be taken to combat terrorism.

-Clinton Administration sent legislation to Congress to TIGHTEN AIRPORT SECURITY. (Remember, this is before 911) The legislation was defeated by the Republicans because of opposition from the airlines.

-Clinton Administration sent legislation to Congress to allow for BETTER TRACKING OF TERRORIST FUNDING. It was defeated by Republicans in the Senate because of opposition from banking interests.

-Clinton Administration sent legislation to Congress to add tagents to explosives, to allow for BETTER TRACKING OF EXPLOSIVES USED BY TERRORISTS. It was defeated by the Republicans because of opposition from the NRA.

-Clinton Administration increased the military budget by an average of 14 per cent, reversing the trend under Bush I.

-Clinton Administration tripled the budget of the FBI for counterterrorism and doubled overall funding for counterterrorism

-Clinton Administration detected and destroyed cells of Al Qaeda in over 20 countries

-Clinton Administration created national stockpile of drugs and vaccines including 40 million doses of smallpox vaccine.

-Of Clinton Administration's efforts says Robert Oakley, Reagan Ambassador for Counterterrorism: "Overall, I give them very high marks" and "The only major criticism I have is the obsession with Osama"

-Paul Bremer, current Civilian Administrator of Iraq disagrees slightly with Robert Oakley as he believed the Clinton Administration had "correctly focused on bin Laden.

-Barton Gellman in the Washington Post put it best, "By any measure available, Clinton Administration left office having given greater priority to terrorism than any president before him" and was the "first administration to undertake a systematic anti-terrorist effort"  

Answer 9

we need to stop this political bickering and divisive rehetoric.  an attack on bill's character never educated a hungry intern under his desk.

Answer 10

What did Reagan to to "avenge" the 40-something Marines slaughtered in the Beirut bombing? THAT HE HAD BEEN WARNED ABOUT???

“It was one of Ronald Reagan's longest days. The President had planned to chair only one meeting of the National Security Council on october 18, 1983, but it turned into two separate sessions. Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger had, for the first time, formally presented the Pentagon's recommendation that U.S. marines in Lebanon be pulled out of their vulnerable base at Beirut International Airport. Gen. John Vessey, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, had made the same proposal informally a few days earlier to Robert McFarlane, the President's national security adviser. ...”

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb...

Answer 11

The Clinton administration made no secret of the fact that they believed that terrorism was a matter for law enforcement rather than the military and thus engaged in no military response to the incident. FBI agents were sent to Yemen to aid in the investigation, but were subjected to repeated threats and stone walling of their efforts by the Yemeni government. The 911 commission report later cited failure to respond militarily as having an emboldening effect on Bin Laden and Al Queda. There were eventually charges leveled in the case and some convictions, but the Yemeni government allowed those convicted to escape and some others charged to be freed without prejudice. So the answer to your question is absolutely nothing.