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Clinton Haunted by Failure to Get Bin Laden
Tuesday, Sept. 25, 2001 5:24 p.m. EDT
Clinton Haunted by Failure to Get bin Laden
Acting like a man who knows he has much to answer for, ex-president Bill Clinton is seeking out anyone and everyone who will listen to explain that the World Trade Center disaster that killed 7,000 Americans wasn't his fault.
After telling Fox News Channel's Brian Kilmeade, NBC's Tom Brokaw and countless private audiences over the last two weeks that he did everything he could to nail prime suspect Osama bin Laden, Clinton has taken to accosting total strangers on the street to offer his excuses.
One such New Yorker is Saul Finkelstein, who says he was corralled by the suddenly guilt-ridden ex-prez Saturday while out for a bike ride with his sons.
For a full 15 minutes the ex-commander in chief unburdened himself to Finkelstein, who reported the episode to the Washington Post's Lloyd Grove.
"In 1998, the U.S. Navy launched a series of cruise missile attacks," Clinton insisted to the stranger. "We missed him by an hour."
He seemed to want the passerby to understand that if President Bush succeeds where he failed, it won't be because Bush tried any harder.
"The president can't say this," Clinton reportedly explained, "but it will not be that difficult to get bin Laden [today] because unlike in 1998.... the U.S. will have the cooperation of surrounding countries."
By comparison, he said, his task was more difficult because he had to "fight this guy from 1,000 miles away."
The bottom line, Finkelstein said, was that Clinton wanted him to understand that "what happened on Sept. 11 could in no way be traced to some failure on his administration's part."
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