Clinton Administration Freed Bin Laden's Banker

News Max ^ | 1-4-04

[hope]

Reprinted from NewsMax.com

Sunday Jan. 4, 2004; 11:43 p.m. EST

Clinton Administration Freed Bin Laden's Banker

A Saudi national known to investigators as Osama bin Laden's "banker" was apprehended inside the U.S. in 1994 - only to be set free by the Clinton administration in a decision that was considered a "massive loss" in the war on terrorism by U.S. intelligence officials.

Bin Laden brother-in-law Mohammed Jamal Khalifa was believed to be "the real money man" behind the scenes for the 9/11 mastermind, reports investigative journalist Peter Lance, in his comprehensive overview of the 9/11 attacks, "1,000 Years For Revenge: International Terrorism and the FBI."

The bin Laden relative was involved most intensively in bankrolling Ramzi Yousef, the operations chief for the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, who conceived the plan later adopted by bin Laden to hijack airliners and fly them into the Twin Towers.

Convicted of murder in Jordan, Khalifa was picked up on a fraud rap by INS agents in San Francisco. Lance writes that at the time, Khalifa "was in the process of funding Yousef's Bojinka and Pope John Paul II assassination plots - even as Yousef was laying the groundwork for what became the 9/11 attacks."

Documents found on his person indicated that the bin Laden brother-in-law was a major cog in the global terror machine. Based on that evidence, the U.S. Attorney in San Francisco pushed to have him held for questioning.

But the Clinton State Department had other ideas. Reports Lance:

"Secretary of State Warren Christopher wrote to Attorney General Janet Reno on Jan. 5, 1995, arguing that 'to permit Mr. Khalifa to remain at large inside the United States in light of his alleged activities and criminal conviction in Jordan . . . . would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences.'"

"Of course," notes the author, "the U.S. Attorney in San Francisco wasn't asking for Khalifa to be released, merely held for questioning. Khalifa had traveled the world as Osama bin Laden's 'banker.' He was a potential intelligence gold mine."

Secretary Christopher, however, prevailed. Khalifa was deported to Jordan, where, at trial, the murder witness recanted. Bin Laden's banker was promptly set free.

U.S. counterterrorism officials were dumbfounded by the administration's decision to let Khalifa go. "Not even speaking in retrospect, but contemporaneous with what the intelligence community knew about bin Laden, Khalifa's deportation was unreal," CIA counterterrorism analyst Jacob L. Boesen told the author.

Concludes Lance: "In light of what we now know. . . Khalifa's release has to be considered one of the most grievous instances of negligence in the years leading up to 9/11."

Little more than a year after the Clinton administration let bin Laden's banker get away, President Clinton would personally turn down an offer for Osama bin Laden's arrest and extradition to the U.S. by Sudan.

Hear Clinton describe why he turned down Sudan's bin Laden offer.

Editor's note:
"CATASTROPHE" Reveals Bill Clinton’s Role in 9/11 - Click Here to find out more

Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:

Al-Qaeda
Sen. Hillary Clinton

108-108

[cyborg]

:sigh:

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[yooper]

So Christopher was an incompetent dolt. Tell me something now that I didn't know then.

Good post.

[Viking2002]

Bill Clinton. Warren Christopher. Janet FrankenReno. Moral criminals that whose corruption and ineptitude are haunting us to this day.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

Is there anything else Clinton failed at? The list is so long.

[nutmeg]

ping!

[nutmeg]

ping!

Please FReepmail me if you want on or off my infrequent ‘miscellaneous’ ping list.

[hope]

Remember how he help direct the Gore election hi-jacking project in Florida...

[CyberAnt]

This only proves once again that the democrats CANNOT BE TRUSTED WITH NATIONAL SECURITY.

I also think it's interesting that former members of the Clinton admin continue TO THIS DAY to say that Osama was never offered .. and here on this thread is Clinton explaining why he didn't take Osama when it was offered.

CONTINUING TO PROVE WHAT LIARS THE CLINTONS ARE - ABOUT EVERYTHING - AND WHY THEY CANNOT BE TRUSTED WITH THE PRESIDENCY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

[STARWISE]

I hope you're adding the terrorism screw-ups to your downside legacy volumes .. it's just too incredible to believe the scum that were allowed positions of deadly power. Happy New Year!!

[the_Watchman]

This only proves once again that the democrats CANNOT BE TRUSTED WITH NATIONAL SECURITY.

I would come to a slightly different conclusion. This could easily be seen as a State Department failure with Christopher listening to the wrong people. I would contend that the the State Department cannot be trusted with national security.

Those of us who followed the "cold war" noted that the State Department could be depended upon to come up with the softest and most conciliatory positions towards the Communists.

[Howlin]

Tell me something now that I didn't know then.

Okay. He's one of Howard Dean's advisors NOW. :-)

[CyberAnt]

Hmmmm? Who appoints the Secretary of the State Dept ..?? I rest my case!

The democrats actually believe the Sec of State makes the decisions .. not the President. While the repubs understand the President makes all the decisions .. and as Powell has stated .. I serve at the pleasure of the President.

Therefore .. THE DEMOCRATS CANNOT EVER BE TRUSTED WITH NATIONAL SECURITY.

[gonzo]

Good catch, hope. It goes along with our fears back then that klintoon would never leave the Oral Office due to a National Emergency, like a terrible terrorist attack!

Now we have to defeat the Hildabeaste when she's the V-P candidate in '04.............FRegards

[newzhawk]

but wait- Wesley Clark thinks Bill Clinton was an EXCELLENT president - when confronted with this tidbit -will he insist on his opinion?

[Paul Ross]

Bump!

[the_Watchman]

My point is that the problem is worse than just having a Democrat as the Secretary of State. Much of the apparatus that coached Warren Christopher to make an extremely poor decision is STILL IN PLACE. The Republicans simply ignore them on policy, but these bureaucrats still wield quite a bit of power in the day-to-day decisions of diplomacy. The State Department is rotten, and has been for decades.

[Digger]

I have no more words for this crime syndicate that ran the country for 8 long years. What bothers me is that THIS administration did nothing to curtail their continuance of corruption after the elections. They left much of the Clinton operatives in positions of indirect power. Me thinks that this whole Washington scenerio is a facade. The "Two-Party Cartel" protecting each faction - just as the elites designed it.

[highlander_UW]

Is there anything else Clinton failed at? The list is so long.

It's one of those lists that is so long it's easier to list his actual success, which were....

humm....

I'm still thinking...

Oh yeah! He so embarrassed the US through his total lack of morals that any president afterward looks like a saint.