"They Hate Democracy" so said Bill Clinton

After sending 75 tomahawk cruise missiles in the general direction of Afghanistan and Sudan, Mr. Clinton said this about Osama bin Laden and the "terrorists"....

Mr. Clinton neglected to mention the "terrorists" clearly stated reasons for their hatred towards the U.S.  These include quotes from bin Laden himself which outline his 3 major grievances towards America:

1. "The ordinary man knows that [Saudi Arabia] is the largest oil producer in the world, yet at the same time he is suffering from taxes and bad services.  Now the people understand...that our country has become an American colony.  They act decisively with every action to kick the Americans out of Saudi Arabia. 

2. "The evidence overwhelmingly shows America and Israel killing the weaker men, women and children in the Muslim world and elsewhere.  A few examples of this are seen in the recent Qana massacre in Lebanon..."

3. "...and the death of more than 600,000 Iraqi children because of the shortage of food and medicine which resulted from the boycotts and sanctions against the Muslim Iraqi people"

Content and Osama bin Laden quotes from 1996 as reported by PBS Frontline

Bill Clinton: An Early Champion of the Iraq WMD Rumour

Sixteen years ago Bill Clinton was spreading rumours that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction...

As John Pilger detailed in The Iraq Cover-Up: History Did Not Begin Yesterday.

Humpday Dark Humor: Bill Clinton's Spin on Terrorism

Way back in 1998 Bill Clinton said they hate us because "we act to advance peace and democracy".

By Mr. Clinton's logic if the U.S. were to begin a war or two "the terrorists" will no longer hate us because we aren't peaceful anymore.  

Why The Restrictions on Travel to Cuba?

Varadero, Cuba (CubaSunTours.ca)

For half-a-century the U.S. State Department has made travel to Cuba quite a pain for U.S. taxpayers.

Canadians can easily travel to Cuba.

Mexicans can easily travel to Cuba.

But if you live in Miami, Florida there are people in Washington, D.C. that prevent you from freely traveling to Cuba.  They claim that you need a permission slip.

Why do they support this isolationist foreign policy?  

Why Many Americans Were Not Surprised by 9/11

C-SPAN's Washington Journal, July 3, 2000

Caller: "How will we protect our borders against terrorist attacks if we decrease the armed forces?"

Harry Browne: "The problem today is...we have a giant national offense....  We have been bombing countries around the world.... Terrorists don't like our foreign policy.  They don't like the idea that we are running their countries."

Take a listen to the full 90-second clip below...

16 Years Ago the U.S. Starting Bombing Afghanistan

Today marks the 16th anniversary of the initial attempts by the U.S. to kill Osama bin Laden.  In 1998 Mr. Clinton ordered 75 cruise missiles to be launched at Afghanistan and Sudan with the hope that one of them would hit bin Laden.

They missed, he escaped.

21 other people were reported killed by the missiles.

Mr. Clinton explains that there was "compelling evidence that bin Laden...was planning further attacks against...freedom loving people"....

U.S. & Iranian Interests Aligned Against the Taliban?

Interesting news item about the origins of the Taliban and their relationship with Iran and Pakistan, from CNN 1998:

Pakistan was the first of only three countries to recognize the Taliban government, and as many as 40 percent of the militia members studied in religious schools in Pakistan.

This would have been good to know when planning retaliation for the bombing of the USS Cole or the 9/11 attacks.  Do you think that Mr. Clinton or Mr. Bush read this story?  Could any of their dozens of advisers mention to them that the Taliban is largely composed of people from Pakistan?

On another note, it seems critical to understand that the Taliban and Iran were involved in a mini-war with each other.

from PBS, 1998

We were told that the U.S. bombed Afghanistan in the hope of killing bin Laden after his gang bombed U.S. embassies in Africa in 1998.  Would it not have been useful for 500,000 Iranian military members to help the U.S. government fight their war against the Taliban in Afghanistan?

Mr. Clinton, Mr. Bush & Mr. Blair had the chance to gain assistance from a powerful enemy of the Taliban and chose to go it alone instead.  Why did they turn against a potential partner in Iran and create further division between the Middle-East and the West?

Only a few people truly know the reasons for these actions.  Unfortunately, they are probably not going to let us in on the secret, leaving us to speculate about their behavior.