Here's why Bill Clinton did not kill Osama bin Laden before 9/11!

New Delhi: In a shocking revelation that is bound to send strategic affairs experts around the world into fresh round of ‘what if’ debates, former US President Bill Clinton, just hours before the fateful planes crashed into WTC twin towers in New York on September 11, 2001, had told a group of Australian businessmen and that he could have killed Osama Bin Laden during his presidency that had ended less than nine months before he demitted office, but he decided against it owing to the possibility of massive collateral damage that the operation would have caused. According to an audio aired by SkyNews Australia on Wednesday, Clinton is heard saying he "nearly got" the Al Qaeda leader but didn't go through with a missile attack as it would have destroyed “ a little town called Kandahar in Afghanistan and kill 300 innocent women and children.” The said meeting reportedly transpired when it was still September 10 in Australia. Just about 10 hours later, two hijacked planes crashed into WTC to change the course of world forever. "He (Osama bin Laden) is a very smart guy, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about him – and I nearly got him once," Clinton told the group. "I nearly got him. And I could have killed him, but I would have to destroy a little town called Kandahar in Afghanistan and kill 300 innocent women and children, and then I would have been no better than him. And so I didn’t do it.” The tape was provided to SkyNews by Michael Kroger, a former head of the Liberal Party of Australia, and was aired on the network’s show ‘Paul Murray Live.’ According to Kroger, who also appeared on the show, the said meeting took place at Crown Casino Complex in Melbourne. "The event was taped with his knowledge," Kroger said on the show. "The tape has never been played. … Bill Clinton was answering a question from a member of the audience about terrorism, international terrorism and he made some extraordinary remarks which had hitherto remained in my vault," Kroger told Paul Murray. A number of books and the 9/11 Commission Report have acknowledged that the Clinton administration considered a December 1998 strike on bin Laden but scrapped the plan over possible collateral damage. Bin Laden is said to have masterminded the September 11 attacks that killed 2,977 people. He was killed on May 2, 2011 by US Navy Seals during an early morning raid in Abbottabad, Pakistan.