Did the government let bin Laden’s trail go cold? (NEW YORKER)

[coda]

THE SEARCH FOR OSAMA
by JANE MAYER
Did the government let bin Laden’s trail go cold


One day this past March, in Langley, Virginia, there was jubilation on a little-known thoroughfare called Bin Laden Lane. Analysts at the C.I.A.’s Counter-Terrorism Center, a dingy warren of gray metal desks marked by a custom-made street sign, were thrilled to learn that, seven thousand miles away, in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, colleagues from the agency had helped local authorities storm a private villa and capture Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the man believed to be the third most important figure in the Al Qaeda terrorist organization.

<snip>

Richard Clarke, the country’s first counter-terrorism czar, told me in an interview at his home in Arlington, Virginia, that he wasn’t particularly surprised that the Bush Administration’s efforts to find bin Laden had been stymied by political problems. He had seen such efforts fail before. Clarke, who retired from public service in February and is now a private consultant on security matters, has served every President since Ronald Reagan. He has won a reputation as a tireless advocate for action against Al Qaeda. Clarke emphasized that the C.I.A. director, George Tenet, President Bush, and, before him, President Clinton were all deeply committed to stopping bin Laden; nonetheless, Clarke said, their best efforts had been doomed by bureaucratic clashes, caution, and incessant problems with Pakistan.


Clarke told me that in the mid-nineties “the C.I.A. was authorized

to mount operations to go into Afghanistan and apprehend bin Laden.”

President Clinton, Clarke said, “was really gung-ho” about the

scenario. “He had no hesitations,” he said. “But the C.I.A. had

hesitations. They didn’t want their own people killed. And they

didn’t want their shortcomings exposed. They really didn’t have the

paramilitary capability to do it; they could not stage a snatch

operation.” Instead of trying to mount the operation themselves,

Clarke said, “the C.I.A. basically paid a bunch of local Afghans, who

went in and did nothing.”


In 1998, Al Qaeda struck the American embassies in Kenya and

Tanzania, killing more than two hundred people. In retaliation,

Clinton signed a secret Presidential finding authorizing the C.I.A.

to kill bin Laden. It was the first directive of this kind that

Clarke had seen during his thirty years in government. Soon

afterward, he told me, C.I.A. officials went to the White House and

said they had “specific, predictive, actionable” intelligence that

bin Laden would soon be attending a particular meeting, in a

particular place. “It was a rare occurrence,” Clarke said. Clinton

authorized a lethal attack. The target date, however—August 20, 1998—

nearly coincided with Clinton’s deposition about his affair with

Monica Lewinsky. Clarke said that he and other top national-security

officials at the White House went to see Clinton to warn him that he

would likely be accused of “wagging the dog” in order to distract the

public from his political embarrassment. Clinton was enraged. “Don’t

you fucking tell me about my political problems, or my personal

problems,” Clinton said, according to Clarke. “You tell me about

national security. Is it the right thing to do?” Clarke thought it

was. “Then fucking do it,” Clinton told him.






more.........


http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?030804fa_fact

[w13rd0]

1. Yup...

...for all his faults, it's well established that Clinton was convinced of the fact that Ossama would do something drastic to attack the United States. (perhaps Gore had convinced him and explained the dangers) And the "intelligence community", and the GOP, and hell, Ashcroft (with his letter to Clinton whining about his proposed anti-terrorism measures), blocked him at every opportunity...

Now why the hell is that? Are these thugs working for US citizens, or the friggin Saudis?