In his opening pages, Patterson relates how Berger repeatedly tried calling Clintoon to capitalize on an opportunity to take out Bin Laden.
Clintoon dallied and dithered at a golf game, ignored Berger, and blew (no pun intended) the chance.
Posted on 06/22/2003 3:13:10 PM PDT by kattracks
Former national security advisor Sandy Berger admitted for the first time on Sunday that the Clinton administration rejected the possibility of prosecuting Osama bin Laden in the United States after the government of Sudan agreed to expel him in 1996.
Responding to ex-President Clinton's bombshell confession last year that he turned down a bid by Sudan for warmer relations that would have included the release bin Laden to the U.S., Berger confirmed to WABC Radio's Steve Malzberg, "We pushed the Sudanese government to break its links to terrorist groups, including bin Laden, [and to] expel them."
The former national security advisor also confirmed Mr. Clinton's revelation that after the Sudanese agreed to expel the terrorist kingpin, the administration tried to broker a deal for his extradition to Saudi Arabia. "We did - we went to the Saudis to see whether or not they would take bin Laden," Berger explained adding, "They said no. "
But while confirming that Sudan was willing to release bin Laden to Saudi Arabia, the former national security advisor sharply disputed his old boss' claim that Sudan was also willing to turn the terrorist mastermind over to the U.S.
"The Sudanese never offered to give him to the United States," he insisted. "This is something I've gone back to check very carefully on. There's no - there's no - no one knows of any such offer."
Berger suggested instead that the Sudanese had fabricated the story of bin Laden's possible extradition to the U.S. to stay on the Bush administration's good side after the 9/11 attacks.
But he couldn't explain why Mr. Clinton indicated last year that an offer for bin Laden's release to the U.S. was indeed made by Sudan.
"I've seen [Clinton's] quote," he told Malzberg. "And I think at the time there was some examination of whether or not he could be held here if, in fact, we had an opportunity to get him. And the judgment was that we didn't have any basis to hold him here at that time."
But Berger insisted that the Clinton administration's conclusion that it couldn't detain bin Laden "was not pursuant to an offer by the Sudanese. "
When asked why the Clinton administration didn't press Sudan to release bin Laden to the U.S. after Saudi Arabia rejected the offer, Berger grew defensive.
"The Sudanese . . . had no intention of turning bin Laden over to someone who would have been hostile, period," he insisted.
The full exchange between Berger and Malzberg went like this:
MALZBERG: Bill Clinton made an admission to the Long Island Association on February 15, 2002, while speaking on Long Island. And we have the tape, which is a little too hard to hear, so you over the phone might not be able to get the most out of it. But he admitted that the Sudan had offered to turn bin Laden over to the United States. And his comments were, quote:
"Mr. bin Laden used to live in Sudan. He was expelled from Saudi Arabia in 1991, then he went to Sudan. And we'd been hearing that the Sudanese wanted America to start meeting with them again.
"They released him. At the time, 1996, he had committed no crime against America so I did not bring him here because we had no basis on which to hold him, though we knew he wanted to commit crimes against America.
"So I pleaded with the Saudis to take him, 'cause they could have. But they thought it was a hot potato . . ." [End of Malzberg's Clinton quote]
You, I believe, testified that we never had an opportunity to get bin Laden. Did we or didn't we?
BERGER: You're talking about the Sudanese. The Sudanese never made any offer to turn bin Laden over to us. Back in 1996, this is the time period your talking about, of course we knew less about bin Laden then we do, unfortunately today. But we still knew he was a bad guy. We still knew he was financing terrorists.
The Sudanese government itself was one of the principle state sponsors of terrorism. And we pushed the Sudanese government to break its links to terrorist groups, including bin Laden - expel them. We did - we went to the Saudis to see whether or not they would take bin Laden. They said no. But the Sudanese never offered to give him to the United States.
This is something I've gone back to check very carefully on. There's no - there's no - no one knows of any such offer. The Su - I'd be very careful before I'd believe the Sudanese, who've made this contention since 9/11, I think to try to make sure the Bush administration doesn't target them next.
Now, this is a government . . .
MALZBERG: Oh, they're terrible
BERGER: It's one of the worst state sponsors of terrorism in the world.
MALZBERG: And slavery, and murder. And now I'm disappointed in our State Department that they might take them off the list of terrorist nations. But so, Clinton himself said that he did not bring [bin Laden] here because we had no basis on which to hold him. That's a direct quote. And I promise you it is, because I have it . . .
BERGER: I've seen the quote, Steve. And I think . . .
MALZBERG: So, what's he talking about?
BERGER: . . . at the time there was some examination of whether or not he could be held here if, in fact, we had an opportunity to get him. And the judgment was that we didn't have any basis to hold him here at that time. But that was not pursuant to an offer by the Sudanese. It was our looking at what . . .
MALZBERG: But we could have asked them, though, right? If we knew that they were asking Saudi Arabia to take him . . .
BERGER: Well, we - we - we - we - the Sudanese had no intention of turning bin Laden, even after they expelled bin Laden, they continued to keep al Qaeda there. They continued to cooperate with al Qaeda. They had no intention of turning bin Laden over to someone who would have been hostile, period.
To listen to NewsMax.com's exclusive recording of ex-President Bill Clinton admitting he turned down Sudan's offer for bin Laden's release, Click Here.
To have Steve Malzberg's exclusive NewsMax.com column emailed directly to you, go to www.newsmax.com/malzberg.
"You see, we had already taken very large amounts of cash from the Chinese and the Saudis for bin Laden's freedom and we both felt that, since we and the DNC would need a great deal more cash from the same sources, we needed to maintain our integrity. So we told the Sudanese 'No.'"
"And, events have certainly proven us and, especially, Presdient Clinton, to be absolutely correct. Both the Saudis and Chinese have provede a great deal more cash. The DNC and Senator Clinton are going to need it if we are to defeat the Republicans in 2008."
In his opening pages, Patterson relates how Berger repeatedly tried calling Clintoon to capitalize on an opportunity to take out Bin Laden.
Clintoon dallied and dithered at a golf game, ignored Berger, and blew (no pun intended) the chance.
Former national security advisor Sandy Berger admitted for the first time on Sunday that the Clinton administration rejected the possibility of prosecuting Osama bin Laden in the United States after the government of Sudan agreed to expel him in 1996.
Bill Clinton is indirectly responsible for September 11.
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