Bill Clinton: "I could have killed" Osama bin Laden

[Cail]

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/bill-cli...ama-bin-laden/

The day before the terror attacks on September 11, 2001, former President Bill Clinton told a group of businessmen in Australia that he "could have killed" the man behind those attacks, Osama bin Laden, in 1998, but he decided against launching a strike out of concern for civilian casualties.

It's a startling and tragic bit of irony that remained hidden until Wednesday, when Michael Kroger, the former head of the Liberal Party in Australia, released the audio during an interview on Sky News. Mr. Clinton knew he was being recorded, but the audio was never released because Kroger said he'd forgotten about it until last week.

Clinton was speaking to Kroger and about 30 other businessmen in Melbourne for a paid gig on September 10, 2001, when he was asked about international terrorism.

"I'm just saying, you know, if I were Osama bin Laden - he's a very smart guy, I've spent a lot of time thinking about him - and I nearly got him once," said Clinton, who'd departed the White House earlier that year. "I nearly got him. And I could have killed him, but I would have to destroy a little town called Kandahar in Afghanistan and kill 300 innocent women and children, and then I would have been no better than him. And so I didn't do it."

The 9/11 Commission Report, released in the aftermath of the attacks, documented the proposed December 1998 strike on Kandahar, noting that the Joint Chiefs of Staff advised the president against launching cruise missiles at bin Laden and his associates. Officials were concerned about residual damage, including the roughly 200 to 300 civilians who could have been killed by such a strike.

Roughly five months before that strike was aborted, though, the U.S. did launch airstrikes at terrorist bases in Afghanistan and a pharmaceutical plant in Sudan that officials alleged was helping al Qaeda build chemical weapons. Those attacks were justified as retaliation for the bombings at U.S. embassies in Tanzania and Kenya earlier that month.

They did not incapacitate al Qaeda, though, as the terror group went on to execute the deadliest terrorist attack in American history on September 11, 2001, killing nearly 3,000 Americans.

Bin Laden eluded U.S. authorities for years in the wake of those attacks, but he was eventually killed in 2011 in Pakistan by U.S. Special Forces.

[ringthree]

Why is this coming up now? He has been saying this for years. It is a personal major regret of his administration. It is also one of the reasons we are currently developing super-sonic cruise missiles (the reason that he didn't launch the attack was because the range of the attack at normal flight speeds for cruise missiles would have alerting Bin Laden that we knew his location).

[Cail]

Its plastered all over all the news networks websites today. I guess someone in Australia had him on tape saying it on 9/10/11 so its a thing now.

I just posted it cause I find it interesting is all. Kinda crazy in retrospect

[Andalusian girls]

interesting but nothing new, and all well-documented. after the embassy bombings the C.I.A. pleaded to get the go-ahead from Clinton for half a dozen assassination missions they had on continual standby. they desperately wanted to stage a black ops raid with SAD but Clinton was terrified of a repeat of Mogadishu or the Carter disaster in Iran so he preferred cruise missiles. tried to kill Bin Laden with them once, missed (by only two hours allegedly), decided not to try a second time.

not sure why Bill's bringing it up, his failure to order an operation was obviously one of the premier failures of his presidency.

[Waraji]

Recall him saying as much in a recent interview with some Fox guy. He prettty much owned that interview.

Nothing new, but probably new to the News shows that totally forgot what happened last week already.

[RedRed]

Its plastered all over all the news networks websites today. I guess someone in Australia had him on tape saying it on 9/10/01 so its a thing now.

I just posted it cause I find it interesting is all. Kinda crazy in retrospect

ftfy

[BaneTheBrawler]

Recall him saying as much in a recent interview with some Fox guy. He prettty much owned that interview.

Nothing new, but probably new to the News shows that totally forgot what they regurgitated last week already.

ftfy. news shows don't cover news.

[Waraji]

lol

[ronin sparthos]

Democrats didn't kill Bin Laden because they were too cowardly to apply force and put non-Americans ahead of our people. Typical Democrats though, worried about third worlders who want to literally kill us, our children, our dogs and Jesus rather than protecting the greatest people in the world.

Alternatively, Clinton wanted 9/11 to happen so Bush would look bad.

[archibaldcrane]

not sure why Bill's bringing it up

he's not

this was 13 years ago

[Waraji]

I believe it goes on into Part 2 as well. Should watch the whole thing, its pretty good.

[Kohan]

I believe it goes on into Part 2 as well. Should watch the whole thing, its pretty good.

Best comment I saw on YouTube: "He deserved that blowjob."