Comparing Bush and Clinton....from a High School Government teacher...
Everyone loves to compare and contrast these two. I think you should look at the situation that both men had to operate under.
As for Osama.
Clinton did know that Osama was a problem, and had a number of meetings in how to best catch or kill Bin Laden. At no time was a clear chance given, and the best opportunity came at the expense of shooting cruise missiles over Pakistan to hit the target (911 report). The Administration choose not to pursue this action as it would cause more international grief than benefit. Instead, they compiled a massive file on Bin Laden and his activities. Amongst the information collected, was a small little piece about using airplanes as projectiles. This information was compiled and handed to the Bush administration. (911 report). C. Rice did have this info, and tried to hand it over to Bush, but he did not see it as an immediate concern. (again, 911 report and C. Rice).
Bush had Osama trapped in the mountains of Afghanistan, and there was no immediate concern about international concern over using force over the Taliban. The free world stood united in rooting out the Taliban and Osama. When it seemed that they had Osama cornered, Bush moved troops around, and outsourced the final leg of the operation to Afghani mercernary units. To this day, we know about where he is, but no big push has been made to capture him. Most likely, because we are already overextended in Iraq, and cannot afford to relocate any troops.
War in Iraq...
Clinton was using the U.N. to apply international pressure on Saddam. While it is now apparent that there was an Oil for Food scandal going on, Saddam was under such scrutiny that he was not able to manufacture weapons, or kill the number of people he had during his earlier years as ruler. When Saddam began to act against the U.N., Clinton was quick to have missiles dropped in strategic locations, but always away from the population. This did not result in any insurgency or uprising in the people. Saddam got the point, and allowed weapon inspectors back in. At the end of Clinton's presidency, Saddam had not assembled one WMD.
Bush came into power, and began making veiled threats right away at Saddam. After exploring possible Al Quaida and Iraq connections, they only thing they could match was the location. As it turned out, Bin Laden has had a deep contempt for Saddam for a long time. Of course, this makes sense in context. Bin Laden wants removal of all western influence, and Saddam wants a secular government. The two could not work together, as they had different ideologies. but there was a group of now insurgents who saw the Iraqi's as a fertile ground for more training, and did center their attention there. They did this, after the U.S led invasion into Iraq. Zarqawi is Saudi, not an Iraqi. He is leading another extension of the Holy War, and causing a civil war to begin in Iraq. The whole pretext of the war, was to root out the WMDs. Of which, not one was found to date. Not only was there no WMDs, but no ability to manufacture them either. When Powell and Rumsfield acknowledged this fact, the Bush administration changed the reason of the war to liberating Iraq, and creating a Middle Eastern democracy.
So.....Clinton always acted under the auspice of international diplomacy. That is why he was respected on a world scale, and it was safe to travel as an U.S. citizen. Bush has destroyed all foreign relation ties, especially as he acted against the U.N. in declaring war. This is why Bush had such a bad reputation, and can be considered the aggressor in the War. There is a comparisson here between Bush and Saddam. both men attacked another country unprovoked......