The United States’ Failure of Battling International Terrorism under Clinton’s Administration

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The United States’ Failure of Battling International Terrorism under Clinton’s Administration

In the wake of the September 11 tragedy, Osama bin Laden once again rang the bell across the North America continent, reminding the Americans of his existence and fatalness. Bin Laden has been quiet for a while after the United States’ bombing in Sudan and Afghanistan in 1998 – a retaliation against his followers’ attacks of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, and a mere attempt to stop international terrorism by the Clinton’s administration. By demolishing the World Trade Centre and part of the pentagon with four hijacked domestic aircrafts on September 11, 2001, bin Laden has proven Clinton’s attempt a tragic failure – that it was simply a timeout to the terrorist “jihad” against the Americans.

Thirteen days after the terrorist attack of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, Operation Infinite Reach was launched with the approval of a select group of senior advisors from President Clinton’s administration. Numerous Tomahawk Cruise Missiles were sent from U.S. submarines and warships to selected targets in Sudan and Afghanistan. The retaliation, though backed up by many claimed evidence and urge from the administration, has drawn many serious local and international criticisms. These criticisms were raised mostly against the effectiveness and the justification of the military action. With its failure to stop Osama bin Laden from plotting his “jihad” against the Americans, Operation Infinite Reach seems to have proven most of the criticisms correct.

One problem with the bombings of Sudan and Afghanistan is that they were highly ineffective in achieving its intended goal to battle terrorism. The outcome of the bombings has perhaps made its ineffectiveness self-explanatory – the Cruise Missiles were late for an hour to hit bin Laden in the Zhawar Kili Al-Badr Camp near Khoust, Afghanistan. Even though Clinton’s Defensive Secretary Cohen claimed that killing bin Laden was not one of their designs, the failure to root bin Laden and his followers out was obvious. Reports from Afghanistan showed that only less than a hundred members of Al Qaeda were killed or wounded during the attack, and Taliban officials later confirmed that bin Laden has fled the bombing site uninjured. Leaving no serious damage to bin Laden’s terrorist group, the retaliation seemed to have done too little to combat terrorism against the United States.

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