Part 1: August 20th, 1998
Part I
August 20th, 1998.
Approximately 3:30 p.m. GMT[1].
Following orders given by President Bill Clinton, the United States undertook a controversial act. In what the President justified as a pre-emptive strike against terrorism. 70 cruise missiles were fired into Afghanistan and Sudan. The targets were supposedly connected to the Al-Qaeda international terrorist organization, and they were launched in retaliation for the August 7th bombing of American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. In the aftermath of the attacks that claimed over 200 lives, Clinton promised to follow through on his statement to “bring those responsible to justice no matter what, or how long, it takes.".
Embassy Bombing Aftermath President Clinton speaks after the embassy bombing
President Clinton speaks after the strikes from Martha's Vinyard
He closed the speech with a commitment that America’s inaction would be far worse for the world, than its actions, already preparing for the backlash to his actions by skeptical nations and his political rivals. It was far from the speech he hoped to give, that it turned out would have to wait. But he had received unconfirmed details that officials were scrambling to get a handle on. After all, walking back a victory would be worse than a defeat, at least from the political perspective. Although the strike's stated objective was to disrupt terrorism, they all knew it had a primary target and the intel on the ground was blurry but the more they heard, the more they liked. That al-Qaeda’s founder and leader, Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden had been present during the strike and may have been killed.
Osama Bin Laden, General Emir of AL-Qaeda
Following his press conference, President Clinton returned from his vacation to Washington. He discussed the strikes with American legislators congressional leadership and world leaders from Air Force One. Including British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak as intel began to trickle in.
Once returned to the White House, President Clinton prepared an oval office address to announce the attacks but postponed any confirmation of Bin Laden's death, a key factor in confirmation was al-Qaeda’s response. Had Bin-Laden survived it was likely that the organization would leap quickly to announce his survival but it had yet to make any noise at all regarding the strike. The National Security Council was confident, and it was enough for Clinton to raise it in his television address and all but confirm it. He outlined the danger of the Al-Qaida terrorist organization and its leader, its plans to attack the United States, target Americans abroad, and even kill the Pope. He went over the points he made earlier with the press and declared that the strike's main aim was to disrupt and prevent terrorist attacks by attacking the Bin Laden network. He confirmed what he could, “a key terrorist meeting was to take place there (Zhawar Kilo Al-Badr) today and we have a high confidence that these strikes have successfully killed high-level members of the Bin Laden network.”
President Clinton addressed the nation regarding the strikes
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and National Security Advisor Samuel Berger gave a conference next underscoring the President’s language. “Bin Laden and his network was warned to cease their activity, in response they declared war on the United States” “Today the United States responded, there is no sanctuary or safe haven for terrorists”. When asked by a reporter “Sandy (Samuel Berger) did you kill Bin Laden? Is Bin Laden dead?” Berger and Albright acknowledged Bin Laden's role while highlighting his network's danger. “As to Bin Laden" said Berger, "his situation will not be known until a later date”
Sammy Berger and Madeleine Albright
Secretary of Defence Cohen was less coy about the strike’s role than either the President, Albright, or Berger, specifically stating that Bin Laden was indeed a main target of the strikes, outlining his role in threats against America. Then General Henry 'Hugh' Shelton, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff ran through the strikes in its basic details. When asked the question “Mr. Secretary, what are the whereabouts of Osama Bin Laden right now? Do you believe you killed him in these strikes” the Secretary responded thusly “we have a high level of confidence that Bin Laden and other high-level officials were present during the strikes, but we cannot confirm if Bin Laden was killed” He also mentioned that Bin Laden was a military target meant to dissuade accusations of assassinations and provided some cover from executive order 12036. Watching the coverage throughout the day you could see the message shift, as the target morphed from the Bin Laden network to Bin laden alone.
Secretary Cohen and General Shelton
Larry King Live, August 20th: 1998
MR. KING: We begin the program with Madeleine Albright, the United States Secretary of State. We thank you for joining us. Can you give us an update as to -- if the word is correct -- the "success" of these attacks?
SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: Well, Larry, the effect has been obvious. There are clearly pictures of the building burning in Sudan, and our reports out of Afghanistan are increasingly positive.
Larry King again specifically questioned the secretary on Bin Laden's current situation. And the Madam Secretary remained tight-lipped, when King spoke of his character and history the Secretary practically dismissed him, and notably only referred to him in the past tense.
It took until the next day for the Pentagon to give its official confirmation based on preliminary reports, classified sources, and a midnight overhead flight to conclude that Bin Laden had likely been killed by the strike in Afghanistan among dozens of other terrorist operatives. It was too late for a news conference but just in time for tomorrow's papers to pick up the coverage.
Cover of the New York Times, August 21st, 1998
[1] The timing of the strikes is the POD here. IOTL The attacks were pushed back by 2 hours in order not to occur during evening prayers and risk further offending the Islamic world and reduce collateral damage. Here this does not happen.
[2] The Al-Shifa plant will also be affected by the earlier timing of the strikes
[3] IOTL, It seems clear that the US knew Bin Laden survived right away and everyone's response shows that. However, confirming his death would be difficult to do quickly, and no one wants to backtrack should Al-Qaeda react differently.
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