Powell Blasts Gore on Bin Ladengate Scandal
NewsMax.com 06/30/02 Carl Limbacher
Responding to former Vice President Al Gore's criticism on Saturday of the Bush administration's handling of the war on terrorism, Secretary of State Colin Powell blasted the Clinton-Gore administration for not accepting a deal for Osama bin Laden's extradition from Sudan negotiated by Pakistani-American businessman Mansour Ijaz in the late 1990's.
"Perhaps that's what Vice President Gore should have been talking about - what happened on their watch as opposed to the progress we've made on our watch," Powell told "Fox News Sunday," after being asked about Ijaz's claims.
In a Sunday Washington Post op-ed piece, Ijaz and former U.S. ambassador to Sudan Tim Carney detailed the Clinton administration's mishandling of both Sudan's bin Laden offer and overall U.S. relations with the country. In another reference to the Ijaz-Carney piece, Powell said the Bush administration had made progress, "not only in Afghanistan but, I would also submit, in Sudan."
"We've recently sent a presidential emissary to Sudan," Powell told "Fox News Sunday." "Sen. Jack Danforth, he's had very successful trips there. We now have a policy with respect to Sudan that will start to move them in the direction of cooperating with us in the campaign against terrorism."
Powell cited the Clinton-Gore bin Ladengate scandal after the former vice president slammed the Bush administration for failing to capture the 9-11 terrorist mastermind.
On Saturday Gore told a crowd of Democratic Party faithful, "They haven't gotten Osama bin Laden or the al Qaeda operation and they have refused to allow enough troops from the international community to be put into Afghanistan to keep it from sliding back under control of the warlords."
Before making reference Mr. Ijaz's allegations, Powell called Gore's remarks "patent nonsense" adding, "I notice the previous administration didn't even make a serious try (to get bin Laden)."
With his comments on Sunday, the Secretary of State becomes the highest ranking Bush administration official to endorse Mr. Ijaz's claims, which have been all but ignored by the mainstream news media except for the occasional op-ed column authored by the Pakistani-American businessman himself.
Meanwhile, Mr. Ijaz has come under fierce attack from the Clinton administration and their supporters in the press.
In a May radio interview, for instance, Democratic National Committee spokeswoman Jennifer Palmieri called Ijaz "a liar" and "a crackpot."
Clinton friendly media reporters like the New York Times' Judith Miller and NBC newswoman Andrea Mitchell have explained their own decisions not to cover Ijaz's claims by saying he lacks credibility. Miller said she established Ijaz's lack of credibility by contacting former Clinton administration sources.
In May, Ijaz told radio host Sean Hannity that he, Mr. Carney and the chief of Sudanese intelligence would be willing to give sworn testimony on bin Ladengate but had not yet been called by Congress.
Earlier this month, Ijaz told radio host Don Imus that former Clinton administration officials had mounted a campaign to block his testimony.
But with Powell's tacit endorsement, the bin Ladengate accuser's story it may be more difficult for congressional investigators and the press to ignore.
In their Sunday Washington Post op-ed piece, Ijaz and Carney added new details to their account of the Clinton administration's bin Ladengate intelligence failure:
"After offering to hand bin Laden over to U.S. authorities, Sudan expelled him..... Sudan gave U.S. authorities permission to photograph two terror camps. Washington failed to follow up. In August, (Sudan) sent an 'olive branch' letter to President Clinton through Ijaz. There was no reply.
"By election day 1996, top Clinton aides, including (National Security Advisor Sandy) Berger, knew what information was available from Khartoum and of its potential value to identify, monitor and ultimately dismantle terrorist cells around the world. Yet they did nothing about it."
HENCH adds: Liberal media cover up for Clinton continues.
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