Former US President Bill Clinton has revealed new details about a US attempt to eliminate former al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden before the September 11, 2001 attacks, saying the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) halted a plan targeting him at the last minute over concerns that a failed operation could result in a large number of civilian casualties.
اضافة اعلان
Speaking in a radio interview with US station WABC, Clinton said he had authorized the agency to attempt to take out bin Laden, adding that he would have preferred to capture him alive if possible, but that his primary objective was to stop his activities.
"The agency canceled, at the last minute, a plan that I believe probably would have succeeded," Clinton said, explaining that intelligence officials feared that missing the target could result in the deaths of many innocent civilians. "They didn't want to take the risk, and I did not object to their decision."
"But I think, ultimately, bin Laden was determined to do what he did, and he had a lot of money and capabilities," he added.
Clinton said he regarded bin Laden as one of the greatest threats facing the United States and strongly wished to capture him before the attacks.
"I wish we had done more to get him. I always believed he was our greatest threat, and I wanted to capture him. I did everything I could to achieve that," he said.
Clinton also recalled realizing that bin Laden was behind the September 11 attacks almost immediately after watching the events unfold on television. He said al-Qaeda had been planning an attack on US soil for a long time.
"At the time, I was in Australia and Hillary was in Washington. But our daughter was in Lower Manhattan in New York City, and we were terrified for her. She was one of thousands of people who were simply told to walk north, and we couldn't reach her," Clinton said.
He recalled watching television in Australia when the second plane struck the World Trade Center towers.
"I immediately said bin Laden did it. They all looked at me and said, 'How did you know that?' And I said, well, because the only two adversaries that had the capability to do this were Iran and bin Laden. The Iranians wouldn't do it because we could wipe them off the face of the earth immediately. Bin Laden, on the other hand, was holed up in a cave in Afghanistan," Clinton said.
He said he was certain that bin Laden was responsible.
About a decade after the September 11 attacks, US forces killed Osama bin Laden in a covert operation targeting his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, on May 2, 2011, during the presidency of Barack Obama.
Speaking about US security, Clinton warned that New York City could face another terrorist attack, stressing that the threat has not disappeared despite improvements in the preparedness of US agencies.
"I think that's entirely possible, and I think we should remain vigilant about it and make sure we're getting all the intelligence we can get," he said.
Clinton added that the United States is now better prepared to deal with an attack on a similar scale, but stressed that even a minor mistake by security agencies could result in a catastrophe.
Source: Al Ghad / Agencies
