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NBC: Clinton Ordered Bin Laden Spared
Newsmax ^ | 3/16/04 | Limbacher

Posted on 03/16/2004 7:23:32 PM PST by Tumbleweed_Connection

A secret CIA videotape shows that the Clinton administration had pinpointed the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden a year before the 9/11 attacks, but declined to kill him because of White House orders that he should be taken alive.

The video, obtained and broadcast by NBC News, "illustrates an enormous opportunity the Clinton administration had to kill or capture bin Laden," the network reported Tuesday.

Images filmed in Afghanistan by CIA Predator Drones show a man clad in white robes who towers over his entourage. [Bin Laden is 6' 5" tall.]

The film was shot over Tarnak Farm, the walled compound where bin Laden was believed to live at the time. The layout of the buildings in the Predator video perfectly matches previous photos and diagrams of Tarnak Farm prepared by U.S. intelligence.

The clip left CIA analysts convinced they had located the man who in 1998 had bombed U.S. embassies in East Africa and whose agents, four years earlier, had detonated a bomb in the parking garage of the World Trade Center.

"It’s dynamite. It’s putting together all of the pieces, and that doesn’t happen every day," said William Arkin, a former intelligence officer and now military analyst for NBC.

Though President Clinton has boasted repeatedly that he issued orders to kill bin Laden, no action was taken when the White House finally got its chance.

Why not?

Gary Schroen, a former CIA station chief in Pakistan, told NBC that the White House had in fact ordered the CIA to do just the opposite - take bin Laden alive or not at all.

The order "reduced the odds from, say, a 50 percent chance down to, say, 25 percent chance that we were going to be able to get him,” Schroen told the network.

The directive effectively killed the plan and, along with it, the U.S.'s best chance to prevent the 9/11 attacks.



TOPICS: Front Page News; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: 911; bin8laden; cia; clinton; clintonfailures; clintonlegacy; clintonoblbungle; missedopportunity; nbc; oblvideotape; sept11; videotape; x42
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To: Irish Eyes
The best September 11th site. http://www.september11victims.com/september11victims/
141 posted on 03/16/2004 9:38:54 PM PST by Adam36
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To: Irish Eyes
btt
142 posted on 03/16/2004 9:43:28 PM PST by nopardons
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To: Sabatier
I can never see those pictures - of people jumping - falling - from the WTC without feeling utterly sick.

I can't ever see them without getting mad.

143 posted on 03/16/2004 9:46:20 PM PST by Bullish
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To: cwb
they still had to throw in if Clinton, being hampered by scandal, prevented him from acting.

Hey, if a president has personal problems that prevent him from acting in the country's best interest, he should step aside shouldn't he?

144 posted on 03/16/2004 9:47:50 PM PST by Brandon
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To: Zack Nguyen
But assinating Bin Laden would have been the best way to go. We could have made it look like the French did it.
145 posted on 03/16/2004 9:52:09 PM PST by dalebert
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To: Tumbleweed_Connection
Clinton would f**k up a wet dream. This doesn't surprise me in the least.
146 posted on 03/16/2004 9:54:01 PM PST by RightOnline
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To: HarryCaul
"can't even imagine the implications politically"

ROTFLOL!! You have to be kidding .. not with the "partisan media" in charge. Only the VRWC or the "attack machine" will report this.

The Globe has already allowed a reporter to take the sword for Kerry .. what's next??
147 posted on 03/16/2004 10:13:01 PM PST by CyberAnt (The 2004 Election is for the SOUL of AMERICA)
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To: dalebert
One question, how could the Monica scandal have affected Clinton.
If this was a year before his presidency ended. This would have been January 2000. The Monica Story was gone by then.
148 posted on 03/16/2004 10:45:45 PM PST by Adam36
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To: oceanview
After the story appeared tonight on NBC, Brokaw said they would concentrate tomorrow with the question is President Bush doing all he can do to get Osama or something to that affect. It's a setup to attack President Bush. They can't hurt Clinton.
149 posted on 03/16/2004 10:49:22 PM PST by beaversmom (Michael Medved has the Greatest radio show on GOD's Green Earth)
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To: CyberAnt
This is where they are going. they are going to slam bush. Here is the story about busha nd the drones. go to this thread
150 posted on 03/16/2004 10:49:49 PM PST by faithincowboys (Go to www.punditstar.blogspot.com)
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To: Tumbleweed_Connection

151 posted on 03/16/2004 10:51:28 PM PST by beaversmom (Michael Medved has the Greatest radio show on GOD's Green Earth)
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To: Adam36
I have no idea.
152 posted on 03/16/2004 11:14:52 PM PST by dalebert
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To: faithincowboys
Well .. I don't see how the story about Bush will shelter Clinton from blame.
153 posted on 03/16/2004 11:53:06 PM PST by CyberAnt (The 2004 Election is for the SOUL of AMERICA)
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To: All
BUMP
154 posted on 03/16/2004 11:57:54 PM PST by XHogPilot
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To: CyberAnt
Me either, but we're dealing with the Leftist media.

Clinton had 8 years, the offers from the Sudan and three clear shots in 2000--that would have made what Bush did or didn;t do in his 8 months in office moot. Go to my other thread-- Kerry's secret weapon. It lays out more about what's to come.
155 posted on 03/17/2004 12:03:22 AM PST by faithincowboys (Go to www.punditstar.blogspot.com)
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To: XHogPilot; All
Kerry is planning to make hay out of Bush not using the drones, has a Key former Bush official to help him.
156 posted on 03/17/2004 12:05:53 AM PST by faithincowboys (Go to www.punditstar.blogspot.com)
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To: Tumbleweed_Connection
Ping
157 posted on 03/17/2004 12:09:25 AM PST by AnimalLover
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To: Zack Nguyen
"9/11 changed all that."

You are correct, but beware American, John Kerry wants to change it back!

158 posted on 03/17/2004 12:25:03 AM PST by jocon307 (The dems don't get it, the American people do.)
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To: Tuscaloosa Goldfinch
"Cool montage! May I copy it for a poster?"

Please do.

159 posted on 03/17/2004 1:23:44 AM PST by The G Man (John Kerry? America just can't afford a 9/10 President in a 9/11 world. Vote Bush-Cheney '04.)
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To: The G Man
Thanks!
160 posted on 03/17/2004 4:26:41 AM PST by Tuscaloosa Goldfinch
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