October 6, 2006 - Blame Both Parties for International Terrorism

I think Mr. DeCicco is wrong on a number of points in his letter that criticized former President Bill Clinton (“Democrats lack will to win war on terror”, 10-6.)

First of all, there is no “war on terror” and there cannot ever be a war against a tactic; Mr. DeCicco falls into a trap when he accepts this false premise.

Secondly, Mr. DeCicco got it wrong when he argued that Clinton was, “overly concerned about his sexual misdeeds.” In fact Clinton was regrettably cavalier about his sexual affairs before he was caught, and it was the Republicans who were, for purely political motives, fixated on Clinton’s sexual misdeeds after they came to light.

Thirdly, like many other “conservatives”, Mr. DeCicco seems to decry the “rewriting” of history but as every good historian knows, history is not a dead thing but must continuously be revisited in light of the appearance of new facts and changing perspectives.

An example of this “rewriting” principle is that now we can see there is plenty of blame to go around among both Democratic and Republican leaders for the advent of global terrorism. I for one chiefly blame President Jimmy Carter for allowing his National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski to talk him into the insane program of funding, recruiting, training, and arming young Islamic fanatics from all over the world.

It is important to remember that, from Carter through President George H.W. Bush, a majority of Democrats and Republicans supported the development of an international jihad against the West.

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