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Albright: I Don't Know Why Clinton Turned Down Bin Laden Deal

Posted on 02/09/2003 10:49:02 AM PST by Free ThinkerNY

NewsMax.com

Sunday Feb. 9, 2003

Albright: I Don't Know Why Clinton Turned Down Bin Laden Deal--

Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said Sunday that she couldn't explain why ex-president Bill Clinton turned down a deal with the government of Sudan to take Osama bin Laden into custody seven years ago. But she admitted that, "obviously, in hindsight, one would wish that some other action had been taken."

Albright feigned ignorance of the Clinton-bin Laden extradition deal during the following exchange with NBC "Meet the Press" host Tim Russert:

RUSSERT: In May of 1996 under pressure from the United States and Saudi Arabia, the Sudanese government asked bin Laden to leave. He returned to Afghanistan permanently..... Was it a mistake to let Osama bin Laden leave Sudan - or at least not apprehend him in Qatar on his way to Afghanistan?

ALBRIGHT: As I understand it, and I was ambassador to the U.N. at the time, was that basically we felt that he was too intricately involved with some of the activities in Sudan, which was a major issue for us. And that it was better to get him out of there.

Obviously, in hindsight, one would wish that some other action had been taken. But, for the most part, that was a decision made on the basis of information at that time, that he was playing the terrorist game there and that there had in fact been terrorist activity. As you know, there was an attempt on President Mubarak's life that came out of that area. And that it was probably better to move (bin Laden) out.

RUSSERT: But why not capture him, apprehend him while he was refueling in Qatar?

ALBRIGHT: I can't answer that question. (End of excerpt)

While Ms. Albright claims she doesn't know the answer to that question, Mr. Russert certainly does - though he declined to challenge her. But in fact, in May 1996, ex-President Clinton gave the order not to take bin Laden into custody, a blunder he confessed in a speech to a Long Island, N.Y. business group last year.

"Mr. bin Laden used to live in Sudan. He was expelled from Saudi Arabia in 1991, then he went to Sudan," Clinton told the Long Island Association in on Feb. 15, 2002.

"And we'd been hearing that the Sudanese wanted America to start dealing 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."

Clinton continued:

"So I pleaded with the Saudis to take him, 'cause they could have. But they thought it was a hot potato and they didn't and that's how he wound up in Afghanistan." (End of Excerpt)

Though Mr. Clinton's confession has been widely covered in such high profile venues as the Fox News Channel's "O'Reilly Factor," "Hannity & Colmes," WOR Radio's "The Bob Grant Show" and, just the night before Albright' protested her ignorance, WABC Radio's "Batchelor & Alexander Show," network news organizations like Russert's NBC News have embargoed coverage of the bombshell development. ( Click Here to listen to Bill Clinton admit that he let bin Laden off the hook.)

The big media cover-up has allowed New York Sen. Hillary Clinton to escape confrontation on the issue of her husband's blunder. And two weeks ago, in an interview with WLIE Radio's Mike Siegel, she tried to blame President Bush for "mishandling" North Korea and for not stopping Osama bin Laden before 9/11.


TOPICS: Activism/Chapters; Extended News; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
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To: Free ThinkerNY
Russert ripped her a new one when he showed video of her former boss flaming Saddam and saying he must go.. Russert followed with a quote from Albright parroting the sentiment. When Russert asked "why not now", she rambled and salivated and mumbled "it's different now".
61 posted on 02/09/2003 5:17:16 PM PST by pfflier
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To: Free ThinkerNY
There is only one major problem with the Clinton explanation: Bin Laden was an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 Trade Towers bombing. Had Clinton wanted it, a New York grand jury could have indicted him in a heartbeat and at Clinton's demand he could have been returned to the USA, either through the Sudan or Saudi Arabia. Mansoor Ijaz, a Pakistani-American had carried messages between Khartoum and Washington that indicated the Sudan wanted a thaw with the USA -- so Clinton cannot say he was unprepared to respond to the Sudanese offer. He was, from beginning to end, a coward.
62 posted on 02/09/2003 5:18:09 PM PST by gaspar
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To: Free ThinkerNY
Reminds me of Nero playing while Rome burned.
63 posted on 02/09/2003 5:33:32 PM PST by Ruy Dias de Bivar ((Lets sing! Duck and Cover)!)
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To: Free ThinkerNY
What a useless piece of human (?) debris!
64 posted on 02/09/2003 5:35:17 PM PST by Redleg Duke (Stir the pot...don't let anything settle to the bottom where the lawyers can feed off of it!)
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To: Free ThinkerNY
As much as I despised the Clinton administration, I am having increasing difficulty seeing how its foreign policy differs from that of either of the Bushes. There really is only one American foreign policy, no matter what the Republocratic duopoly tells you.

