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Senior US officials would see Trump as a threat to the US 2:23
Editor's Note: Paul Begala, a Democratic strategist and political commentator for CNN, was a political consultant to Bill Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign and served as Clinton's adviser to the White House. The opinions expressed in this comment are yours. See more opinion articles on CNNe.com/opinion
(CNN) - “Worthy transfer”. This is what the military calls the solemn process of returning fallen heroes to the family they loved and the country they served. If I ever saw him, I would never be the same again. August 13, 1998 was by far the most difficult day I had as a White House chief aide to President Clinton. Al Qaeda terrorists led by Osama bin Laden had bombed our embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya, a week earlier. Twelve Americans were killed; some were State Department officials, others were Marines. They were all heroes.
I accompanied the President and the First Lady, along with the Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright; Defense Secretary William Cohen; Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin and others to Andrews Joint Base to testify of the worthy transfer. That same day, my oldest son was 6 years old. He had not the slightest concern that his dad would not come home. But those families were already concerned even before the attacks. Someone they loved was serving their country half a world away. Almost a quarter of a century later, none of his birthdays or weddings, anniversaries or graduations has been the same.
I have never forgotten those families or that day. Like everyone, he was heartbroken. But our pain soon turned into resolution. Clinton, especially, felt the burden of avenging their deaths. It is fair to say that he was almost obsessed with al Qaeda for the rest of his presidency. He tried to catch bin Laden and narrowly missed. His successor, of course, declared war on the Taliban to avenge September 11. And then the next president, Barack Obama, in a remarkable show of courage, ordered the Navy Special Forces to storm the bin Laden complex. And justice was done.
It took three presidents 13 years to catch up with bin Laden, but each followed suit. Failure to do so would have shown weakness, which in turn would provoke aggression. Every president should know this from day one. In the first six months of the first year of her first term, Clinton learned that Saddam Hussein had planned to assassinate former President George HW Bush. Clinton did not invite Saddam to join the G-7. It bombed Baghdad, razing the headquarters of Iraqi intelligence.
"We will fight terrorism," Clinton said in a speech at the time. "We will deter aggression. We will protect our people, "he added.
The reports that Donald Trump received information that Russia allegedly paid Taliban terrorists to kill US troops are indescribably shocking to me.
- READ: The Washington Post: Russian rewards to the Taliban would have caused the death of US soldiers, according to intelligence
Yes, like you, I thought I had lost my ability to be surprised by Trump. Trump himself has witnessed a decent transfer. He has seen the coffins covered with the flag unloaded, heard the muffled sobs of the heartbroken, saw the bottomless pain in the eyes of a child who lost a father. How can it be that, after he was allegedly briefed on Putin's attempts to attack US troops, Trump offered Putin rewards, as an invitation to meet with the top G-7 democracies and come to the US for a meeting of the leaders of the free world. An American president who truly loved the troops could perhaps invite Putin to join bin Laden at the gates of hell.
It is a long list of the scandalous things that Trump has said and done. But this has to be the worst. If true, he has refused to avenge the deaths of the American troops, heroes under his command. Much worse even than trying to please Putin in Helsinki, where he betrayed our country and sided with the Russian president over the US intelligence community. Even worse than Charlottesville, where a neo-Nazi murdered an innocent woman, and Trump declared that there were "very good people on both sides," establishing a moral equivalency between peaceful patriots and white supremacists with torches.
As the New York Times first reported this Sunday, Trump denied having been informed about Russia's terrorist scheme.
- MIRA: Trump denies that he and Pence knew of Russian intelligence payments to the Taliban to assassinate US and British soldiers
He then tweeted that he was informed on the matter, saying: “Intel informed me that they did not find this credible information and therefore did not report it to me or @VP. Possibly another trick of Russia fabricated, perhaps by the fake @nytimesbooks news, wanting to make Republicans look bad !!! ”
I do not believe in denial. Trump lies as you and I breathe: take oxygen and breathe out lies. Furthermore, if the intelligence community detected such a serious threat to our troops and did not immediately report to the commander in chief, the heads would roll. But even if it's true, Trump surely knows about the plan now. It is time to respond. Punishment time. Deterrence time. It is time to shake up those targeting US troops.
If Donald Trump did not, for some reason, Russia should not be comforted by its weakness. American patriots on both sides of the aisle are increasing their support for Joe Biden, in part because we must have a president who protects the United States and the heroes who defend us. We will fight terrorism. We will deter aggression. We will protect our people.
AfghanistanRussiaTalibanVladimir Putin
