Posted on 07/23/2003 11:35:38 PM PDT by kattracks
Critics of President Bush who now pound away daily at his State of the Union reference to Iraq seeking uranium in Africa have staunchly ignored ex-President Clinton's admission that he blew a chance to have Osama bin Laden extradited to the U.S. - a move that was arguably the worst national security blunder in U.S. history.
While it remains unclear whether the information on Iraq's nuclear ambitions cited by Bush in the Jan. 2003 speech was inaccurate - no one seriously contends that the case for war rested on his 16 word statement.
However, Mr. Clinton's decision not to accept a 1996 offer from the government of Sudan for bin Laden's extradition to the U.S. had devastating consequences - the deaths of over 3,000 Americans in the worst terrorist attack of all time.
The blunder is considered so damaging by former Clinton administration officials that even after their boss came clean, none will admit that such a deal was ever in the works.
But those denials were rendered inoperative last year, when - in an extraordinary moment of candor - the ex-president uttered 55 words to explain the decision that sealed the fate of 3,000 of his fellow Americans:
"We'd been hearing that the Sudanese wanted America to start meeting with them again," Clinton told a New York business group in Feb. 2002.
"They released [bin Laden]. 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." [End of excerpt]
Last week, a spokesman for the 9/11 Commission said that if probers decide to question President Bush and President Clinton, Clinton's startling revelation would likely be on the agenda.
But so far at least, neither Democrats nor Republicans on Capitol Hill have demonstrated much interest in Clinton's confession, though its significance dwarfs Bush's remarks about Iraqi uranium.
Still, without a full-blown congressional probe, questions about the ex-president's decision to snub Sudan's bin Laden offer - such as who advised him to do so, were the proper national security officials consulted and why members of his administration are still dissembling about the episode even after his admission - are unlikely to be answered.
To listen to Clinton's 55 word explanation of why 3,000 Americans died on 9/11, Click Here.
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