When the Clinton administration decided to turn down Sudan's offer to have Osama bin Laden arrested and extradited to the U.S., it already knew that the notorious 9/11 mastermind was behind the Black Hawk Down attack in Somalia in 1993, an upcoming 9/11 Commission witness is prepared to testify.
According to Mansoor Ijaz, who served as a diplomatic troubleshooter for President Clinton in the late 1990s, bin Laden was offered by Sudanese Defense Minister Elfatih Erwa during a meeting with the CIA's Africa Bureau chief in a Virginia hotel room in March 1996.
Instead of accepting the offer, however, Clinton officials pressed Sudan to expel bin Laden to any country other than Somalia, Ijaz told WDAY North Dakota radio host Scott Hennen on Wednesday.
"[The Clinton administration] did not want him to go to Somalia because, guess what - they knew that bin Laden was behind the attacks against our helicopter pilot in Black Hawk Down in Somalia in 1993," he explained.
"Wait and see what hell I raise about that in the testimony that I give," said Ijaz, who is scheduled to appear before the 9/11 Commission on May 7.
According to Ijaz, Erwa told the CIA case officer, "If [the U.S.] has any legal basis, any indictment, anything that you can show us that you're prepared to try bin Laden on American soil, we will hand him over to you."
But the Sudanese offer was met with "dead silence" from the CIA case officer, Ijaz contends. "Literally, that offer was left on the dining table in that Alexandria hotel room," he lamented.
In Feb. 2002, ex-President Clinton admitted that he knew about the Sudanese offer, and personally decided to turn it down, telling a New York business group, "At the time, 1996, [bin Laden] had committed no crimes against America, so I did not bring him here because we had no basis on which to hold him."
Ijaz's account, however, would contradict Clinton's claim that bin Laden had committed "no crimes against America" before 1996.
Read the rest here:
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2004/4/22/103049.shtml
According to Mansoor Ijaz, who served as a diplomatic troubleshooter for President Clinton in the late 1990s, bin Laden was offered by Sudanese Defense Minister Elfatih Erwa during a meeting with the CIA's Africa Bureau chief in a Virginia hotel room in March 1996.
Instead of accepting the offer, however, Clinton officials pressed Sudan to expel bin Laden to any country other than Somalia, Ijaz told WDAY North Dakota radio host Scott Hennen on Wednesday.
"[The Clinton administration] did not want him to go to Somalia because, guess what - they knew that bin Laden was behind the attacks against our helicopter pilot in Black Hawk Down in Somalia in 1993," he explained.
"Wait and see what hell I raise about that in the testimony that I give," said Ijaz, who is scheduled to appear before the 9/11 Commission on May 7.
According to Ijaz, Erwa told the CIA case officer, "If [the U.S.] has any legal basis, any indictment, anything that you can show us that you're prepared to try bin Laden on American soil, we will hand him over to you."
But the Sudanese offer was met with "dead silence" from the CIA case officer, Ijaz contends. "Literally, that offer was left on the dining table in that Alexandria hotel room," he lamented.
In Feb. 2002, ex-President Clinton admitted that he knew about the Sudanese offer, and personally decided to turn it down, telling a New York business group, "At the time, 1996, [bin Laden] had committed no crimes against America, so I did not bring him here because we had no basis on which to hold him."
Ijaz's account, however, would contradict Clinton's claim that bin Laden had committed "no crimes against America" before 1996.
Read the rest here:
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2004/4/22/103049.shtml
