On Tuesday, President Bush hailed the disruption of a plot to blow up transatlantic jetliners, even as former President Clinton warned Republicans not to “play politics” with the episode.
“We disrupted a terror plot, a plot where people were willing to kill innocent life to achieve political objectives,” Bush told reporters after visiting the National Counterterrorism Center in McLean.
The plot, Bush said, is “indicative of the challenge we face. America is engaged in a war against an extremist group.”
The president’s remarks came just hours after Clinton accused Republicans of conflating the terrorist plot, which was uncovered in London, with the war in Iraq.
“I don’t think the foiling of that London bomb plot has any bearing on our Iraq policy,” Clinton told ABC. “They seem to be anxious to tie it to al-Qaida.”
He added: “I think that Republicans should be very careful in trying to play politics with this London airport thing because they’re going to have a hard time with the facts.”
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee issued a statement this week saying the foiled London plot is an argument for electing Democrats and defeating Republicans.
“If we’re going to defeat plots like the one uncovered in London last week, we need to make sure we’re getting the job done overseas and here at home,” committee spokesman Phil Singer said. “The GOP doesn’t get that simple fact, which is why we need a new direction.”
The statement accompanied a video released Monday on the committee’s Web site that said terrorist attacks have increased under the governance of Bush and the Republicans. The video showed footage of Osama bin Laden and concluded with the words, “Feel safer? Vote for change.”
On Monday, Bush cited the foiled London plot as justification for his aggressive prosecution of the war against terrorism.
“The lessons of the past week is that there’s still a war on terror going on,” he said. “And the lesson for those of us in Washington, D.C., is to set aside politics and give our people the tools necessary to protect the American people.”
