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Bill Clinton: "I could have killed" Osama bin Laden.[W:351]

Re: Bill Clinton: "I could have killed" Osama bin Laden.

Sure, and he didn't have sexual relations with that woman Ms. Lewinsky either.

Appearing on CBS News Sunday, former CIA agent Hank Crumpton revealed that the U.S. had a chance to kill terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden months before the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, but the Clinton administration didn’t take the shot.

While using an unmanned aerial drone to spy on members of al Qaeda in 1999, Crumpton said he watched as bin Laden himself stepped out of a vehicle convoy. Understanding that he’d been ordered to kill bin Laden on sight, Crumpton got the White House on the line immediately.

But that’s where it got sticky, he explained.

“The Clinton administration’s response was, ‘Well, it will take several hours for the TLAMs, the cruise missiles launched from submarines, to reach that objective. So you need to tell us where Bin Laden will be five or six hours from now,’” Crumpton said. “The frustration was enormous.”
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Ex-CIA agent: President Clinton missed chance to kill Osama bin Laden
 
Re: Bill Clinton: "I could have killed" Osama bin Laden.

Jerry said:
How do you think this will affect Bill's chances in 2016?
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Dunno but its looking a lot like he will be in the White house in 2016.
 
Re: Bill Clinton: "I could have killed" Osama bin Laden.

poweRob said:
Dunno but its looking a lot like he will be in the White house in 2016.
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Interns beware...
 
Re: Bill Clinton: "I could have killed" Osama bin Laden.

apdst said:
Who's to say 300 people would have died? What waa he going to do, carpet bomb the place?

Let us know if you think those 300 terrorists and terrorist supporters were worth 3,000 Americans.
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Bill Clinton was to say. Did you not read the OP to know what the thread is about? Randomly killing 300 innocent people as some sort of preemptive action that most likely wouldn't have stopped 9/11 anyhow... pretty stupid if you ask sane people.
 
Re: Bill Clinton: "I could have killed" Osama bin Laden.

Μολὼν λαβέ;1063588876 said:
Interns beware...
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And with a lot more free time too.
 
Re: Bill Clinton: "I could have killed" Osama bin Laden.

If Clinton had intelligence that OBL was creating 9/11 style attacks directed at the US and there might be civilians as collateral damage.....judgment call.

If he knew OBL was very bad, capable of a lot, but no intelligence indicating imminent attack, I think the collateral damage (civilians) becomes less acceptable.

When did the "OB determined to attack the US" memo come out?
 
Re: Bill Clinton: "I could have killed" Osama bin Laden.

poweRob said:
You guys are so desperately partisan it's hilarious. I can't believe you guys are in here basically backing the slaughter of 300 innocent people in a single strike to preemptively take down Osama bin Laden when 9/11 would still have happened being that he didn't even orchestrate it. Osama's role in 9/11 was being in charge of al qaeda when 9/11 happened and gave it his approval to happen. He didn't make it up. So 9/11 would most likely still have happened.

You insane partisans for the laughs.
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I don't know if these 300 people were innocent since they were living inside an Al Qaeda training camp.

But you are correct about Bin Laden, he just signed off on the 9-11 attacks. The mastermind "the principal architect of the 9/11 attacks" and oversaw the mission was Khalid Sheikh Mohammed who was captured in 2003 and sent to GITMO. The same Al Qaeda leader who the CIA waterborded and so many got their panties all wadded up over.

By 2003 Osama bin Laden was forced into retirement. He was to hot for Al Qaeda and the Bush administration had already seized his assets, Al Qaeda no longer needed Osama. Old terrorist never die, they just fade away.
 
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Re: Bill Clinton: "I could have killed" Osama bin Laden.

poweRob said:
You guys are so desperately partisan it's hilarious. I can't believe you guys are in here basically backing the slaughter of 300 innocent people in a single strike to preemptively take down Osama bin Laden
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I am not certain what incidence Clinton is specifically describing in that speech. But I know he was offered more chances than that to end UBL, and passed on all of them.

As for 300 innocent people...... I am..... doubtful.
 
Re: Bill Clinton: "I could have killed" Osama bin Laden.

