Gore: Bush to Blame for Not Getting Bin Laden

NewsMax.com ^ | Carl Limbacher and NewsMax.com Staff

[kattracks]

Former Vice President Al Gore blamed President Bush Tuesday night for not capturing terrorist kingpin Osama bin Laden - though he didn't explain why he and former President Bill Clinton turned down an offer to have bin Laden arrested and brought to the U.S. when they had the chance.

"I think that the (Bush) administration lost focus where the war on terrorism is concerned," Gore told CNN's "Larry King Live." "And I think that was a serious mistake."

"Look at what's happened now," the former veep complained. "Osama bin Laden is back making threats at us. Al Qaeda is back posing just as serious a threat as it did during the weeks leading up to 9/11, according to our intelligence agencies."

Gore painted the Bush administration's efforts to capture bin Laden and eliminate the al Qaeda threat as a clear failure, telling CNN:

"The war lords are back in power in Afghanistan. The Taliban is back in Afghanistan. The chairman of the joint chiefs of staff says we're losing ground there. The CIA folks are complaining that resources have been diverted away from the war against terrorism to the war against Iraq."

But he did not address former President Clinton's confession earlier this year that his administration had the chance to capture bin Laden before the 9/11 attacks - deciding instead to let him off the hook.

"Mr. bin Laden used to live in Sudan. He was expelled from Saudi Arabia in 1991, then he went to Sudan," Clinton told a New York business group in February.

"And we'd been hearing that the Sudanese wanted America to start meeting 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."

Clinton continued:

"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)

With the exception of the Fox News Channel, the major media has declined to cover Clinton's stunning admission that he blew America's best chance to take bin Laden out of circulation.

Hear NewsMax.com's exclusive recording of Clinton's confession, which Fox News Channel's Bill O'Reilly has heralded as "a journalistic coup."

Read the breakthrough report that detailed the Clinton-Gore administration's incredible bin Laden blunder: Clinton Reveals on Secret Audio: I Nixed Bin Laden Extradition Offer.

Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:

Al-Qaeda
Al Gore
Clinton Scandals

[Zansman]

Please tell me you didn't expect Larry King, or for that matter ANY media outlet Gore would appear on to ask him about this? Please!!!!

[republicanwizard]

Al Gore makes me want to puke.

I can't wait until he gets his party's nod. We will have so much fun and entertainment.

[JoeFromCA]

Anybody who saw Gore tonight (all right, I did watch, but it was akin to being unable to look away during a train wreck) would conclude that his chances of ever holding public office again are nil. I sure hope the Dems run Gore and Hillary on the presidential ticket next election; they'll be creamed.

[dead]

But he did not address former President Clinton's confession earlier this year that his administration had the chance to capture bin Laden before the 9/11 attacks - deciding instead to let him off the hook.

And neither, of course, did CNN's giant of journalism, Larry King.

"Mr. Vice President, I just have to ask you - Do you like gumbo. I like gumbo if it's not too spicy. How about you?"

[copycat]

"Look at what's happened now," the former veep complained. "Osama bin Laden is back making threats at us. Al Qaeda is back posing just as serious a threat as it did during the weeks leading up to 9/11, according to our intelligence agencies."

And what would you have done. Mr. Alpha Male...signed a treaty with him?

[Political Junkie Too]

Bush to Blame

Right. Not Pakistani sympathizers, not Saudi supporters, not dense caves, not fake cease-fires. Bush is to blame.

-PJ

[dvan]

Gore who????????

[InvisibleChurch]

algore never complained about Hillary! having taken two years to find the Rose Law Firm records

[The Wizard]

ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

[sinkspur]

Al Gore is like the kid in your grade school class who always tried to show how smart he is, and everybody else just winced and turned away because he was such a dork.

I saw a CNN poll last Saturday that said that Bush would beat Gore by 17 points. In a real election, Gore would get massacred, especially if he put Cankles on the ticket.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Algore's challenge to George W makes him look really envious and silly. Why didn't he take the opportunity to apologize for Clinton's sex assults while he was part of the Clinton Administration.

[spodefly]

Former Vice President Al Gore blamed President Bush Tuesday night for not capturing terrorist kingpin Osama bin Laden ...

Bill and Al were too busy fundraising at Buddist temples and diddling interns to get Bin Laden. That, and they totally lacked the will and resolve, even when Bin Laden was offered on a silver platter. Further, they were incapable of prioritizing the pursuit in such a manner that they could have lead citizens to understand the necessity to apprehend and prosecute Bin Laden.

So, basically, they didn't bother ... they weren't leaders ... they were self-centered politicians bending to the expedient and purile.

Screw their revisionist 'legacy building' thru displacement.

[jws3sticks]

Look who's talking!

[republicanwizard]

He is a very repulsive individual.

[Chemnitz]

Let Gore be Gore!

He is so funny when he destroys the last shreds of his party. Let him talk. Let him rave. Enjoy the meltdown. His last words will be, "What a world! What a world!"

[MJY1288]

Gore: Bush to Blame for Not Getting Bin Laden

Go ahead and blame George W. Bush for not getting bin-Laden, But we hold you and your impeached X-Boss responsible for the deaths of 3,000 Americans for refusing to act when our nation was attacked 4 times by Osama bin-Laden under your watch.

Message to Al Gore: Yuck Fu

[republicanwizard]

He said the other day that he considered not conceding and waging a four-year bid for the Presidency.

If I had been Trent Lott, I would have found the nearest podium and pounded it, condemning any politician who would even consider such an action. How disgraceful. How disgusting.

However, maybe they just want to ignore him and let his self-destruct.

Beat this guys: members of the Fisher campaign, including me, have been pounding an "independent pollster" named Terry Madonna for being biased and creating the false impression that Rendell was 19 points ahead. Well, Madonna, who once said that no conservative Republican can win in Pennsylvania, said the reason why the gap was much smaller was President Bush.

So, Bush, even when he isn't on the ballot, pulls Republicans up 10 points.

[Lando Lincoln]

God, how I detest Al Gore and his ilk. We have Jimmy Carter saying we should disarm, that Norwegians are doing more for the world than the US and here is Gore. Dishing up his self-serving robotic doo-wop for the willing media to salivate over. Good Lord, when will thinking people predominate and reject this crap once and for all. There are those that say dialogue is good and I agree. But please, give me someone who has rational thought and places the country first. Gore is or does neither.

[Torie]

The guy is totally nauseating. Does he really think that Bush is not doing all he can to nab the bad guys, including Bin Laden if he in fact is alive, which is still arguable? No, of course not. He is just taking cheap political shots, which in this case are firing blanks. The man may be rich thanks to Armond Hammer, but he has about as much class as Carville.