最近一段时间，一些共和党人批评克林顿当年未对拉登和他的恐怖组织足够重视，成为9·11悲剧的一个原因，这让退休后声望不减的克林顿忍无可忍。“至少我尝试过抓住本·拉登，这是我与那些攻击我的人不同的地方。” 一头白发的前美国总统克林顿，在做客福克斯电视台的周日新闻节目时情绪非常激动。当资深节目主持人华莱士质问他为什么在他执政时期没有搞垮拉登和“基地”组织的时候，克林顿满脸愤怒。这位美国前总统谴责说，共和党人攻击他的政府放走拉登的做法“是一场假信息宣传”，根本是转嫁责任，为了中期选举赢得选票。

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton listens to progress reports at the conclusion of the Clinton Global Initiative in New York September 22, 2006.[Reuters] In a combative interview on "Fox News Sunday," former President Clinton defended his handling of the threat posed by Osama bin Laden, saying he tried to have bin Laden killed and was attacked for his efforts by the same people who now criticize him for not doing enough.  "That's the difference in me and some, including all of the right-wingers who are attacking me now," Clinton said in the interview. "They ridiculed me for trying. They had eight months to try, they did not try." Clinton accused host Chris Wallace of a "conservative hit job" and asked: "I want to know how many people in the Bush administration you asked, 'Why didn't you do anything about the Cole?' I want to know how many people you asked, 'Why did you fire Dick Clarke?'" Wallace said Sunday he was surprised by Clinton's "conspiratorial view" of "a very non-confrontational question, 'Did you do enough to connect the dots and go after Al Qaida?'" "All I did was ask him a question, and I think it was a legitimate news question. I was surprised that he would conjure up that this was a hit job," Wallace said in a telephone interview. Clinton said he "worked hard" to try to kill bin Laden. "We contracted with people to kill him. I got closer to killing him than anybody's gotten since," he said. He told Wallace, "And you got that little smirk on your face and you think you're so clever, but I had responsibility for trying to protect this country. I tried and I failed to get bin Laden. I regret it, but I did try and I did everything I thought I responsibly could." The interview was taped Friday during Clinton's three-day Global Initiative conference. (Agencies)

Vocabulary:

Cole: 指USS Cole（美国第五舰队的“科尔号”驱逐舰），2000年在也门海湾被炸 （英语点津陈蓓编辑）