Bill Clinton Reveals CIA Abandoned Pre-9/11 Plan To Eliminate Osama Bin Laden Over Civilian Safety Fears.

 

Former US President Bill Clinton has revealed that the CIA scrapped a high-stakes operation to eliminate al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden prior to the September 11 attacks, primarily out of concern that a failed mission would cause mass civilian casualties.  Speaking on Sunday during a radio interview on WABC’s Cats Roundtable with host John Catsimatidis, the 80-year-old former democratic president shared insights into his administration's counter-terrorism efforts, stating that he had formally authorised the agency to target bin Laden. While capturing the terrorist leader alive would have been preferred, stopping him was the overriding objective.  

“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,” Clinton told Catsimatidis.  

“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,” Clinton reflected.  

“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.”  

Reflecting on the tragic events of September 11, 2001, Clinton recalled watching the second plane hit the Twin Towers on television while on a trip to Australia, while Hillary Clinton was in Washington and their daughter, Chelsea, was living in Lower Manhattan. Like thousands of others in the area, Chelsea was instructed to walk north, leaving the family terrified and temporarily unable to get in touch with her.  

Watching the broadcast from abroad, Clinton knew immediately who was behind the atrocity.

“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.”  

Bin Laden was eventually eliminated years later on May 2, 2011, during a targeted midnight raid by US Navy SEALs on his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, executed under the administration of President Barack Obama.  

Addressing whether New York City could face a similar terror threat in the future, Clinton admitted it remains a possibility, though he stressed that the nation’s security apparatus is significantly more robust than it was over two decades ago.  

“I think it’s entirely possible. I think we have to stay on guard about that. We have to make sure we’re getting all the intelligence we can on the issue. I think there is a chance that will happen,” Clinton warned.  

“We’re much better prepared now than we were… But you only have to miss once, and then you’re screwed. It’s just something that has to be a continuing part of our national security plan.”

“If you’re running the country, you want to make big good things happen, and stop big bad things from happening,” he added. “That’s where I think we are as a country, and where I think we can maybe find unity again.”