Aug 17 2005

Clinton Ignored 1996 Warning On AQ?

Published by at 12:14 am under All General Discussions

While we are realing from the Able Danger blockbuster news, Clinton decides to come out trying to claim he wished he had better information on the USS Cole bombing so he could have acted on Bin Laden. So one has to wonder about this news out from the Dept of State saying they tried to warn Clinton about Bin Laden in 1996, only to be rebuffed:

State Department analysts warned the Clinton administration in July 1996 that Osama bin Laden’s move to Afghanistan would give him an even more dangerous haven as he sought to expand radical Islam “well beyond the Middle East,” but the government chose not to deter the move, newly declassified documents show.

In what would prove a prescient warning, the State Department intelligence analysts said in a top-secret assessment on Mr. bin Laden that summer that “his prolonged stay in Afghanistan – where hundreds of ‘Arab mujahedeen’ receive terrorist training and key extremist leaders often congregate – could prove more dangerous to U.S. interests in the long run than his three-year liaison with Khartoum,” in Sudan.

Before the East Africa bombings in 1998, however, Mr. bin Laden “wasn’t recognized then as the threat he is now,” Mr. Ereli said. “Yes, he was a bad guy, he was a threat, but he was one of many, and by no means of the prominence that he later came to be.”

In other words we did not foresee the damage he could do, or wanted to do.

What is going on here? Why are we getting swamped with stories that are shattering the Clinton era alibis regarding the build up of Al Qaeda which led to 9-11??

And why did Clinton feel the need to pad his CYA cushion? Strange.

2 responses so far

2 Responses to “Clinton Ignored 1996 Warning On AQ?”

  1. ordi says:

    You asked: What is going on here? Why are we getting swamped with stories that are shattering the Clinton era alibis regarding the build up of Al Qaeda which led to 9-11??

    Besides getting at the “REAL” truth, which is what most of us want.
    Maybe someone wants to do damage to the first Clinton Admin and prevent a second Clinton Admin from ever taking up residence in the Oval Office.

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