Bill Clinton reveals why the CIA told him not to take out bin Laden before 9/11

Former President Bill Clinton revealed on Sunday that the CIA abandoned a plan to take out Osama bin Laden before 9/11 over fears that innocent civilians could die if the risky operation went sideways.

Clinton, 80, spoke about the spy agency’s reasoning during a radio interview on WABC’s “Cats Roundtable” show with host John Catsimatidis — and reflected on how he “immediately” knew the al Qaeda leader was responsible for the terror attacks while watching them unfold.

“I had authorized the CIA to try to take him out,” Clinton told Catsimatidis, adding that he told the agency it would have been good to capture bin Laden alive, but the main priority was to stop him.

“I was scared, and I was mad because we tried to get him before, and the CIA at the last minute killed the plan that I think might well have succeeded,” the former Democratic president said.

“But they were afraid that if they missed, they’d kill a lot of innocent civilians. They didn’t want to run the risk. I didn’t second-guess them, but I think, in the end, [bin Laden] was determined to do what he did, and he had lots of money and lots of capacity,” Clinton reflected.

“I wish we had done even more to get him. I always thought he was our biggest threat … I wanted to get him, and I did what I could to do that,” he said.

Clinton also recalled knowing that bin Laden was behind the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks as soon as he watched the second plane hit the Twin Towers on television, remembering that the terror mastermind had long been planning to hit US soil.

“At the time, I was in Australia. Hilary was in Washington. But our daughter was in Lower Manhattan, and we were worried to death about her. She was one of the thousands of people who were told to just walk north. We couldn’t get in touch with her,” Clinton told Catsimatidis.

“I was watching television in Australia when the second plane hit. I immediately said that bin Laden did this. They all looked at me and said, ‘How do you know this?’ I said, ‘Well, because the only adversaries we have with the capacity to do this are Iran and bin Laden,” he recalled.

“And the Iranians wouldn’t do it because we could wipe them off the face of the Earth immediately. And bin Laden is holed up in a cave in Afghanistan.’ I just knew it had to be him. I also knew that he had been planning to do what he did to hit us for a long time.”

Bin Laden was later killed in a targeted, secret raid on his Abbottabad, Pakistan, compound led by US Navy SEALs on May 2, 2011, under Barack Obama’s presidency.

Clinton added that he believes that it’s possible that New York City could face another terrorist attack, but maintained the US is “much better prepared” for an attack of that scale.

“I think it’s entirely possible. I think we have to stay on guard about that. We have to make sure we’re getting all the intelligence we can on the issue. I think there is a chance that will happen,” Clinton said when asked if New York could be targeted by terrorists again.

“We’re much better prepared [now] than we were… [But] you only have to miss once, and then you’re screwed. It’s just something that has to be a continuing part of our national security plan,” he said.

“If you’re running the country, you want to make big good things happen, and stop big bad things from happening … That’s where I think we are as a country, and where I think we can maybe find unity again.”