The CIA abandoned a plan to kill or capture Osama bin Laden before the September 11 attacks because of fears that the operation could kill innocent civilians, former US President Bill Clinton has revealed.
According to a New York Post report, Clinton said the intelligence agency had considered an operation against the al-Qaeda leader but warned that the risks to civilians were too high.
Clinton disclosed the details during a radio interview on WABC’s Cats Roundtable programme, recalling the difficult decisions surrounding efforts to stop bin Laden before he masterminded the September 11, 2001, attacks.
The former president said he had wanted bin Laden captured or killed because of the threat posed by al-Qaeda, but the concerns raised by intelligence officials prevented the planned operation from going ahead.
Clinton also recalled watching the September 11 attacks unfold and said he immediately suspected bin Laden was responsible, based on his previous knowledge of the al-Qaeda leader and his intentions against the United States.
His account has renewed attention on the intelligence warnings and counterterrorism decisions made in the years before the attacks, particularly whether earlier action against bin Laden could have altered the course of events.
Bin Laden remained a major target of the United States after 9/11 and was eventually killed by US special forces in a 2011 raid on his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, nearly a decade after the attacks.
