From
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/1558918.stm :)
Sunday, 23 September, 2001, 05:01 GMT 06:01 UKClinton ordered Bin Laden killing
Former US President Bill Clinton has admitted his administration tried to assassinate Osama Bin Laden in 1998 - but failed because it could not find him.
The move followed the bombing of two US embassies in East Africa which Bin Laden - the chief suspect in the US terrorist attacks - was suspected of masterminding.
"I authorized the arrest, and, if necessary, the killing of Osama Bin Laden, and we actually made contact with a group in Afghanistan to do it - and they were unsuccessful," Mr Clinton told a news conference in New York.
He added that special forces had been trained for a ground assault.
However, he said the US lacked the necessary intelligence at the time to make this a viable option.
<More>
And there's this little gem from Salon Newsreal in 1998 that might help to explain what he was up against at the time. ;-)
From
http://www.salon.com/news/1998/08/27news.htmlIs bin Laden a terrorist mastermind --
or a fall guy?
The Clinton administration accuses Saudi renegade Osama bin Laden of being directly responsible for almost every terrorist act of the last decade. But where's the evidence?
BY LOREN JENKINS
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"Our target was terror. Our mission was clear."
-- President Clinton, Aug. 20, 1998To the litany of terrorist acts that President Clinton laid at the feet of renegade Saudi millionaire Osama bin Laden in justification of his cruise missile attacks on Afghanistan and the Sudan last week, the administration has now alleged a murky plot to assassinate the president as well.
The alleged plot against Clinton was to have taken place when he was to have visited Pakistan. The anonymous intelligence sources that have made such an industry in bin Laden revelations this week acknowledge that the plot never went beyond the coffee-shop talking stage.
But the charge helped to reinforce the president's claims that bin Laden is "perhaps the preeminent organizer and financier of international terrorism in the world today," and that there was "compelling" -- if unrevealable -- evidence that a network of terrorist groups he controlled was planning "further attacks against Americans and other freedom-loving groups."
<snip>
At a time when presidential veracity is at an all-time low, one might have wished that the president and his national security advisors had laid out in detail just what was the "compelling evidence" that led the United States to launch some 75 missiles at two sovereign nations.
As it is, the public, both here in the United States and in the more critical world at large, is being asked to take a giant Kierkegaardian leap of faith in the president's claims. Given Clinton's recent track record in the "trust me" department, this is a lot to demand.
<More> Worth the read!
So much for NOT attacking a President at a time of war. :shrug:
Bill Clinton clearly saw Osama Bin Laden as a threat to the US and attempted to stop him even though he was faced with constant public ridicule and accusations by the right of "wagging the dog" to divert attention from his 'other problem'. IIRC, both the house and senate were under Republican control at the time making it difficult for him to get the appropriations to cover the costs of any meaningful effort to 'get Osama'.
Well at least that's the way I remember it going down.