Letter: Clinton almost got bin Laden

Friday, Nov. 7, 2003 | 6:20 a.m.

In a recent letter to the editor, Ken Lucas stated that President Clinton gutted our intelligence community. Unfortunately, according to the CIA, the National Security Administration and the Defense Intelligence Agency, there is absolutely no basis for that allegation.

He also stated that President Clinton was offered Osama bin Laden on several occasions, but "wouldn't even bring him in for questioning. In fact, the Clinton administration never received a credible offer to extradite Osama Bin Laden from the Sudan or any other country for that matter. Contrary to conservative propaganda, the Clinton administration doggedly pursued Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaida cohorts. They had deployed covert operatives inside Afghanistan and, at one point, came within 30 minutes of killing Osama bin Laden and his top lieutenants in a cruise-missile attack.

Further, just prior to leaving office, Clinton's people had developed a plan to "roll up" al-Qaida -- a plan similar to the one implemented after Sept. 11. Unfortunately, incoming National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice showed little interest in the plan or terrorism in general. As a result, the war on terrorism languished until it was too late to prevent the Sept. 11 attacks.

To this day, I find it mind-boggling that the inept Rice was not fired. But, when one considers who her boss is, I guess it's understandable.

KELLY KRIEG