Clinton aides regret letting bin Laden off
Terrorism policy never got going
By BRIAN MCGRORY
Boston Globe
WASHINGTON -- The dual bombings ranked as one of the most insidious acts of terrorism ever committed against the United States: two U.S. embassies in Africa decimated, more than 300 dead, and a shadowy prime suspect, Osama bin Laden, bragging that the battle had just begun.
So it wasn't surprising that President Clinton's words, back in August 1998, tumbled forth with uncommon fury. "No matter how long it takes," he vowed, "or where it takes us, we will pursue terrorists until the cases are solved and justice is done."
Now, one infamous day and more than 6,000 deaths later, some in the capital are pointedly, though quietly, critical of Clinton's failure to elevate his actions toward his lofty rhetoric. Some wonder whether he was distracted by the legal and political quagmire of the Monica Lewinsky case. And even former Clinton aides now regret that the battle with bin Laden and his al Qaeda organization was never fully joined.
"Clearly, not enough was done," said Jamie Gorelick, a former deputy attorney general in the Clinton administration. "We should have caught this. Why this happened, I don't know. Responsibilities were given out. Resources were given. Authorities existed. We should have prevented this."
Said Nancy Soderberg, a former senior aide in Clinton's National Security Council, "In hindsight, it wasn't enough, and anyone involved in policy would have to admit that."
Clinton's solution, just three weeks after the twin embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, was to fire some 75 cruise missiles at terrorist training camps in Afghanistan and a suspected nerve gas factory in Sudan.
Sudanese officials and the factory's owner have denied that the installation had anything to do with bin Laden or chemical weapons, and the company has sued the United States. Bin Laden escaped unharmed, only to have an agent tell an Arab newspaper, "The battle has not yet started."
To be sure, Clinton presided over the passage of two anti-terrorism bills, funneled more money to the FBI and CIA, raised the threat with foreign leaders on a world stage.
Yet Clinton's terrorism policy was one of fits and starts, of good intentions that faded into inattention, allies and adversaries now say.
At one point, in May 1998, prior to the embassy attacks, Clinton planned a special operations nighttime strike on bin Laden using elite military teams, said Sen. John F. Kerry, D-Mass., who spent six years on the Intelligence Committee. A former Clinton administration official confirmed the attempt, and said the troops were deployed to a base in Europe. But the president never gave the go-ahead.
"There were arguments at the Pentagon about risks," said Kerry. "I know they didn't think it was wise."
At home, Clinton doubled the size of the FBI's counterterrorism budget, but the bureau was so slow to hire new agents to combat terrorism that much of the money was never used, according to Gorelick. An FBI spokesman said Wednesday that specific staffing and budget figures were classified.
One senior government official said this week that some of the highest-level members of the Clinton administration asked Vice President Al Gore to take over the issue, possibly heading a high-visibility panel to push it to the front of the national agenda. It never happened.
Clinton's fight had an added strain. White House officials acknowledged at the time that he authorized the attack on Sudan and Afghanistan on the same August weekend in 1998 that he confessed his affair with Lewinsky to his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton. He met with national security and military advisers to plan the attacks between sessions with lawyers to prepare for his grand jury testimony. |
