Clinton: Bush ignored bin Laden threat in 2001

Clinton warned Bush of bin Laden threat

Reuters/Swissinfo -October 16

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Former President Bill Clinton says he warned President George W. Bush before he left office in 2001 that Osama bin Laden was the biggest security threat the United States faced.

Speaking at a luncheon sponsored by the History Channel on Wednesday, Clinton said he discussed security issues with Bush in his "exit interview," a formal and often candid meeting between a sitting president and the president-elect.

"In his campaign, Bush had said he thought the biggest security issue was Iraq and a national missile defence," Clinton said. "I told him that in my opinion, the biggest security problem was Osama bin Laden."

The U.S. government has blamed bin Laden's Al Qaeda network for the September 11 attacks.

Time magazine reported last year that a plan for the United States to launch attacks against the al-Qaeda network languished for eight months because of the change in presidents and was approved only a week before the September 11 attacks.

But the White House disputed parts of that story, which was published by the magazine in August 2002.

"The Clinton administration did not present an aggressive new plan to topple al-Qaeda during the transition," a White House spokesman, Sean McCormack, said at the time.

The White House was clearly irritated by the report, which appeared to suggest that the Bush administration might not have done all it could to prevent the attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon.

At Wednesday's luncheon, Clinton said his inability to convince Bush of the danger from al Qaeda was "one of the two or three of the biggest disappointments that I had."

NY Daily News -October 17

"...Clinton's national security adviser, Sandy Berger, and his terrorism chief, Richard Clarke, briefed Bush national security adviser Condoleezza Rice just before she took office in January 2001. During his first months in office, Bush's priority was to construct a missile defense shield. He also was focused on domestic issues.

Top Bush administration officials did not meet to discuss Al Qaeda until Sept. 4 - a week before hijacked planes brought down the World Trade Center.

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printed from Clinton: Bush ignored bin Laden threat in 2001 on 2004-04-29 04:17:42