Comments by Paul Begala, former Senior White House Aide“Dignified transfer.” That’s what the military calls the solemn process of returning fallen heroes to the family they loved and the country they served. If you have ever witnessed it, you’re never quite the same after.
August 13, 1998, was by far the most difficult day I had as a senior White House aide to President Clinton. Al Qaeda terrorists led by Osama bin Laden had bombed our embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya, a week earlier. Twelve Americans were killed; some were State Department servants, others were Marines. All were heroes.
I accompanied the President and First Lady, along with Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Defense Secretary William Cohen, Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin and others to Joint Base Andrews to bear witness to the dignified transfer. That very day my oldest son turned 6. He had not a care in the world, nor the slightest concern that Daddy might not ever come home. But those families, they were already worried even before the attacks. Someone they loved was serving their country half a world away. Nearly a quarter-century later, none of their birthdays or weddings, anniversaries or graduations have been the same.
I have never forgotten those families or that day. Like everyone, I was heartbroken. But our grief soon hardened into resolve. Clinton, especially, felt the burden to avenge their death. It’s fair to say he became almost obsessed with al Qaeda for the remainder of his presidency. He tried to get bin Laden and narrowly missed. His successor, of course, declared war against the Taliban to avenge 9/11. And then the next President, Barack Obama, in a remarkable display of courage, ordered Navy SEALS to storm bin Laden’s compound. And justice was done.
It took three presidents 13 years to get bin Laden, but each stayed at it. Not doing so would have shown weakness, which in turn would invite aggression. Every president must know this from day one. In the first six months of the first year of his first term, Clinton learned that Saddam Hussein had plotted to assassinate former President George H.W. Bush. Clinton didn’t invite Saddam to join the G-7. He bombed Baghdad, leveling the headquarters of Iraqi intelligence.
“We will combat terrorism,” Clinton said in an address at the time. “We will deter aggression. We will protect our people.”
Reports that Donald Trump was briefed about Russia allegedly paying Taliban terrorists to kill American troops are indescribably shocking to me.
Yes, like you I thought I had lost my capacity to be shocked by Trump. Trump himself has witnessed a dignified transfer. He has seen the flag-draped coffins unloaded, heard the muffled sobs of the heartbroken, seen the bottomless grief in the eyes of a child who’s lost a parent. How can it be that, after reportedly being briefed about Putin targeting American troops for death Trump has offered Putin rewards, like an invitation to rejoin the leading democracies of the G-7 and come to the US for a meeting of the leaders of the free world. An American president who truly loved the troops might perhaps invite Putin to join bin Laden at the gates of hell.
It is a long list, the outrageous things Mr. Trump has said and done. But this has got to be the worst. If true, he has refused to avenge the deaths of American troops — heroes under his command. Much worse even than sucking up to Putin in Helsinki, where he betrayed our country, siding with the Russian president over the US intelligence community. Worse even than Charlottesville, where a neo-Nazi murdered an innocent woman, and Trump declared there were “very fine people on both sides” — drawing a moral equivalence between peaceful patriots and torch-bearing white supremacists..As first reported by the New York Times on Sunday, Trump denied being briefed on Russia’s terrorist scheme.
He later tweeted that he was informed of the intelligence on Russian bounties, saying: “Intel just reported to me that they did not find this info credible, and therefore did not report it to me or @VP. Possibly another fabricated Russia Hoax, maybe by the Fake News @nytimesbooks, wanting to make Republicans look bad!!!”
I don’t believe the denial. Trump lies like you and I breathe: he takes in oxygen and exhales lies. Moreover, if the intelligence community spotted such a dire threat to our troops and did not immediately brief the commander in chief, heads would roll. But even if it’s true, Trump sure knows about the plan now. It is time to respond. Time for punishment. Time for deterrence. Time to make those who target American troops tremble.
If Donald Trump won’t, for whatever reason, Russia should take no comfort from his weakness. Patriotic Americans on both sides of the aisle are surging support to Joe Biden, in part because we must have a president who protects America and the heroes who defend us. We will combat terrorism. We will deter aggression. We will protect our people.
Where do Begala’s comments and thoughts end and yours begin? Clinton had multiple times chances to kill Bin Laden and he refused, so quit crying crocodile tears, he was probably anticipating leaving on the “Lolita Express” again to dally with young girls.
What happened at Benghazi? Our brave defenders were left to die by the smartest woman in the world, Hillary Clinton! Shameful! But where was our president? Ovama could not be found, so Hillary made the call to deny any help. Where was the media to ask the question where was the president? Not one question! Amazing!
The Democrat party cannot be trusted with our military, the economy, or our health and safety.
You are imbued with Trump Derangement Syndrome. I know you and others of your ilk will vote for diminished, crooked, Alzheimer’s Joe Biden. He will be controlled by the extreme Left of the party. Expect what you see in Seattle, Los Angeles, Chicago to explode across the land if the Democrats gain power – no law and order, no civility, mass chaos. That is the face of the Democrat Party. They own it.
DTOM,
Be careful recalling history, there or those that don’t want any talk about it on this forum and across the Country………..Sad………. Good work by the way!!!
Cheers!!!
Debunked already, fake news again.
“National security adviser Robert O’Brien said Wednesday that the senior career CIA officer who briefs President Trump in person made the decision not to verbally brief him on intelligence about a Russian scheme to offer bounties targeting American troops in Afghanistan, saying she lacked confidence in the veracity of the intelligence.”
And the CIA has asked the DOJ to open a criminal investigation of the leak citing that it will now likely be impossible to determine if the intelligence reports were genuine and if the Russians were in fact paying bounties.
Wouldn’t surprise me if they were, after everything Trump has done to Russia from sanctions, killing Russian “mercenaries” in Syria to providing lethal aid to Ukraine that Obama refused to provide.
The above are the words of Paul Begala.
As to the remark about the Dems not being trustworthy leading the military, I refer you to recent news about Trump and his lack of protection for our military. Shameful. I think even Fox would be reporting this story. Most actual news outlets certainly are.
I think it is clear why Russia wanted Trump to win. If you still support Trump, the derangement is all yours.
Nice deflection. Bu bu but those are Begala’s words…
Congratulations, you’ve learned copy and paste. Did you have anything to add yourself, or is that all you can do?
Bu bu but the news story…
You mean the one that everyone involved is saying is bogus/unverified? It might even be true, but since we probably did the same thing to the Russians during their own Afghanistan involvement it’s only fair I guess. I suppose you also think the Russians just started their bomber and submarine probes two years ago too.