W. and the damage done

[Aramike]

The previous posts said Clinton did nothing. That was false. Now, the goalposts have moved, and the intent of the Clinton administration is being questioned.

What matters is what was thought at the time.

Ironic how this could also apply to WMDs in Iraq...

Based on the information available at the time, attacking those camps seemed like an effective response, i.e. not merely a token gesture. It wasn't effective, but that's hindsight, and irrelevant to determining intent.

It was the very definition of "token". They took a couple shots and hoped it worked. When it was found that it didn't work, they didn't pursue it.

Hence, the objective wasn't considered urgent enough to take measures to see it completed.

Ergo, the firing of missiles was nothing more than a grand symbolic gesture.

A token response.