Kean: Clinton Blew Best Chance to Get bin Laden

The chairman of the independent commission probing the 9/11 attacks said Sunday that the U.S. probably missed its best chance to take Osama bin Laden out during the Clinton administration, when the notorious terrorist left Sudan for Afghanistan in 1996.

"If we had acted earlier on al-Qaida when al-Qaida was smaller and just getting started, even before bin Laden went to Afghanistan, there were times we could have gotten him," former New Jersey Gov. Thomas Kean told NBC's "Meet the Press."

"There's no question that had we gotten [bin Laden] and his leadership at that point, the whole story might have been different," he added.

Referring to missed opportunities in Sudan, as well as chances to kill bin Laden four years later after CIA Predator drones pinpointed his location in Afghanistan, Kean said: "Those early opportunities are clear. We had him, we saw him. I think maybe we could have done something about it."

"Could we have sent a team in? Could we have sent a cruise missile in? Could we have gotten him and his leadership at some point - that's a very important question the commission will be addressing," Kean said.

By 2001, however - after President Bush had taken office - the opportunities to get bin Laden had faded, the former New Jersey governor said. "Later on it's a little bit fuzzier. Nobody wanted to invade Afghanistan at that point," he told "Meet the Press."

The 9/11 commission chairman said he intended to raise these issues with ex-President Clinton and former Vice President Al Gore when they testify in the coming weeks.

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