Monsoor Ijaz
Posted on 08/06/2003 2:59:06 PM PDT by flamefront
U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton has challenged her husband's confession that he turned down an offer from Sudan to extradite Osama bin Laden to the U.S., a decision that some say ranks as the worst foreign policy blunder in U.S. history.
"That's not my understanding of the facts," Sen. Clinton told NewsMax.com's Carl Limbacher, who confronted Hillary with her husband's remarks on "The Mike Siegel Show." Sen. Clinton's comments are published for the first time in the new book "Hillary's Scheme."
"As I understand the facts," a defensive sounding Hillary continued, "there was never a full and thorough offer."
Sen. Clinton's backpedaling on her husband's stunning bin Laden admission comes as she continues to try to burnish her national security credentials in preparation for a presidential run.
But the ex-president's bin Laden blunder could prove to be a major obstacle, especially since Sen. Clinton's own remarks indicate she was in the loop on the disastrous decision to pass up the 9/11 terror mastermind.
In an apparent reference to her own involvement in the decision-making process, Hillary told Limbacher, "Remember, when we were looking to try to deal with bin Laden, there wasn't any, at that point, any absolute linkage, as there later became, with both the bombings in Africa and the U.S.S. Cole."
According to Sen. Clinton's husband, however, at the time he turned down Sudan's offer, the White House was not only aware that bin Laden posed a growing threat, administration officials were even predicting that the 9/11 mastermind would attack the U.S. directly. In Mr. Clinton's own words, as early as 1996, "we knew he wanted to commit crimes against America."
Sen. Clinton has never before been asked about her husband's troubling revelation. And the only other time she's been asked about the Sudanese offer, she dodged the question.
Asked about reports on the bin Laden deal last September by NBC's Tim Russert, Sen. Clinton replied, "I don't think that a lot of what is being said and written about now actually is accurate. There's quite an extensive record of the Clinton administration's efforts against terrorism."
Inexplicably, however, Russert did not confront Hillary with her husband's own words, a challenge that would have forced her to address the matter directly.
Here's the full exchange between Sen. Clinton and Limbacher from Mike Siegel's Jan. 24, 2003 broadcast:
LIMBACHER: Sen. Clinton, in February of last year your husband addressed the Long Island Association here, well, in Woodbury. And he said that he had an offer from the government of Sudan in 1996 to take bin Laden into custody. His exact words: "At the time, 1996, bin Laden 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."
What's your reaction to ex-President Clinton's admission that he had a chance to take bin Laden into custody but declined the offer?
CLINTON: Well that is, you know, first of all, that's not my understanding of the facts. But, as I understand the facts, there was never a full and thorough offer. But remember, when we were looking to try to deal with bin Laden, there wasn't any, at that point, any absolute linkage, as there later became, with both the bombings in Africa and the U.S.S. Cole.
And it was also the fact, that I think it's hard for us now to remember, that the United States, at that point in time, as well as our allies, had a very different mindset about the best way to deal with these potential problems around the world. We didn't have the support of many of the country's intelligence agencies that we were able to obtain after 9/11. (End of Excerpt)
It's not clear whether the Independent Commission on the 9/11 attacks will examine the former first couple's contradictory versions of how they handled Sudan's offer for Osama bin Laden's release.
To hear ex-President Clinton's bin Laden confession followed by Hillary conflicting account, Click Here.
Like trying to polish a turd.
Key word here is 'we.'
"Please, don't confuse me with the facts."
Good to know that our country was in the hands of the World's Smartest Woman
I wonder how Nihonese, are taken the politics of 2004?... :/
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