Former President Bill Clinton has resurfaced long-standing questions about his administrations handling of Osama bin Laden, acknowledging that a CIA plan to eliminate the al-Qaeda leader was abandoned before the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
In a recent appearance on WABCs Cats Roundtable with host John Catsimatidis, Clinton recounted that while still in office he had given the green light for a covert operation targeting the mastermind of multiple attacks on American interests. According to The Post Millennial, Clinton told the program, I had authorized the CIA to try to take him out, explaining that while the priority was stopping Bin Laden by any means necessary, he had indicated it would be preferable to capture him alive.
Clinton described his own frustration with the intelligence communitys ultimate decision to stand down, suggesting that bureaucratic caution may have cost the United States a critical opportunity. I was scared, and I was mad because we tried to get him before, and the CIA at the last minute killed the plan that I think might well have succeeded, he said, adding that agency officials feared civilian casualties if the mission failed.
But they were afraid that if they missed, theyd kill a lot of innocent civilians. They didnt want to run the risk. I didnt second-guess them, but I think, in the end, [Bin Laden] was determined to do what he did, and he had lots of money and lots of capacity, Clinton continued, effectively shifting responsibility to risk-averse intelligence officers while conceding Bin Ladens determination and resources. He further reflected on his own record, insisting that he had taken the threat seriously even if the results fell tragically short.
I wish we had done even more to get him. I always thought he was our biggest threat I wanted to get him, and I did what I could to do that, he said, per the New York Post, a statement that will likely do little to quiet critics who argue that the Clinton administration consistently underestimated Islamist terrorism. For many conservatives, the admission underscores a broader pattern in Democratic administrations of treating national security as a secondary concern until catastrophe forces a reckoning.
Clinton also recalled the personal terror his family experienced on the morning of 9/11, when their daughter Chelsea was in Lower Manhattan as the attacks unfolded. He said he immediately recognized the hand of Bin Laden as he watched the second plane slam into the World Trade Center towers live on television from overseas.
Clinton said that he knew that Bin Laden was behind the attacks as he saw the second plane hitting the Twin Towers. At the time, I was in Australia. Hilary was in Washington. But our daughter was in Lower Manhattan, and we were worried to death about her. She was one of the thousands of people who were told to just walk north. We couldnt get in touch with her.
I was watching television in Australia when the second plane hit. I immediately said that Bin Laden did this. They all looked at me and said, How do you know this? I said, Well, because the only adversaries we have with the capacity to do this are Iran and Bin Laden, Clinton recounted, underscoring that he viewed the al-Qaeda chief as a uniquely dangerous foe. His remarks also highlighted the strategic calculus of state versus non-state actors in the terror landscape.
And the Iranians wouldnt do it because we could wipe them off the face of the Earth immediately. And Bin Laden is holed up in a cave in Afghanistan. I just knew it had to be him. I also knew that he had been planning to do what he did to hit us for a long time, he said, acknowledging that US officials were aware of Bin Ladens long-term ambitions to strike the homeland. That awareness, critics argue, makes the failure to neutralize him before 2001 all the more damning.
The Trump administration, marking the 25th anniversary of 9/11, declassified documents that shed further light on what both the Clinton and Bush teams knew about al-Qaedas intentions. Those records revealed that intelligence agencies had specifically warned of plots involving hijacked American passenger jets being used as weapons against targets inside the United States.
A December 1998 CIA memorandum stated, "Reporting suggests Bin Ladin and his allies are preparing for attacks in the US, including an aircraft hijacking to obtain the release of Shaykh 'Umar' Abd al-Rahman, Ramzi Yousef, and Muhammad Sadiq Awda. One source quoted a senior member of the Gama'at al-Islamiyya (IG) saying that as of late October, the IG has completed planning for an operation in the US on behalf of Bin Ladin but that the operation was on hold. A senior Bin Ladin operative from Saudi Arabia was to visit IG counterparts in the US soon thereafter to discuss optionsperhaps including an aircraft hijacking."
The same memo noted that members of Bin Ladens network had received hijack training, a chilling detail that, in hindsight, reads like a flashing red warning that went unheeded. Nine hijackers across four planes ultimately carried out the September 11 attacks, striking the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, while a fourth aircraft crashed in Pennsylvania after heroic passengers fought back, preventing an even greater loss of life in Washington.
For Americans who believe in peace through strength and a clear-eyed view of foreign threats, Clintons retrospective comments reinforce the cost of hesitation and the dangers of allowing legalistic caution and political calculation to override decisive action. The record now publicly available shows that the threat was known, the enemy was identified, and options were on the tableyet the necessary resolve to act came only after nearly 3,000 innocent lives were lost.
Login