9/11 Commission: Clinton Likely to Be Grilled on bin Laden Blunder
If he's called to testify before the independent commission investigating the 9/11 attacks, ex-President Bill Clinton will likely be questioned about his admission that he decided to turn down an offer for Osama bin Laden's extradition to the U.S.
"If the decision is made to call him, then obviously our staff will research what they are going to ask him," said commission spokesman Al Felzenberg. "And since this is obviously on the public record, I wouldn't be surprised if it came up."
"We'd been hearing that the Sudanese wanted America to start meeting with them again," Clinton told the Long Island Association on Feb. 15, 2002.
"They released [bin Laden]. At the time, 1996, he had committed no crime against America, so I did not bring him here because we had no basis on which to hold him, though we knew he wanted to commit crimes against America."
The 9/11 commission was also supplied with an audio link where NewsMax.com's exclusive recording of the ex-president's comments could be accessed.
Felzenberg said the decision to call Clinton, as well as any determination on what questions to ask him, was still months away.
But referring to the question of whether the bin Laden blunder was likely to be on the agenda, he said, "The answer is, yeah, but not yet."
The 9/11 commission is also seeking what Felzenberg described as "a multitude of documents" from the Clinton Library.
"Material that has gone to the Clinton Library has been requested" from the National Archives, which has jurisdiction over the records, he said.
"They own the documents, not the ex-president," Felzenberg explained. |
