Reprinted from NewsMax.com
Tuesday, March 23, 2004 10:25 a.m. EST
9/11 Commission Rejects Evidence Clinton Turned Down bin Laden Offer
The independent commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks, known as the 9/11 Commission, said Tuesday that they have not found "any reliable evidence" that Sudan was ready to turn over Osama bin Laden to the U.S. in 1996, rejecting a statement by ex-President Clinton admitting that such an offer was indeed made - but that he turned it down.
In an opening statement for Tuesday's hearing, 9/11 Commission staffer Michael Hurley made no mention of Clinton's bombshell admission in February 2002 that the Sudanese offer was indeed real. Instead Hurley explained:
"In exchanges beginning in February 1996, Sudanese officials began approaching U.S. officials asking what they could do to ease the pressure [resulting from U.N. sanctions]. During the winter and spring of 1996, Sudan's defense minister visited Washington and had a series of meetings with representatives of the U.S. government."
Hurley continued:
"To test Sudan's willingness to cooperate on terrorism, the United States presented eight demands to their Sudanese contacts. The one that concerned bin Laden was a request for intelligence information about bin Laden's contacts in Sudan.
"These contacts in Sudan, which went on for years, had become a source of controversy. Former Sudanese officials claim that Sudan offered to expel bin Laden to the United States. Clinton administration officials deny ever receiving such an offer.
"We have not found any reliable evidence to support the Sudanese claim," Hurley insisted.
The 9/11 Commission's insistence that there is no evidence to confirm the bin Laden extradition offer comes despite ex-President Clinton's recorded account confirming Sudan's version of events.
In a Feb. 15, 2002, speech to the Long Island Association, Mr. Clinton revealed:
"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.
"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]
The decision by the 9/11 Commission to reject Clinton's confirmation of the Sudanese version of events threatens to undermine the credibility of the panel's entire probe.
NewsMax.com offered the commission copies of its exclusive recording of the ex-president's stunning admission on numerous occasions. At no time did the commission express any interest in obtaining a copy of the recording, or request the original tape to verify its authenticity.
President Clinton's speech was videotaped by the Long Island Association, with selected clips broadcast on Long Island's News Channel 12 that night. His comments about the Sudanese offer were reported the next day by Newsday in its business section.
The LIA has refused requests from NewsMax, NBC News and the Fox News Channel for copies of its video of Mr. Clinton's remarks.
NewsMax.com has the only publicly available audio recording of the ex-president's historic comments detailing his decision to reject the Sudanese offer.
To listen to the smoking-gun audiotape rejected by the 9/11 Commission, Click here.
Editor's note:
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