Clinton Says He Warned Bush of bin Laden Threat
By. Reuters

Thursday 16 October 2003

NEW YORK - Former President Bill Clinton warned President George W.
Bush before he left office in 2001 that Osama bin Laden was the biggest
security threat the United States faced, Clinton said on Wednesday.

Speaking at a luncheon sponsored by the History Channel, Clinton said
he discussed security issues with Bush in his "exit interview," a formal
and often candid meeting between a sitting president and the
president-elect.

"In his campaign, Bush had said he thought the biggest security issue
was Iraq and a national missile defense," Clinton said. "I told him that
in my opinion, the biggest security problem was Osama bin Laden."

The U.S. government has blamed bin Laden's Al Qaeda network for the
Sept. 11 attacks.

Time magazine reported last year that a plan for the United States to
launch attacks against the al-Qaeda network languished for eight months
because of the change in presidents and was approved only a week before
the Sept. 11 attacks.

But the White House disputed parts of that story, which was published
by the magazine in August 2002.

"The Clinton administration did not present an aggressive new plan to
topple al-Qaeda during the transition," a White House spokesman, Sean
McCormack, said at the time.

The White House was clearly irritated by the report, which appeared to
suggest that the Bush administration might not have done all it could to
prevent the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

At Wednesday's luncheon, Clinton said his inability to convince Bush
of the danger from al Qaeda was "one of the two or three of the biggest
disappointments that I had."

Clinton said that after bin Laden, the next security priority would
have been the absence of a Middle East peace agreement, followed by the
proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

"I would have started with India and Pakistan, then North Korea, and
then Iraq after that," he said. "I thought Iraq was a lower order
problem than al Qaeda."

Clinton's vice president Al Gore, who ran against Bush in the 2000
election, did not make the threat from al Qaeda a major focus of the
presidential campaign, which both candidates kept focused mainly on
domestic topics

Good GOD, Clinton was offered Bin Laden on a silver platter but turned
it down. Who's to blame for 9/11? Not Bush, this **** was coming long
before Bush took office, deal with it.

Cool Psychedelic pattern fedman let me asking are you listening to ZZ
top right now or is it gee can't remember but i feel like i want to go
smoke some weed right now....

Wow it is amazing how Osamma appeared out of the blue after Bush got
elected. Guess he didn't leave his calling card on the U.S.S. Cole or
our Embassies in Africa as we once suspected. That must have been a
different Osamma. As I said in "The Wylie American Liberal" liberals
suffer from selective amnesia which allows them to forget any fact that
does not support their argument. Slick Wille has ample opportunities to
remove Osamma from the face of the Earth but failed to do so. Fact is
Slick Willie was too preoccupied having Monica polish Air Force One to
be concerned with world affairs and the security of this country.

I agree with you a hundred percent there garden. I also have to
wonder... President Clinton downsized our army right before he left
office. I wonder if he timed it to be at such a low of active duty
personnel (with 95% or more of active being depolyed atr all times) when
the presidential changeover occurred? I am not going to suggest
anything else, cause you can add two and two as well as I can, and I
have no proof just thoughts. But it is something to think about.

it really does not matter if clinton told bush or not. bush dont want to
catch him right now anyway. im sure bush and his fear less leaders could
bring OB in if the gov wanted to !!

if you thin kit was that easy fun, then fet your butt off the web and go
do it. You would be acclaimed a national hero and have eveyrthing you
ever desired.

All this talk of former President Clinton allowing bin Ladin and his
network to committ 9/11 is purpostous. The fact is, in his 2nd term he
was to busy defending himself from the Republicans for getting a little
piece a$$ on the side. He couldn't focus on the more important issues.
Any move he would make would be watched and serverly scrutinized.

But when you look at the current President Bush, his was administration
was chalk full of problems.

1)His "axis of evil," which was made after the start of the, now
forgoten but still fighting, Afgan war, made an enemy of Iran. The
Iranians were no friend of the Taliban, they wanted the Taliban out of
power, they actually provide intel to do so. After Mr. Bush's speech,
Iranians elected their right wing president to protect them. And he's
now looking for nukes.

2)The faulty intelligence provided by CIA and not fact checked by the
National Security Council, then headed by Ms. Rice (who for some reason
still has her job) lead the not only the nation but the whole to
question the US intentions and motives for war. This only strenghtens
and gives cause to the cry "No War for Oil." It also lead to Collin
Powell to resign in protest because he presented the faulty intel to the
UN. He was left out in the wind. He had sense to jump off this Titanic.

3)The misleadership and mismanagement by Donald Rumfield who was
combative with his own generals fighting the war lead many to resign in
protest. Rumfield got his way but clearly "staying the course" only lead
to his firing by Mr. Bush but that was after the Dems won control
congress. Mr. Rumfield record was not only marred by the lack of
progress in Iraq but also in the Abu Grabi prison scandel.

4)The interrogation/torcher scandel lead to the firing of former US
Attorney General John Ash Croft. Even John McCain, who was torchered in
Vietman and who voted for war, said that was inhumaine.

5)The war itself created a deversion from growing problems in North
Korea with their nuclear program but also the growing socialist movement
in South America, Velezuena in particular.

Even with all this, it is usual for 2nd term presidents to be bog down
with scandels, Nixon with Watergate, Reagan with the Iran/contra
scandel, Truman and the Korean War.

first off clinton told bush about bin laden . bush could not find a
hooker in a whorehouse. this is same man who still looking for
weapons.in iraq.