US Clinton: He "foiled plots" and "up rooted cells".

That's what he claims. And from the looks of several left wing sites, many believe him. See here and here.

The source for their claims seems to be the UK's left wing newspaper, the Guardian.

But how much of it is true? Let's look at the claims.

CLINTON Stopped cold the Al Qaeda millennium hijacking and bombing plots.

Here's a list of the millennium plots. Note none of them were foiled by the US.

The millennium plot to bomb LAX airport was foiled by an alert border guard who was just doing her job and did not involve the security services. Most of the entire world was concerned that something disasterous would happen on the millennium. Thankfully, she was alert and did her job. But Clinton certainly didn't stop it.

CLINTON Stopped cold the planned attack to kill the Pope

Actually, like so many of the other "foiled" plots, it was sheer luck that prevented the attack. Clinton didn't stop it.

In 1995, both these men were in the Philippines. They plotted to assassinate the pope. A freak apartment fire foiled that plot, but they also had several plots, then including a plot to assassinate former President Bill Clinton. And also one that was inside the laptop computer that was used by this cell, it was a plot to hijack commercial planes and ram them into buildings in the United States like the Pentagon, the World Trade Center, and the CIA headquarters, something that intelligence officials in the region as well as U.S. intelligence officials now believe is the blueprint for the September 11 attacks -- Carol.

LIN: All right, do you know -- is there a sense of how far along this plot actually was?

RESSA: Well, what was interesting is that they did -- they had the plot set up and it would have been carried out along with a plot to bomb 11 commercial planes, 11 American airlines. It was supposed to be 48 hours of terror, is what they called it. It would have killed more than 4,000 people. That freak apartment fire foiled it.

CLINTON Stopped cold the planned attack to blow up 12 U.S. jetliners simultaneously

Nope. See above.

CLINTON Stopped cold the planned attack to blow up UN Headquarters, Lincoln and Holland Tunnels in NY, FBI Headquarters, George Washington Bridge

All of these are actually part of the same "plot" called the New York City landmark plot. The "plot" was actually a shopping list of targets that included a lot more than is mentioned in the Guardian report. "The New York City landmark bomb plot was a planned followup to the February 1993" attack on the WTC. The attacks were supposed to take place on July 4th 1993, just five months after the failed WTC attack. But they were arrested in June 1993. All were later convicted an sentenced to long jail terms.

Now, I'm glad they were caught and put away. But I doubt that they could have put together such a large number of plots in such a short space of time; the attacks were planned to take place less than 5 months after the WTC attack.

It's not clear which or how many sites on the shopping list were meant for actual targeting. And while it's to the credit of the FBI that they infiltrated the group and caught them in the discussion stage, it's a bit of a streach to say "CLINTON Stopped cold" all the attacks on this long list of targets.

CLINTON Stopped cold the planned attack to blow up Boston airport

Couldn't find anything on this one and I note it's not in the Guardian report.

CLINTON Stopped cold the planned attack to blow up the Israeli Embassy in Washington

Couldn't find anything on this one and I note it's not in the Guardian report.

CLINTON Stopped cold the planned attack to blow up the US Embassy in Albania

As State Department report indicates a terrorist plot was thwarted. But this came after the successful Muslim terror attacks on our African embassies when security services were belatedly put on higher alert and many embassies were closed or reduced - including Albania.

Given the possibility that the U.S. Embassy's personnel and facilities could be the targets of a terrorist attack, on August 14, 1998, the Department of State ordered the departure of Embassy personnel in non-emergency positions and families of Embassy personnel, and later further reduced its staff. As a result of the continued reduction in staff, the Embassy has suspended normal operations and is able to offer only emergency services to American citizens.

That was one week after the US embassies in Africa were bombed.

I worked in the intelligence services from 1971-1991 and I know first hand that all of our security services have many dedicated personnel who dilligently do their job - day in and day out - regardless of who's in the White House. It is to them that credit is due.

It's the man in the White House whose duty it is too lead. He directs the countries intelligence efforts, deciding what's important and what isn't. It's been proven beyond a doubt that Clinton didn't pay enough attention to the gathering storm. The captured laptop was a blueprint for 9/11. And we may never know what documents Berger admittedly stole and destroyed.

There are those that say if not for 9/11, Bush may not have fared any better. To them I say, look at what Bush has done since 9/11 compared to the Democrats. The NSA wiretap program, the SWIFT banking program and the Patroit ACT, all proven programs against terrorism and all opposed by the Democrats.

UPDATE

More in depth reporting on Clinton's failures here. via email from Paul.