October 25, 2004 - William Jefferson Clinton was inaugurated as the 42nd President of the United States on January 20th 1993. On February 26th,, just 37 days into the new administration’s tenure, a team of Islamist guerillas detonated a truck bomb in the underground garage beneath World Trade Tower One. America had suffered the first foreign terrorist attack on its soil since Nazi sabotage operations in World War II. The explosion happened on Clinton’s watch but the operation was hatched, launched, and came to maturity during the one term Presidency of George H. W. Bush.

Khalid Shaik Mohammad conceived and organized the plot in 1991. His nephew, Kuwaiti national Ramzi Yousef was the operational chief of the mission. The plan had the virtue of simplicity. A rented truck packed with a chemical bomb constructed out of just $300.00 worth of readily available chemicals was the weapon. The core support group was already in place in Newark led by a blind fundamentalist cleric, a fugitive from justice. The FBI had a informant in place, a former Colonel in the Egyptian Army had infiltrated the Newark cell.

The President was leading Governor Clinton in the polls while the challenger and his wife were fending off the story of a long affair with Gennifer Flowers when Ramzi Yousef entered the United States traveling on a forged Iraqi passport. Yousef’s traveling companion was detained when his luggage was examined at customs and Arabic documents were found that seemed to be bomb making instructions from the drawings they included. The documents were not translated.

The President and the Governor of Arkansas were hustling for votes in the final drive toward the election when the FBI informant reported to his handlers in New York that he had uncovered an active plot to mix a bomb to attack the World Trade Center. The FBI dithered and let the plot go forward. He would later testify against the plotters when they faced American justice. The plotters, including Ramzi Yousef, were convicted and are now serving 280 year sentences in American prisons.

Another President Bush and another attack on the World Trade Center came eight years later. This time the warnings were not as specific but they were there. Again alert local FBI agents were connecting the dots having noticed potential terrorists learning to fly at scattered sites across America. This time the warnings seeped up to the highest level of government only to be ignored at the highest level of government. That all happened on the current President’s watch.

This President declared war on terror first on Afghanistan and then on Iraq. Bin Laden is at large. Al- Zarqawi is at large and leading devastating attacks on the American occupation and the interim Iraqi government. 380 Tons of high explosive materials that could detonate a nuclear device are missing from an Iraqi weapons storage facility over run and bypassed by American forces in the first weeks of the war and this President tells us that our security against another terrorist attack on American soil is “up in the air”.

Listen to this President and he tells us that America is safer because he went to war in Iraq. Listen to this President and he tells us to be afraid but trust him to keep us safe from terrorists because they are busy killing Americans in Iraq. Listen to this President and he tells us that America cannot admit its mistakes and remain strong and secure. Listen to this President and American security rests on nothing more substantial than castles in the air.