You Have Some Nerve to Talk

One tradition that former presidents have kept over the years is not to criticize their successors while they are in office. It was a classy thing to do and it was followed because former presidents knew just how tough the job was. In recent years, however, Jimmy Carter has been very critical of US policy and of George W. Bush in particular. I don't think much of what he said really carried any weight because he sounded like a feeble-minded, cranky old man. Not to say anything of his disastrous term in office.

Now, Jimmy Carter has company. Bill Clinton is back on the scene (wagging his finger again a la "I didn't have sexual relations with that woman, Monica Lewinsky):


Yesterday, he went on a tirade about the Bush administration invading Iraq "virtually alone and before UN inspections were completed, with no real urgency, and no evidence that there were weapons of mass destruction."

The audacity of this guy to criticize the person who is tasked with cleaning up his mess is astounding. A fair amount of culpability for the attack resulting in the war on terror should rest on this man's shoulders. Of course, he would feel that there was "no real urgency" in dealing with Iraq. This is the man who let al-Qaeda get stronger and bolder with each attack that this guy didn't deem urgent enough to respond to. The first World Trade Center bombing got a few terrorists arrested. Other than that, two US embassies in Africa were bombed with no retaliation, the US Cole bombing, Saddam's plot to assassinate former president Bush, Saddam's decision to kick out UN weapons inspectors, Saddam's repeated defiance of the no-fly zone and firing on US pilots, and al-Qaeda's repeated threats to the United States were not urgent enough for Clinton to respond to. Sure, he fired some cruise missles and bombed an aspirin factory in Sudan, but that was more to take the focus on Monica's first day of testimony.

The only real urgency Bill Clinton had during his term in office was manipulating a chubby 21-year old intern with clear self-esteem issues, then trying to cover it all up. He spent more time covering up his scandals than dealing with a festering terrorist movement that ultimately took thousands of American lives in an entirely preventable attack. You sir, have some nerve to talk.