Blaming Clinton ‘easier than thinking’

As I read Chris Biller’s ludicrous letter in the July 1 Simi Valley Acorn, blaming former President Clinton for the Sept. 11 attacks while praising the current president to the skies, I was reminded of that old Republican saying, “Blame Clinton. It’s so much easier than thinking.”

Here are the facts:

1. The Clinton administration held regular meetings to monitor the terrorist threat. Dick Cheny, who headed the Bush administration committee on terrorism, convened not a single meeting on this subject prior to 9/11. Evidently, he was too busy holding 70 energy committee meetings, the notes of which he refuses to turn over.

2. Richard Clarke, in charge of combating terrorism in each of the last two administrations, says the Clinton administration was far more focused on the threat.

3. Then-incoming National Security Adviser Condi Rice was warned by her predecessor that terrorism would be her No. 1 concern. She ignored him.

Mr. Biller notes that we haven’t been attacked since 9/11 and implies this is because of Bush’s policies. However, the previous attack on U.S. soil prior to 9/11 was the World Trade Center bombing in 1993, fully eight years earlier. It strikes me as more than a bit premature to read any special significance into the lack of another attack in less than half that time since 9/11.

Mr. Biller also states that he does not believe for a moment that President Bush lied to us about the threat posed by WMDs in Iraq. Apparently, he has not read the Downing Street memos, which prove precisely the opposite.

For those who doubt their veracity, ask yourselves why the author—who had no idea the contents would ever become public— would lie. Richard Kolber Simi Valley