Hamster Buddha said:
While I can understand why he didn't at the time, I doubt if knowing now what he did then if he'd pass up the opportunity.
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Would you murder innocent people to stop murder?
 
Re: Bill Clinton: "I could have killed" Osama bin Laden.

cpwill said:
I am not certain what incidence Clinton is specifically describing in that speech. But I know he was offered more chances than that to end UBL, and passed on all of them.

As for 300 innocent people...... I am..... doubtful.
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You know that? You work for the CIA or something?
 
Re: Bill Clinton: "I could have killed" Osama bin Laden.

TheNextEra said:
9/11 was a DECADE in the making, killing Osama wouldn't have prevented 9/11 Jesus with the hyperbole.
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Do you know what caused Bin Laden to believe that Al Qaeda could attack America on it's own soil (9-11-01) and believing that America's response would be no more than launching a hundred or so Tomahawk cruise missiles ?

It's all there in Osama bin Laden's 1996 first Fatwa.

>" But your most disgraceful case was in Somalia; where- after vigorous propaganda about the power of the USA and its post cold war leadership of the new world order- you moved tens of thousands of international force, including twenty eight thousands American solders into Somalia. However, when tens of your solders were killed in minor battles and one American Pilot was dragged in the streets of Mogadishu you left the area carrying disappointment, humiliation, defeat and your dead with you. Clinton appeared in front of the whole world threatening and promising revenge , but these threats were merely a preparation for withdrawal. You have been disgraced by Allah and you withdrew; the extent of your impotence and weaknesses became very clear. It was a pleasure for the “heart” of every Muslim and a remedy to the “chests” of believing nations to see you defeated in the three Islamic cities of Beirut , Aden and Mogadishu..."<
Bin Laden's Fatwa | PBS NewsHour

BTW: The decision to attack America was only in the works for five years not a decade.
 
Re: Bill Clinton: "I could have killed" Osama bin Laden.

Montecresto said:
Never a good thing to kill innocent civilians. If that's the TRUE reason he declined, good on him.
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I agree! I have a whole new amount of respect for Clinton now.
 
Re: Bill Clinton: "I could have killed" Osama bin Laden.

Deuce said:
You know that?
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I do. The Sudanese offered him to us on a platter, and there was at least one other opportunity offered as well, both of which were turned down.

You work for the CIA or something?
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Nah. I'm not arrogant enough :lol: Nor am I willing to work in the NCR if I can avoid it at all. I'm on the military side of the community.
 
Re: Bill Clinton: "I could have killed" Osama bin Laden.

cpwill said:
I do. The Sudanese offered him to us on a platter, and there was at least one other opportunity offered as well, both of which were turned down.



Nah. I'm not arrogant enough :lol: Nor am I willing to work in the NCR if I can avoid it at all. I'm on the military side of the community.
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Guess who was behind convincing Clinton to refuse taking Osama bin Laden into captivity ? :thinking

Susan Rice and Madeleine Albright.

That's right, the same Susan Rice who's Obama's national security adviser. :eek:
 
Re: Bill Clinton: "I could have killed" Osama bin Laden.

Again looks like BS from Clinton. He had his shot but didn't take it, period.

Hank Crumpton: Clearly. And we had-- the optics were spot on. It was beaming back to us, CIA headquarters. We immediately alerted the White House. And the Clinton administration's response was, "Well, it will take several hours for the TLAMs, the cruise missiles launched from submarines, to reach that objective. So you need to tell us where bin Laden will be five or six hours from now." The frustration was enormous.

Lara Logan: So at that moment you wanted to kill him?

Hank Crumpton: Yes.

Lara Logan: But you couldn't get permission?

Hank Crumpton: Correct.

He couldn't get permission to do anything, including allowing the CIA's Afghan agents on the ground to attack bin Laden's compound. That missed opportunity in the late summer of 1999, led Crumpton and his CIA team to figure out how to arm the Predator drone with hellfire missiles.

Lara Logan: So the Predator drone strikes that take place in the tribal areas of Pakistan today are a direct result of what happened when you had Osama bin Laden in your sights in Afghanistan and no way to kill him yourselves?

Hank Crumpton: It was a response to the lack of response on the part of the administration or DOD. So the handful of CIA officers that we had, in great frustration, we began the discussion of, "Okay. We find him again we will have to engage ourselves. And we'll have to do it right then, right there."

