Former US President Bill Clinton made new statements regarding the preparations for the operation against Osama bin Laden before the September 11 attacks.
Speaking on the "Cats Roundtable" program broadcast on WABC, Clinton said that during his presidency, he gave the CIA the authority to target Bin Laden, the leader of the terrorist organization Al Qaeda.
Clinton stated that the priority of the United States is to capture Bin Laden alive, but the main goal is to stop the attack plans.
According to Clinton's statement, the CIA put on its agenda the option of a concrete operation against the location where Bin Laden was thought to be located.
However, intelligence officials decided not to implement the plan, fearing that many civilians might lose their lives if the operation failed.
Clinton said that she did not oppose the decision at that time, but she thought the operation had a chance of success.
"I wish we could have done more to find him. I always believed he was our greatest threat," the former president said.
Clinton's statements that she authorized the CIA to operate against Bin Laden are not entirely new. In an interview with Fox News in 2006, the former president said that he gave the CIA authority to attempt to kill Bin Laden and that he made intense efforts to capture or neutralize the Al Qaeda leader during his term of office.
The Clinton administration's intelligence activities against Al Qaeda were at the center of political debates in the United States for many years after the September 11 attacks.
Clinton also talked about her personal memories of September 11, 2001. Stating that he was in Australia at the time of the attacks, Clinton said that his wife Hillary Clinton was in Washington and his daughter Chelsea Clinton was in the south of Manhattan. He stated that the moment he saw the second plane hit the World Trade Center, he thought Bin Laden was behind the attack.
Clinton explained that, based on the intelligence information she had at that time, she assessed that there were a limited number of actors who could launch such a comprehensive attack on the United States.
Bin Laden, who became one of the most wanted men in the USA after the September 11 attacks, could not be caught for nearly 10 years. The al-Qaeda leader was killed during an operation by US special forces in Abbottabad, Pakistan, on May 2, 2011. The operation was carried out during the presidency of Barack Obama.
Clinton's statements came after the US administration recently declassified some documents related to intelligence warnings before 9/11. Published documents show that the Clinton and his successor George W. Bush administrations received various intelligence reports regarding Al Qaeda's plans to hijack planes and attack US targets.
Clinton also argued that the United States is better prepared against terrorist attacks today compared to 2001. However, he warned that New York could be the target of a large-scale attack again in the future.
Stating that intelligence collection and constant evaluation of possible threats should remain among the basic elements of national security, Clinton said that even a single serious security breach could have severe consequences. The former president stated that the main duty of governments is to prevent major disasters as well as to create positive results for society, and stated that this could be one of the common goals that can bring the US society together again.
