Polish spy: CIA turned down chance to kill Osama Bin Laden in 1999

While the forthcoming publication of "No Easy Day" is about to give American readers its own revelations about the raid that eliminated Osama Bin Laden last year, a new book published in Poland alleges that the Central Intelligence Agency could have assassinated the Al Qaeda chief back in 1999 — but chose not to do so out of fear it lacked the legal authority.

Details of the book, "Ferreting Out Bin Laden" by former Polish spy Alexander Makowski, were reported by the McClatchy news service. Published in June, the book has not yet been translated into English, and it is not clear if there are plans to do so.

It has long been alleged that President Clinton fumbled opportunities to get rid of Bin Laden, missing what some call an especially ripe opportunity in August 1998. Makowski's book is perhaps the most detailed account of failed pre-9/11 attempts to kill the Saudi-born radical, who was then already in Afghanistan, from where he would direct his operations for the next several years, before coming to hide in Pakistan, where he was finally found and killed.

'In late 1999...a group of Afghan agents loyal to an anti-Taliban guerilla leader proposed assassinating Osama Bin Laden," says the McClatchy description of Makowski's book. "All they wanted was the $5 million reward the Clinton administration had offered for Bin Laden's capture."

However, the CIA allegedly turned down the offer, fearing it would be overstepping its bounds by ordering the kill. In the wake of 9/11, American intelligence services have become much more aggressive in hunting down terrorists overseas. For example, last year, an unmanned drone killed the American-born radical Anwar al-Awlaki in Yemen. But back before the Twin Towers fell, hunting down bin Laden was a fraught issue.

However, it looks like he could have been easily eliminated, at least if Makowski — who has more than two decades of intelligence work behind him — is to be believed. In an interview with McClatchy, he said:

"They gave us the exact location of the houses where Bin Laden would be staying in Kandahar, the route he would be would be taking between his living quarters, his meeting place, and what kind of transportation he would be using," Makowski said in an interview with McClatchy. However, he alleges that a CIA operative named Jim told Polish officials that "we do not have a license to kill."

The following year, the Al-Qaeda bombing of the USS Cole would kill 17 Americans, an operation of which Makowski says he also had prior knowledge. He claims that the CIA did not believe that such an audacious strike was feasible.

"To me, the most appalling thing is that after we supplied all this information about an attack . . . the Cole wasn't protected in any way."

The year after that, on 9/11, Bin Laden carried out his murderous attack on American soil. Since then, Poland has been a staunch ally of the United States, sending troops to Iraq and Afghanistan.

Makowski's book, however, could open a rift between the two nations.

Said another intelligence official to McClatchy, "We offered them Bin Laden, but they refused."

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