U.S. Ambassador to Sudan Confirms Clinton Snubbed Bin Laden Deal
Former Ambassador to the Sudan Tim Carney confirmed Tuesday night that the Clinton administration refused an offer from the Sudanese government to hand over terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden in the late 1990s - directly contradicting former Clinton administration officials who have attacked the story as baseless.
"In fact, what was offered [by the Sudanese] was to expel bin Laden to Saudi Arabia, and the Saudis, because he was such a hot potato, simply refused to handle him," Carney told Fox News Channel's Alan Colmes.
"Then, as I understand it, there was an offer to send him to us," Carney recalled. The Clinton administration rebuffed the overture because, Carney said, "we did not have an indictment [against bin Laden] at the time."
Carney's account corroborates the claims of Pakistani-American freelance diplomat Mansour Ijaz, who has maintained for months that the Clinton administration blew a crucial opportunity to take bin Laden out of circulation and ultimately foil the 9-11 terrorist attacks.
While the press has largely ignored Ijaz's claims, former Clinton officials have launched a fierce campaign to undermine his credibility and keep him from testifying before Congress.
"He's lying," former Clinton spokeswoman Jennifer Palmieri said in May. "The guy has absolutely no credibility.
"It's a joke. He's a crackpot," added Palmieri, now the chief spokeswoman for the Democratic National Committee. (See: [21]DNC Spokesgal Trashes bin Laden-gate Accuser)
Asked to respond to Ijaz's account in January, Clinton National Security Counsel adviser Nancy Soderberg told Fox News Channel's Laurie Dhue, "He's living in a fantasy land. There was no such Sudanese offer."
Ijaz has said that former National Security Advisor Sandy Berger and former Assistant Secretary of State for African affairs Susan Rice, as well as former Attorney General Janet Reno and ex-President Clinton himself, all deserve blame for mishandling the Sudanese offer to turn over bin Laden.
He has dared the Senate Intelligence Committee to take his sworn testimony about the episode as part of its probe into pre-Sept. 11 intelligence failures. But so far Democrats who control the investigation have declined to do so. (See: [22]Bin Laden-gate Witness Dares Dems: Depose Me on Clinton 9-11 Cover-Up)
Recently, Ms. Rice lashed out at former ambassador Carney, painting him as a disgruntled Clinton-hater with an ax to grind.
"He was unfortunately very angry at the Clinton adminstration for the decision to close his embassy in Khartoum soon after he got there and perhaps that anger colors his recollections," she claimed.
But Ijaz and Carney may have picked up a powerful new ally last weekend when Secretary of State Colin Powell seemed to endorse their version of events, which they detailed in a Washington Post op-ed piece on Sunday.
Alluding to Ijaz and Carney's account to respond to criticism from former Vice President Al Gore that the Bush administration had so far failed to capture Osama bin Laden, Powell told "Fox News Sunday," "I notice the previous administration didn't even make a serious try to get him."
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