Dude, You're a middle aged man that routinely gets unhinged on a message board forum.
According to you, and your definitions, Horror movies, and Halloween are as much terrorism as Embassy bombings. According to your definitions, the gaping dark space in your brain is terrorism. You're that far removed from reality. I'm not going to bother discussing the boogie man as terrorism, sorry. Terrorist acts are crimes, not just a suggestion of crimes. Not all crimes are terrorism. Sort it out on your own time, we're not going to agree on a basic understanding of the terminology.
The only relevant thing you said was....
"No. I'm arguing that Al Quaeda and the Taliban were in Afghanistan, that our President totally dropped that ball to pursue a personal vendetta, and that this action enabled and empowered terrorists more than any action of any other President.[/quote]
Dude, you're a seething old hopalong who knows nothing but Bush bashing. I mean maybe the above reference is when YOU started taking some casual interest in the story, but the timeline starts way earlier.... here's a snippet of what I'm talking about....
** Arafat goes to the Whitehouse, inherits billions in aid, is promised his own country, a police force, and the Oasis Casino. Photo op on the front lawn. The results? Another intifada. 2 Hezbollah attacks on Jewish targets in Argentina, followed by near daily terror attacks. A Prime Minister is assassinated. That alone was unprecedented (and teaches all the Muslim Brotherhood types that terror does indeed work.) ** First WTC bombing (the eventual trial was for conspiracy rather then the actual bombings) and again the attempt was unprecedented ** Mogadishu (the US takes a defeat, empowers terror groups) ** Clinton does nothing effective in Rwanda, refuses to call it genocide (the event is referenced by terror groups who exploit the US reluctance to intervene and stop mass killing) ** We attack Iraq (and do it several times more. Once as revenge for a supposed plot against Bush Sr.) In turn Saddam puts greater effort into supporting terror groups even playing himself up as an Islamic warrior when convenient. *** Soviet Union collapses and we fail at making sure their nuclear arsenal doesn't wind up in the hands of rogue organizations around the world ** We aid the Taliban rebels enabling them to take power. *** Oklahoma City bombing. We treat it as a homegrown incident, and settle on the McVeigh as a patsy story to put the event to bed. (The incident, along with Janet Reno's fucked response to Waco becomes the talk of the terror camps.) ** Kohbar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia (we don't properly respond.) *** Sudan offers Bin Laden to the US, and Saudi Arabia, but the US turns them down because we can't indict him in a court of law. Sudan later expels him, to Afghanistan. ** We aid a civil war in the Congo. ** Embassy attacks in Nairobi, Kenya, and Tanzania. (We finally respond, bombing Afhganistan, and Sudan - ineffectually). Then we finally indict Bin Laden, but he's hiding in a cave and a terror network has already started planning bigger and better attacks. ** Cole bombing in Yemen (we don't properly respond.)
So let's refresh - Al Qaeda came into prominance during the Clinton era. The Taliban were formed during the Clinton era. Arafat, considered the grandfather of terrorism, by some, was elevated to world leader diplomacy status during the Clinton era. Killing sprees, and oppressive regimes thrived under the Clinton administrations close watch. ....and it goes on and on.
"You might also say that bankrolling the Islamic fundamentalists who went on to become the Taliban as a hedge against the soviet union enabled terrorist, and so can spread the blame on Carter and Reagan, without whom their might be no Taliban."
That would be great response if I had said "no other President enabled Islamic terrorism ever". Spread the blame all you want, you'd do well to focus on the years PRIOR to Clinton, since a lot of bad choices were made by US Presidents that enabled terrorism...but Clinton still takes the cake, and as bad as GW might be, he inherited the situation, didn't create it.