I didn't see the interview, so I'm depending on the rough transcript posted here.
I pulled out the things Clinton said that directly answered the question he was asked, but I had to dig through mounds of..well, whatever...to get to it. He would have come off so much better if he had simply stated these things up front - here they are:
CLINTON: I authorized the CIA to get groups together to try to kill him. . .The country never had a comprehensive anti terror operation until I came to office. . . after the Cole I had battle plans drawn to go into Afghanistan, overthrow the Taliban, and launch a full scale attack search for Bin Laden. But we needed baseing rights in Uzbekistan which we got after 9/11. The CIA and the FBI refused to certify that Bin Laden was responsible while I was there. They refused to certify. So that meant I would have had to send a few hundred special forces in helicopters and refuel at night. Even the 9/11 Commission didn’t do that.
...I left a comprehensive anti-terror strategy and the best guy in the country, Dick Clarke…
Me again. Hey, fair enough. Good points. Okay. There was also his statement about "No one knew Al Quaida existed then" which is a perfectly valid response, but hard to extricate from the complaining. And that's my point. Can he get his ego out of the way for two and a half seconds? He made the whole issue about HIM. First, how does it affect him, then what is the issue at hand. Wrong order, Bill!!!
That's what comes from the reading. I didn't hear the tone in his voice or see his expressions, so I can't tell - for instance, how did he say the following - was he joking, kind of teasing, or was he serious when he said:
"And you’ve got that little smirk on your face. It looks like you’re so clever… "
I hope he put that line over as joking banter (even if he meant it). Did he?
Salmon leap from the womb of the white sea you look on; they are calves, they are lambs of good color, in peace without slaughter.