From the hearing -
The first major witness today, former Secretary of State Albright, offered a measured defense of the Clinton administration's handling of terror attacks and threats.
"President Clinton and his team did everything we could, everything we could think of, based on the knowledge we had, to protect our people and disrupt and defeat Al Qaeda," she said.
Mr. Clinton repeatedly told the United Nations that combatting terrorism "topped America's agenda and should top theirs," Ms. Albright said.
She described the 1998 attacks on the American embassies in Tanzania and Zambia as "my worst day as secretary of state."
Within a week, she added, "we had clear evidence that Osama bin Laden was responsible."
"The question for us was whether to rely on law enforcement or take military action," she testified. "We decided to do both."
As well as prosecuting the conspirators who had been captured, "we also launched cruise missiles on Al Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan" on the understanding that Mr. bin Laden himself and other terrorist leaders might be present, Ms. Albright said.
But Mr. bin Laden escaped, so further military action was authorized. "There should have been no confusion that our personnel were authorized to kill bin Laden," Ms. Albright said. "We did not, after all, launch cruise missiles for the purpose of serving legal papers."
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/23/po...D-TERR.html?hp