Death of American Virtue - Ken Gormley [379]
Some top Clinton advisers felt that it might be best if they cut their losses and let people like Begala quit instead of engaging in “therapy in public.” On the other hand, if a few top Cabinet members or White House aides walked out and tendered their resignations, Clinton would be toast. “If two or three senior people, particularly if there’s a woman or two in there, had gone to the North Lawn and resigned,” said one adviser, “I think it could have in fact brought down his presidency.” To prevent his administration from unraveling altogether, Clinton began contacting lower-level staff members and “checked in to see how people were doing.”
Those who observed Bill Clinton during these tough days, as he worked away shielded from the sun of Martha’s Vineyard, saw him at the low point of his career. Said one: “I think he was angry. He was angry at himself, and he was angry at Starr and the whole process. I would say anger more than contrition, and I think people saw that.” Another adviser added, “This was the period in which he probably was in the most danger of having the whole thing unravel.”
It was in the midst of this stressful period that Bill Clinton was also forced to decide whether to bomb suspected terrorist training sites in Afghanistan and Sudan. After a low-key fifty-second birthday celebration with Vernon Jordan and family at a farm on the Vineyard where Jordan was vacationing, President Clinton returned to his bungalow and consulted with military advisers on a secure phone.
Intelligence reports indicated that Osama bin Laden and his top deputies would meet at the camp in Afghanistan the next day, August 20. If the United States succeeded in its surprise attack, these top-secret reports indicated, it could wipe out the core of the al Qaeda leadership. After seeking input from National Security Adviser Sandy Berger in Washington, as well as the Joint Chiefs of Staff and CIA, a shaken Bill Clinton directed U.S. Navy destroyers in the northern Arabian Sea to prepare to launch Tomahawk missiles at targets in Afghanistan. He also readied ships in the Red Sea to fire missiles at a chemical plant in Sudan, zeroing in on targets connected with Osama bin Laden.
Military advisers, including Richard Clarke, Clinton’s chief counterterrorism specialist, warned the president that there would inevitably be cries of Wag the Dog, referring to a movie in which a desperate president embroiled in a sex scandal concocted a fake war to save himself. Critics would surely accuse him of taking this military action abroad to divert attention from his predicament at home. Clinton replied tersely: “Do you all recommend that we strike [tomorrow]? Fine. Don’t give me political advice or personal advice about the timing. That’s my problem.” He worried until 3:00 A.M., at which time he authorized the attack.
Dressed in a dark suit and appearing unusually grim-faced, the president appeared the next morning at an impromptu press conference held at a school gym on Martha’s Vineyard, publicly announcing the military strike. Minutes later, Clinton boarded a plane to Washington to oversee this military operation from the White House, telling the American people in an afternoon televised address: “Today I ordered our armed forces to strike at terrorist-related facilities in Afghanistan and Sudan because of the threat they present to our national security.” Before returning to Martha’s Vineyard the president also signed Executive Order 13099, imposing economic sanctions against Osama bin Laden and the al Qaeda terrorist organization.
Although the military strikes did not kill bin Laden or his top deputies, the U.S. intelligence team reported that a group of Pakistani terrorist officers was “taken out” by the attacks. Yet the American media remained deeply skeptical.
Even some of Clinton’s closest advisers worried in private, “This may be more than the country can handle. This may be more than Congress can handle.”
The president returned to Martha’s Vineyard to complete his purgatory-like vacation. He slept on the couch downstairs in the main