EDITOR,

In his Sept. 2 letter, George Reeves argues that President Bush should be impeached “for mistakes made in complacency for atrocities of 9/11.” He’s got the wrong president. That distinction belongs to Bill Clinton.

Clinton repeatedly did nothing as Islamic terrorists launched wave after wave of terrorist attacks during the 1990s. Clinton sat on his hands in the wake of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing in New York (six Americans killed, 1,000 injured), the 1993 attack in Mogadishu, Somalia (18 U.S. soldiers killed, 73 wounded), the 1995 Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia (19 U.S. soldiers and airmen killed, hundreds wounded), the 1998 Tanzania and Kenya embassy bombings (225 people killed, 5,000 injured) and the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen (17 U.S. sailors killed, 39 injured).

Can anyone name one initiative that Clinton took to fight Islamic terrorism It can be argued that, according to Osama bin Laden, Clinton set the stage for 9/11 by his “cut and run” from Mogadishu. In his 1996 Declaration of War Against the Americans, bin Laden wrote:

“Clinton appeared in front of the whole world threatening and promising revenge, but these threats were merely a preparation for withdrawal. You had been disgraced by Allah and you withdrew; the extent of your impotence and weakness became very clear.”

Clinton also passed up at least two or three golden opportunities to kill bin Laden (see Richard Miniter’s book, “Losing bin Laden”). What a miserable failure!

I’m thankful that America has thwarted dozens of terrorist attacks during the past five years, has not been hit by a terrorist attack in five years and has President Bush as our leader. He understands the threat of terrorism and takes it seriously, unlike Clinton did or Reeves or some Democrats in Congress do.

Dave Kerst, Tracy