Why did Newt Gingrich (R-GA) condemn the Clinton attacks on Al Quada as a waste of money?

Question

And, why is it that now conservatives want to blame clinton for not doing enough in the war on terrorism

Answer 1

Political opportunism typical for the far right,underestimating the threat of terrorism at the time and out right lies.They will do anything to destroy the Clinton name.Their first priority was harming Cliton,not protecting America.
Clinton's efforts to quell the war in the Balkans "defeated Al Qaeda when it had attempted to take over Bosnia by having its fighters dominate the defense of the breakaway state from Serbian attacks."
The Clinton administration stopped Iraqi terrorism against the United States, through military intervention. It stopped Iranian terrorism against the United States, through covert action. It stopped the al-Qaida attempt to have a dominant influence in Bosnia. It stopped the terrorist attacks at the millennium. It stopped many other terrorist attacks, including on the U.S. embassy in Albania. And it began a lethal covert action program against al-Qaida; it also launched military strikes against al-Qaida.

Starting in 1995, Clinton took actions against terrorism that were unprecedented in American history. He poured billions and billions of dollars into counterterrorism activities across the entire spectrum of the intelligence community. He poured billions more into the protection of critical infrastructure. He ordered massive federal stockpiling of antidotes and vaccines to prepare for a possible bioterror attack. He order a reorganization of the intelligence community itself, ramming through reforms and new procedures to address the demonstrable threat. Within the National Security Council, “threat meetings” were held three times a week to assess looming conspiracies. His National Security Advisor, Sandy Berger, prepared a voluminous dossier on al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden, actively tracking them across the planet. Clinton raised the issue of terrorism in virtually every important speech he gave in the last three years of his tenure. In 1996, Clinton delivered a major address to the United Nations on the matter of international terrorism, calling it “The enemy of our generation.”
Behind the scenes, he leaned vigorously on the leaders of nations within the terrorist sphere. In particular, he pushed Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to assist him in dealing with the threat from neighboring Afghanistan and its favorite guest, Osama bin Laden. Before Sharif could be compelled to act, he was thrown out of office by his own army. His replacement, Pervez Musharraf, pointedly refused to do anything to assist Clinton in dealing with these threats. Despite these and other diplomatic setbacks, terrorist cell after terrorist cell were destroyed across the world, and bomb plots against American embassies were thwarted. Because of security concerns, these victories were never revealed to the American people until very recently.
In Congress, Clinton was thwarted by the reactionary conservative majority in virtually every attempt he made to pass legislation that would attack al Qaeda and terrorism. His 1996 omnibus terror bill, which included many of the anti-terror measures we now take for granted after September 11, was withered almost to the point of uselessness by attacks from the right; Jesse Helms and Trent Lott were openly dismissive of the threats Clinton spoke of.

Clinton wanted to attack the financial underpinnings of the al-Qaeda network by banning American companies and individuals from dealing with foreign banks and financial institutions that al Qaeda was using for its money-laundering operations. Texas Senator Phil Gramm, chairman of the Banking Committee, killed Clinton’s bill on this matter and called it “totalitarian.” In fact, he was compelled to kill the bill because his most devoted patrons, the Enron Corporation and its criminal executives in Houston, were using those same terrorist financial networks to launder their own dirty money and rip off the Enron stockholders.
Just before departing office, Clinton managed to make a deal with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development to have some twenty nations close tax havens used by al Qaeda. His term ended before the deal was sealed, and the incoming Bush administration acted immediately to destroy the agreement. According to Time magazine, in an article entitled “Banking on Secrecy” published in October of 2001, Bush economic advisors Larry Lindsey and R. Glenn Hubbard were urged by think tanks like the Center for Freedom and Prosperity to opt out of the coalition Clinton had formed. The conservative Heritage Foundation lobbied Bush’s Treasury Secretary, Paul O’Neill, to do the same. In the end, the lobbyists got what they wanted, and the Bush administration pulled America out of the plan. The Time article stated, “Without the world’s financial superpower, the biggest effort in years to rid the world’s financial system of dirty money was short-circuited.”

Answer 2

Because at the time they thought Clinton was wagging the dog to take attention away from the Lewinsky issue.

Yes, that's right. He tried to protect America and Newt made it all about the Republicans. Crazy what happens when a President does the right thing, at least a Democrat, they get accused of playing politics.

Maybe Clinton could have done more about Bin Laden if the right was behind his efforts rather than criticizing.

Answer 3

He and his ilk were so focused on getting Clinton out of office that they foolishly condemned Clinton's attempts to thwart terrorism as a political ploy to take the focus off of the whitewater investigation.

The current crop of conservatives blame Clinton for not doing enough in the war on terror because that is just what they do. They are incapable of accepting responsibility.

Answer 4

Because the republicans hate that Clinton's success just showed how incompetent the republicans really are. They thought that the Clinton administration made them look bad but is nothing compared to how bad the Bush administration is making the republicans look.

Answer 5

History will be much kinder to Bill Clinton and his efforts to stop Bin Laden that the current crop of neocoms are currently

Answer 6

Well Newt also has a problem with the first amendment. I pretty much disregard this guy. Hes going no-where ever. He will be skewered when Hillary gets elected.

Answer 7

Because,no matter the truth as it pertains to terrorism,the right needs to twist and frame it in a way that "proves"to their base,and to other gullible voters,that the left is weak on terrorism.

Answer 8

Ya gotta point the finger at someone. And since this administration never takes blame for anything, hello Bill!

Answer 9

Because Republicans are never to blame for anything that goes wrong yet are responsible for everything that does.

Immature finger-pointing is a widely-known staple of the GOP.

Answer 10

The GOP knows the American people really do not pay attention to anything other than can they pay their bills and can I somehow feel morally superior to someone else.

Answer 11

And when this was pointed out to Newt he replied, "So, what kind of idiot would listen to anyone in the Republican party?"