Clinton Says He Knew Al Qaeda Was Behind September 11 Attacks
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President Clinton said yesterday that when he was first told about the September 11, 2001, attacks, he was certain that Al Qaeda had carried them out.
Mr. Clinton, speaking at a launch party for a new Internet search engine at Tavern on the Green, said that he was traveling in Australia when the attacks occurred.
Two former staff members called him from Lower Manhattan after the first plane had hit the World Trade Center site, he said as he recounted the tragic events of September 11, 2001.
“They talked me through the second plane hitting the tower,” he said. “The second it hit the tower, I said to them, ‘Al Qaeda did this, bin Laden did this.’ “
The only other terrorist group capable of pulling off the operation, he told his staff members, was connected to the government of Iran. Since Iran was too vulnerable to a counterattack, they would never have ordered a terrorist act on America, Mr. Clinton said.
Al Qaeda, whose operatives were spread around the world, was the only group he believed capable of pulling of the attacks, he said.
“What made it possible for them to pull this off? In part, access to the Internet, to technologies,” he told the audience.
