NYC-WTC_000152373

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

. The sea-launched cruise missiles slammed into the camp only about group, which the officials declined tc In 1999, officials from the White • an hour or so after Mr. bin Laden left identify, reported that it had at­ House and the Treasury Department the conference, American officials tempted to kill Mr. bin Laden by traveled to the Persian Gulf to try to believe. According to former senior assaulting a convoy in which he was pressure governments to shut down Clinton administration officials, thought to be traveling. They report­ Al Qaeda’s banking relationships. some 20 to 30 Al Qaeda members ed that it turned out that Mr. bin But they achieved only mixed- re­ were killed, temporarily disrupting Laden was not in the convoy. sults. the organization. The reported assassination at­ “Where we didn’t have success But the attack failed in its unstated tempt was not approved or planned was when other countries delayed or but clear objective, which was to kill with C.I.A. assistance, American offi­ denied that there was a problem,” Mr. bin Laden. cials said. But the officials did say said one former official. “Sometimes One consequence was that Mr. bin that the group had carried out the it was because of a lack Of political Laden drastically improved his own attack knowing that Washington had will, sometimes because those coun­ security measures. Realizing that a great interest in either capturing tries didn’t have the legal or regula­ the United States had collected solid Mr. bin Laden or having him killed. tory frameworks they needed to real­ intelligence about his physical move­ Washington has also attempted to ly know what was going on in their ments, he cut back on his use of financial institutions.” electronic communications. Ameri­ target Mr. bin Laden’s finances. One Former Clinton administration of­ can officials say he now tends to talk idea briefly considered by the Clin­ ficials say they sympathize with to subordinates only in person, and ton administration called for a clan­ their successors in the Bush adminis­ they then pass on his messages to destine effort to drain money out of tration who now confront Mr. bin others m the organization. bank accounts that could be tied to AI Laden, and defend their own efforts “He has become more sophisticat­ Qaeda. But former Clinton adminis­ as the best possible in a world that tration officials said that Treasury lacked the current sense of urgency ed by becoming less sophisticated,” Department officials opposed . the said one former senior American of­ about AI Qaeda. idea, fearing that it might damage “It was something that we focused ficial. the integrity of the financial system. In addition, he moves frequently, on on a daily basis, and pursued with traveling between Kandahar, the Ta­ “Treasury was not enamored of vigor, and I think we accomplished liban stronghold in southern Afghani­ the idea.” noted one former Clinton quite a lot,” said former Secretary of stan, and the rugged Afghan country­ administration official. Another for­ State Madeleine K. Albright. “I think side^ farther north, American offi­ mer administration official said that we took it as far as was possible to go cials say. “He became much more theideawas flawed-because stealing at the time, and I think what we did secure in his communications, and money from a bank account would in has provided the basis for things the the only way to track him was tc most instances leave the bank liable Bush administration is trying to do have people on the ground,” said one to make up the loss to the individual, now.” former senior American official. thus hurting the bank rather than The Clinton administration has depriving AI Qaeda of money. been criticized for not following up But the United States did mount an on its first missile attack with an all- international effort to curb Mr. bin out effort to get Mr. bin Laden. But Laden’s access to the financial sys­ former officials said that they lacked tem. In 1998, President Clinton in­ voked emergency economic powers the “actionable intelligence,” or pre­ against Mr. bin Laden and Al Qaeda, cise information about Mr. bin Lad­ giving the United States the power to en’s whereabouts, to launch another freeze assets of any individuals or attack. institutions working with or assisting “The main focus was location, lo­ the terrorist group. In 1999, the Tali­ cation, location,” said one former ban was added to the list, and Ameri­ administration official. “We had in­ can officials were surprised to find tensive intelligence gathering efforts that the Taliban had actually left to track him.” large sums of money in banks in the In addition, the logistics of launch­ United States, mostly in older Af­ ing an attack by special forces in one ghan government accounts. Eventu­ of the most remote regions of the ally, American and international world also presented formidable ob­ pressure led to United Nations sanc­ stacles. “We had a number of contin­ tions, and effectively shut down in­ gency plans, but logistically it was a ternational flights by Ariana Air­ nightmare,” said a former senior lines, the Afghan government’s air Clinton administration official. carrier, which American intelligence Still, another Afghan group, no; had concluded was being used by Al connected with Mr. Massoud, did re­ Qaeda as its conduit to the Perisian port to the C.I.A. last year that it had Gulf and the rest of the world. attempted to assassinate Mr. bm Laden. American officials said. The

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