Clinton Reveals CIA Mission to Capture Bin Laden Before 9/11
Former President Bill Clinton recently shared that the CIA had developed a plan to capture Osama bin Laden before the tragic events of September 11, 2001, which resulted in the deaths of nearly 3,000 people.
During an interview on WABC’s “Cats Roundtable” with host John Catsimatidis, Clinton stated that the agency had aimed to either capture or eliminate bin Laden. At the time, the deadliest incident attributed to him was the bombing of U.S. embassies in East Africa on August 7, 1998, which claimed the lives of 224 individuals.
“I had authorized the CIA to try to take him out,” Clinton told Catsimatidis.
Interestingly, Clinton noted that the CIA chose to abort the mission at the “last minute,” not at the request of the White House, citing worries over possible civilian casualties.
“I was scared, and I was mad because we tried to get him before, and the CIA at the last minute killed the plan that I think might well have succeeded,” he reflected. “But they were afraid that if they missed, they’d kill a lot of innocent civilians. They didn’t want to run the risk. I didn’t second-guess them, but I think, in the end, [bin Laden] was determined to do what he did, and he had lots of money and lots of capacity.”
He also expressed regret, saying, “I wish we had done even more to get him. I always thought he was our biggest threat… I wanted to get him, and I did what I could to do that.”
Clinton recounted his experience of watching the second plane strike the Twin Towers live while in Australia. He said he quickly connected the attack to bin Laden, remembering intelligence briefings from his presidency that indicated the terrorist leader was eager to strike American territory.
“I was watching television in Australia when the second plane hit. I immediately said that bin Laden did this. They all looked at me and said, ‘How do you know this?’ I said, ‘Well, because the only adversaries we have with the capacity to do this are Iran and bin Laden,” he recalled. “And the Iranians wouldn’t do it because we could wipe them off the face of the Earth immediately. And bin Laden is holed up in a cave in Afghanistan.’ I just knew it had to be him. I also knew that he had been planning to do what he did to hit us for a long time,” Clinton explained.
These revelations come shortly after the Trump administration released declassified Presidential Daily Briefs that highlighted intelligence warnings presented to both the Clinton and George W. Bush administrations before the attacks on 9/11.
The released documents included reports suggesting that bin Laden’s network had discussed hijacking U.S. airplanes and using them in explosive attacks against American cities.
