Washington, D.C.
A U.S. government plan to attack al Qaida before Sept. 11 got bogged down in the transition between the Clinton and Bush administrations, Time magazine reported this week. Clinton’s top advisers devised the plan in the closing months of his presidency, but decided it would be inappropriate to launch such an ambitious and dangerous project in Clinton’s final days as president. Given the plan, Bush administration officials conducted an eight-month “policy review.” They decided to go beyond the Clinton proposal to “roll back” al Qaida, and instead try to “eliminate” the terrorist network. Top White House officials approved the plan on Sept. 4, 2001.
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