by Jim Kouri
"Clinton's failure to grasp the opportunity to unravel increasingly organized extremists, coupled with [National Security Advisor Sandy] Berger's assessments of their potential to directly threaten the US, represents one of the most serious foreign policy failures in American history." - Los Angeles Times (12/5/01)
Former President Bill Clinton has stated on several occasions that he did not take advantage of opportunities to capture Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and bring him to the US because he had no legal authority to do so.
According to Clinton, bin Laden had not committed any crime for which he could be arrested. However, Clinton's statement is either a lapse in memory or his statement is an out-and-out fabrication. No matter how much evidence is brought to bear, Clinton's sycophants and the Democrat Party in general will continue to denigrate anyone who exposes their party's icon.
The Clintonistas continue to attack anyone who responds to Clinton's assertions and Democrats and some Republicans will advise us to leave the past behind us. However, it is Bill Clinton who is traveling throughout the world rewriting history for his own benefit.
On November 5, 1998, A federal grand jury in New York City delivered an indictment against Osama bin Laden accusing him of engaging in a long-term conspiracy to attack US facilities overseas and to kill American citizens whenever possible.
The federal indictment alleged that Al-Qaeda, Bin Laden's international terrorist group had allied itself with the National Islamic Front in Sudan, with the government of Iran, and with the Iranian created terrorist group Hezbollah to "work together against their perceived common enemies in the West, particularly the United States."
In addition, the indictment describes Al-Qaeda's agreement with Iraq not to work against the regime of Saddam Hussein and that they would work cooperatively with Iraq, particularly in weapons development.
According to the indictment, Al-Qaeda also tried to recruit Americans to travel throughout the US to deliver messages and to conduct fundraising activities to aid the growth of their terrorism network. The indictment also states that Al-Qaeda used charity and humanitarian agencies as a conduit for transmitting funds to affiliate terrorist groups.
The federal indictment claims that bin Laden's associates and supporters purchased land for terrorist training camps; bought warehouses where explosives were stored; transferred bank accounts using various aliases; purchased sophisticated telecommunications equipment; and transferred money and weapons to Al-Qaeda and affiliated terrorist organizations such as Hezbollah which operated in southern Lebanon.
According to the lengthy indictment, beginning in 1993, Al-Qaeda began training Somali tribes to oppose the United Nation's humanitarian effort in Somalia. In October of that year, members of Al Qaeda participated in an attack on US military personnel in which 18 soldiers were killed and over 70 others were wounded in Mogadishu. In another section, the indictment noted that an unnamed "coconspirator" transported weapons and explosives from Khartoum to Port Sudan for transshipment to the Saudi Arabian peninsula.
The Grand Jury document, which usually does not provide a great amount of details in advance of a prosecution, also alleged that Osama bin Laden and his minions attempted to develop chemical weapons and attempted to obtain nuclear weapons components in 1993.
The indictment noted that Bin Laden issued his Declaration of Jihad with the aim of recruiting others to "kill Americans and encouraged other persons to join the jihad against the American enemy."
Bin Laden should have been hunted down then and there. A federal indictment allows two police officers or 50,000 Marines to make an arrest.
In its December 5, 2001, edition, the Los Angeles Times stated, "Clinton's failure to grasp the opportunity to unravel increasingly organized extremists, coupled with [National Security Advisor Sandy] Berger's assessments of their potential to directly threaten the US, represents one of the most serious foreign policy failures in American history."
The United States had an indictment against Osama bin Laden and for more than two years during the Clinton Administration and eight months during the Bush Administration no serious attempt was made to capture the Al-Qaeda leader. However, Clinton claims he turned over a detailed counterterrorism strategy to the Bush White House which he says they ignored. But in a press conference in 2002, Richard Clark, whom Clinton cites as someone who knew he was serious about fighting terrorism, told reporters that there was never any strategy transfer from Clinton to Bush.
Also, the Director of the FBI under Clinton, Louis Freeh, maintains that Clinton's dealings with the Saudi's -- dealings that should have been about terrorists -- were more about garnering donations for the Clinton Library.
PLEASE NOTE: Following my article titled, "Clinton's Meltdown and Deception on Fox News," several people wrote comments calling me a liar or disputing my facts. The gist of what they had to say is that I misquoted what Bill Clinton said. For the record, I did not misquote him. Here is what he said as opposed to the facts:
"There is not a living soul in the world who thought Osama bin Laden had anything to do with Black Hawk down ..." (Bill Clinton - Fox News' "Fox News Sunday," 9/24/06)
FACT: "The international community turned away from the country after a 1993 battle that killed 18 U.S. troops the basis for the 'Black Hawk Down' book and movie and a UN peacekeeping mission ended in failure in 1995. Osama bin Laden considered the subsequent withdrawal of U.S. troops from Somalia his first victory against America." (Nick Wadhams, "New U.S.-Organized Group Lends Support To Somalia's Weak Interim Government," The Associated Press)
"[No one] even knew Al Qaeda was a growing concern in October of '93." (Clinton -Fox News' "Fox News Sunday," 9/24/06)
FACT: Osama Bin Laden And Al Qaeda Were Well Known By The Time Clinton Was Inaugurated - In 1992, FBI Agent John O'Neill was discussing Al-Qaeda with politicians, lawmakers, police personnel, and news reporters.
"I think it's very interesting that all the conservative Republicans, who now say I didn't do enough, claimed that I was too obsessed with bin Laden. All of President Bush's neo-cons thought I was too obsessed with bin Laden." (Clinton - Fox News' "Fox News Sunday," 9/24/06)
FACT: Conservative Republicans praised President Clinton for going after bin Laden: "President Clinton won warm support for ordering anti-terrorist bombing attacks in Afghanistan and Sudan ... from many of the same lawmakers who have criticized him harshly as a leader critically weakened by poor judgment and reckless behavior in the Monica S. Lewinsky Scandal." (Guy Gugliotta and Juliet Eilperin, "Tough Response Appeals To Critics Of President," The Washington Post, 8/21/98)
