Bubbalo wrote:

You do realize that the whole point of the structure of terrorist organisations is that if you kill a leader it makes not difference?
Agreed.  Al Queda is in many ways more a brand name than a specific orgainization.  A good example of this is "Al Queda in Iraq" which started out as a bunch of lunitics taking advantage of the anarchy until they became famous for chopping of peoples heads.

dubbs wrote:

QuadDamage@U wrote:

Keep in mind that the people known to be responsible for the original WTC bombing were all captured during the 90's and given life sentences.  They did not belong to Al Queda directly.  However, they did receive some financing from Al Queda.  Also, the bombing of the US Embassy in Kenya was organized in part by Islamic terrorist groups other than Al Queda.

You are looking back at these events with knowledge of 911.  It wasn't until the USS Cole incident that Bin Laden and Al Queda really started to stand out as a threat above so many other extremist groups in world.  After 911, Bin Laden claimed credit/support for the other events even though he and Al Queda were only loosely related.
I have to tell you that you are very wrong about the bombing in Kenya.  It was known that Bin Laden was behind it.  It was also the first time that Al Qaeda was brought into the spotlight.

Also, Khaled Shaikh Mohammed who paided for the his cousin to preform the WTC bombings, was part of the 9/11 planning team.  He was also the one that came up with the idea to have airplanes hijacked in the US.  Clinton did not do anything to stop him. 

Another thing, if Clinton was to capture Bin Laden, then the whole 9/11 planing that took place in the Taliban's back yard would not have occured.  The Taliban protected Bin Laden because he helped them overthrow the the Soviets and allow them to control most of the country.  He was the one who supplied the guns and money to do this, and they gave him the freedom to do what ever he wanting in their country.

So let's recap, with Khaled Mohammed removed, Bin Laden removed, and the freedom to plan the attacks removed there would not have been a 9/11 as we know it.  Clinton could have went after Khaled Mohammed, and Bin Laden while he was in office.  Since Bin Laden would have been running from the US, he could not have had time to plan the attacks, and time to support the Taliban.  Also, Khaled Mohammed would have not been able to create the plans for 9/11, nor would he have been able to test the plans in 1995. 

This would have done a lot of damage in breaking the 9/11 planing, if not destoried it completely.  Like I orginally stated, Clinton could have done better.  Bush could do better.  There are still terrorist attacks today, even thought they are not targeted completely at the US, they still exist.  Like the London Subway Bombings, or the Madrid Bombings in 2002.
I didn't claim that Al Queda was not known to be behind the Kenya Embassy bombing.  I said that there were also other Islamic Radical groups involved.  The point being that you are talking about what coulda, woulda, shoulda been done about Al Queda in the 90's now that we know about 911.  However, I don't see you mentioning any of the other Terror groups in the world that participated in various attacks and could have also planned a 911 type event.  BTW: the original WTC bombing was in Feb 1993, not 1995.

You also keep suggesting that if Bin Ladin or Khaled Mohammed had been taken out, 911 would not have happened because they get the credit for the attack.  However, 911 was planned and carried out by a lot of people.  911 might very well have still occurred without these two people.  It might have happened differently,  at a different time, exactly the same way, or not at all.  There is no way to know.  Prior to 911, these two people were just a couple names near the top of a long list of known terrorist.  Obviously we will never be able to get everyone on this list and any of them could attack at any time.

Imagine you are driving to work one day and you get into an accident on the way.  It is easy to think back and realize that if you had not slept in 5 extra minutes, or stopped for gas, or eaten an extra bowl of cereal the accident never would have happened.  However, prior to the accident none of that was any more relevant than a long list of other daily activities.