White House Mum on Secret 2000 CIA Video (Bubba Had OBL In Real Time Video, But Failed To Act)

Talon News ^ | March 18, 2004 | Jeff Gannon

[conservativecorner]

A videotape aired by NBC Wednesday reportedly shows Usama bin Laden at an al Qaeda training camp in 2000. Secretly recorded by a CIA drone in Afghanistan, it shows a tall figure in flowing white robes walking at Tarnak Farm, where bid Laden was known to reside.

In her news report, Lisa Myers, senior investigative correspondent for NBC said, "The tape proves the Clinton administration was aggressively tracking al Qaeda a year before 9/11."

She added, "But that also raises one enormous question: If the U.S. government had bin Laden and the camps in its sights in real time, why was no action taken against them?"

This will likely be a line of questioning that the 9/11 commission will pursue during its investigation when Clinton administration officials appear before them. Some have suggested the timing of the video's release might be intended to drive the investigation in that direction.

CNN national security correspondent David Ensor reported Wednesday, "There will be an investigation within the CIA, which made the video, and they will decide whether or not to refer the matter to the Department of Justice."

White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan had little comment on the matter, telling Talon News, "I don't know where that tape was obtained from."

He instead reiterated that, "There is an independent commission, that is looking into these matters. And we need to let them complete their work. We are doing everything we can to cooperate with them and help them have all the -- and make sure they all the information they need to do their job."

McClellan continued, "The threats we're seeing from terrorism did not happen overnight. These threats have been emerging for quite some time. And the president has made the war on terrorism his number one priority because this is about protecting the American people. And we will continue to wage this war on many fronts."

[RippleFire]

bump

[elli1]

She added, ''But that also raises one enormous question: If the U.S. government had bin Laden and the camps in its sights in real time, why was no action taken against them?''

Because the gurus at Pentagon hadn't solved the problem of lashing Janet Reno & her parachute to the Predator so she could be dropped into Afghanistan and serve an arrest warrant, silly.

[Redcoat LI]

"The tape proves the Clinton administration was aggressively tracking al Qaeda a year before 9/11."

"But that also raises one enormous question: If the U.S. government had bin Laden and the camps in its sights in real time, why was no action taken against them?"

What's the differance Lisa Myers?

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Suppose the 9-11 Commission will have Bubba in to testify ?
Suppose they'll ask him to take an oath ?

[tractorman]

Aggressively tracking him like the Audubon society tracks their prey.

[conservativecorner]

I don't believe that for one moment. If we were tracking him in real time, we had time to get assets in a position to strike. Bubba was chasing asses and not assets!

[adam_az]

The White House doesn't want to get off message from the campaign. They want to use their airtime to beat up Kerry, who they are running against. Bush isn't campaigning against Clintigula.

As far as Slick testifying before the 9/11 Commission... Why even bother getting a guy to testify who already has shown he's willing to LIE UNDER OATH while holding the office of CINC?

[adam_az]

"Suppose the 9-11 Commission will have Bubba in to testify? Suppose they'll ask him to take an oath?"

Asking someone to take an oath is dependent on that person having a sense of personal honor and integrity.

Then again, I guess it depends on what the meaning of the word "is" is.

[elli1]

No assets in the region with in range unfortunately....

The first Predator UAV had an operational range of 124 nautical miles; in 1999, the range was extended to 200 nautical miles and the latest Predators (that we know about) have a range of 400 nautical miles.

Almost certainly, assets were w/in 200 miles of the Predator & it makes zero sense to have a real-time video gathering asset in the air without having assets available to act on the intelligence gathered. And even the generation of Predator that was probably used to gather the bin laden video had capabilities beyond video feed--it was probably equipped to laser targets in assisting strikes from AC-130's and beyond.

[elli1]

IOW, the entire point of the Predator is gathering ''actionable intelligence''.

[MrB]

"The tape proves the Clinton administration was aggressively tracking al Qaeda a year before 9/11."

"But that also raises one enormous question: If the U.S. government had bin Laden and the camps in its sights in real time, why was no action taken against them?"

Because leftists ("liberals") are basically cowards. They will take no concrete action that might have consequences directly attributable (blame) to those actions.

For example, when you quote Clinton et al on the WMD issue, the leftists will scream that "at least he didn't invade!"
To which the reply is "because leftists don't have the balls to do what is right based on the information they have."

[Just mythoughts]

"This will likely be a line of questioning that the 9/11 commission will pursue during its investigation when Clinton administration officials appear before them. Some have suggested the timing of the video's release might be intended to drive the investigation in that direction."


This is why President Bush refuses to let this so called "commission" see all the INTEL, he knows darn well that some will use bits and pieces for political gain.

Which is exactly why the lying crooked liberals demand "independent commissions" so they can get their hands on the INTEL so they can use it bit by bit for political gain.

These of the lying crooked left would not be above helping their fellow travelers out with the INTEL if it helped their fellow travelers in harming the US.

[Zack Nguyen]

Because the gurus at Pentagon hadn't solved the problem of lashing Janet Reno & her parachute to the Predator so she could be dropped into Afghanistan and serve an arrest warrant, silly.

And if John Kerry had his way, this is more or less what he would reduce or War on Terror to - handing out arrest warrants.

[Redcoat LI]

I agree.

What I found curious was that the author credited The Clinton Administration with tracking O.B.L,which is positive,but switched to The U.S Government when she points out that no action was taken,which is negative,as if the two were completly differant entities.

[Just mythoughts]

Little off subject, anything in the press there about JFKerry's health?

[conservativecorner]

NBC: Clinton failed to get Bin Laden in 1999

Via Newsmax:


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.