Bill Clinton Reveals Why the CIA Told Him not to Take out Bin Laden Before 9/11
Former President Bill Clinton revealed on Sunday that the CIA abandoned a plan to take out Osama bin Laden before 9/11 over fears that innocent civilians could die if the risky operation went sideways.
Clinton, 80, spoke about the spy agency’s reasoning during a radio interview on WABC’s “Cats Roundtable” show with host John Catsimatidis — and reflected on how he “immediately” knew the al Qaeda leader was responsible for the terror attacks while watching them unfold.
“I had authorized the CIA to try to take him out,” Clinton told Catsimatidis, adding that he told the agency it would have been good to capture bin Laden alive, but the main priority was to stop him.
“I was scared, and I was mad because we tried to get him before, and the CIA at the last minute killed the plan that I think might well have succeeded,” the former Democratic president said.
“But they were afraid that if they missed, they’d kill a lot of innocent civilians. They didn’t want to run the risk. I didn’t second-guess them, but I think, in the end, [bin Laden] was determined to do what he did, and he had lots of money and lots of capacity,” Clinton reflected. (Read more from “Bill Clinton Reveals Why the CIA Told Him not to Take out Bin Laden Before 9/11” HERE)