Maybe all the media members that praised Clinton's appearance in this Obama campaign ad should issue a retraction in the coming days.

Read more: 60 Minutes Details Clinton Passing on Opportunity to Kill Bin Laden in 1999 | NewsBusters
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Re: Bill Clinton: "I could have killed" Osama bin Laden.

Hamster Buddha said:
While I can understand why he didn't at the time, I doubt if knowing now what he did then if he'd pass up the opportunity.
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Not a chance.
 
Re: Bill Clinton: "I could have killed" Osama bin Laden.

danarhea said:
So Bill Clinton was also the President of NATO?
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It was a US plane that hit the Chinese Embassy. And the article lays out a pretty good reason why.
 
Re: Bill Clinton: "I could have killed" Osama bin Laden.

APACHERAT said:
Guess who was behind convincing Clinton to refuse taking Osama bin Laden into captivity ? :thinking

Susan Rice and Madeleine Albright.

That's right, the same Susan Rice who's Obama's national security adviser. :eek:
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You know, when I first read this, I though, you can't really blame him. But, then I remembered, this guy is a lying machine. He's probably lying about the 300 people. Add in that living piece of garbage, lying sack o'crap, Susan Rice into the mix, and this whole thing looks like a load of B.S.
 
Re: Bill Clinton: "I could have killed" Osama bin Laden.

Deuce said:
Would you murder innocent people to stop murder?
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If the murder is stopped is that of someone I love, then of course I would. I dare say you would too as well, or anyone for that fact.
 
Re: Bill Clinton: "I could have killed" Osama bin Laden.

Anthony60 said:
You know, when I first read this, I though, you can't really blame him. But, then I remembered, this guy is a lying machine. He's probably lying about the 300 people. Add in that living piece of garbage, lying sack o'crap, Susan Rice into the mix, and this whole thing looks like a load of B.S.
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How Susan Rice Bungled Sudan

Susan Rice during the the Clinton era.

In the Clinton Administration, while Rice was in the National Security Council and then assistant secretary of state for African affairs, she allegedly repeatedly pushed for the rejection of Sudanese offers to cooperate against terrorism. The potential prizes for cooperation were significant. Former Sudanese and Egyptian intelligence officials told Vanity Fair’s David Rose that Sudan had closely monitored the activities of Osama bin Laden and his family, who were in the country at the time. The Sudanese claim they found two Al Qaeda operatives camped out in a building across from the U.S. embassy in Khartoum and that they tracked several plotters around the region before the 1998 embassy attacks. There was some reason to take them seriously—they’d apparently aided the French in plucking the notorious terrorist Carlos the Jackal from a Khartoum hideout in 1994.

So why didn’t Rice and other opponents of cooperation budge?..."<

continue -> How Susan Rice Bungled Sudan | The National Interest
 
Re: Bill Clinton: "I could have killed" Osama bin Laden.

APACHERAT said:
How Susan Rice Bungled Sudan

Susan Rice during the the Clinton era.

In the Clinton Administration, while Rice was in the National Security Council and then assistant secretary of state for African affairs, she allegedly repeatedly pushed for the rejection of Sudanese offers to cooperate against terrorism. The potential prizes for cooperation were significant. Former Sudanese and Egyptian intelligence officials told Vanity Fair’s David Rose that Sudan had closely monitored the activities of Osama bin Laden and his family, who were in the country at the time. The Sudanese claim they found two Al Qaeda operatives camped out in a building across from the U.S. embassy in Khartoum and that they tracked several plotters around the region before the 1998 embassy attacks. There was some reason to take them seriously—they’d apparently aided the French in plucking the notorious terrorist Carlos the Jackal from a Khartoum hideout in 1994.

So why didn’t Rice and other opponents of cooperation budge?..."<

continue -> How Susan Rice Bungled Sudan | The National Interest
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hindsight_2.jpg
 
Re: Bill Clinton: "I could have killed" Osama bin Laden.

Hamster Buddha said:
hindsight_2.jpg
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Another one who either didn't read the article or reads 10,000 WPM, which is it since you responded to the post in less than two minutes , not even enough time to go to the link and read all three pages.
 
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