Free Republic

Aide: Clinton Unleashed bin Laden Chuck Noe Bill Clinton ignored repeated opportunities to capture Osama bin Laden and his terrorist allies and is responsible for the spread of terrorism, one of the ex-president’s own top aides charges. Mansoor Ijaz, who negotiated with Sudan on behalf of Clinton from 1996 to 1998, paints a portrait of a White House plagued by incompetence, focused on appearances rather than action, and heedless of profound threats to national security. Ijaz also claims Clinton passed on an opportunity to have Osama bin Laden arrested. Sudanese President Omar Hassan Ahmed Bashir, hoping to have terrorism sanctions ...

Dec 6, 2004 — TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's judiciary has tried a number of arrested al Qaeda members and verdicts have been issued, a senior judiciary official was quoted as saying on Monday. Tehran Justice Department head Abbasali Alizadeh told the semi-official Fars news agency Iran's "high-ranking officials are satisfied with the issued verdicts," but did not elaborate on what the verdicts had been. News of the trials is likely to anger Washington, which has repeatedly called on Iran to hand over all al Qaeda suspects it is holding. Guilty verdicts sentencing them to long jail terms would make that...

One of al Qaeda's top leaders, who is hiding in Iran, is suspected of helping to organize the bombings in Saudi Arabia last week, and terrorism experts believe he may be trying to unleash as many strikes as possible in a short period of time to prove al Qaeda is still viable, U.S. officials said yesterday. Saif Adel, an Egyptian who intelligence officials believe has assumed the role of the network's military commander, is believed to have given the go-ahead for the Riyadh bombings that killed 34, two senior administration officials said.