"Our" government "created" people like Osama bin Laden and Sadam Hussein (just as Israel created Hamas) - and later set out to destroy them - for reasons that have very little to do with the reasons stated for public consumption. Suffice it to say, had Bin Laden not existed, "our" government would have had to create him. Capturing him at such an early date, before he had done much of anything, would have not served the agenda that "our" government is following.

65 posted on 02/09/2003 5:44:05 PM PST by Vast Buffalo Wing Conspiracy
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To: Free ThinkerNY
bump
66 posted on 02/09/2003 6:34:54 PM PST by Jael
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To: jd777
maybe the same reason Bush let the whole Bin Laden family fly out from Logan airport when all flights in U.S. were grounded...

That is interesting. I had not seen that before. How did you learn it and how can I check it out?

67 posted on 02/09/2003 8:07:50 PM PST by Mind-numbed Robot
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To: Bigg Red
I don't watch Russert either....not after that hillary interview.
After Tony Snow I watch 1/2 hour of Sunday Morning and then Bob Schaeffer at 10:30.
That's when I go to Mass on Saturday, of course.
68 posted on 02/09/2003 8:16:26 PM PST by mickie
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To: Mind-numbed Robot
http://www.newsmax.com/showinside.shtml?a=2002/11/25/104443
69 posted on 02/10/2003 8:45:03 AM PST by jd777
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To: Mo1
Everything connected to the clintoons is just plain sickening!



70 posted on 02/11/2003 9:26:17 AM PST by timestax
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To: jd777
Thanks for the link. However, it doesn't square with your implication that Bush was protecting them for some nefarious reason nor is your statement true that they were allowed to leave while all planes were grounded.

"In the first days after the terror attacks on New York and Washington, Saudi Arabia supervised the urgent evacuation of 24 members of Osama bin Laden's extended family from the United States, fearing that they might be subjected to violence," the New York Times reported on Sept. 30, 2001.

In his first interview after the attacks, Prince Bandar told the Times that private planes carrying the kingdom's deputy defense minister and the governor of Mecca, both members of the royal family, were grounded - initially caught up in the FBI dragnet. Both planes were loaded up with bin Laden relatives and allowed to leave when airports reopened three days later.....

"The F.B.I., informed of the flight by the F.A.A., searched the family's luggage and briefly interviewed those without diplomatic passports, and watched the bin Ladens depart," he wrote.

71 posted on 02/12/2003 6:17:06 AM PST by Mind-numbed Robot
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To: Mind-numbed Robot
You're right about that article. I posted it without having read it carefully. I am still under the impression that the FBI searched the luggage and conducted interviews at the airport and the flight was allowed to take off. Not three days later. As for Prince Bandar's claim that the family "might be subjected to violence"... I still think we might have wanted to talk to them a little more closely. We've protected people before.

But I definetly admit that I misrepresented that article.

72 posted on 02/12/2003 10:08:15 AM PST by jd777
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To: Free ThinkerNY
I know why Clinton turned it down. There was no political capital in it at the time.
73 posted on 02/12/2003 12:00:12 PM PST by MEGoody
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To: Vast Buffalo Wing Conspiracy
"Our" government "created" people like Osama bin Laden and Sadam Hussein

Exactly how did our government 'create' them?

74 posted on 02/12/2003 12:02:09 PM PST by MEGoody
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To: jd777
I am in general agreement with you about the special treatment that the Saudis get but I also think this administration is honest and dilligent. Sometimes the two ideas seem in conflict.
75 posted on 02/13/2003 8:57:40 PM PST by Mind-numbed Robot
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To: timestax
bttt
76 posted on 02/20/2003 3:13:54 PM PST by timestax
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To: muggs
bump
77 posted on 02/20/2003 11:11:44 PM PST by timestax
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To: timydnuc
bump to the top!
78 posted on 02/21/2003 12:43:05 AM PST by timestax
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To: muggs
bump to the top
79 posted on 02/22/2003 12:15:58 AM PST by timestax
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To: timestax
bump for justice against this clintoon perp!
80 posted on 02/22/2003 8:50:06 AM PST by timestax
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