Bill Clinton, whose book My Life hit stores on Tuesday, discusses former Attorney General Janet Reno's role in two controversial raids -- at David Koresh's Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, where more than 80 died, and the home of Elián González's Miami relatives.
Clinton says Reno ''wanted my OK'' before approving the April 19, 1993, FBI Waco raid. He favored a blockade. ``She countered that the FBI was tired of waiting; that the standoff was costing the government a million dollars a week and tying up law-enforcement resources needed elsewhere. . .and that the possibilities of child sexual abuse and mass suicide were real, because Koresh was crazy. . . .''
``. . . Finally, I told her that if she thought it was the right thing to do, she could go ahead.''
The raid, he writes, went ''terribly wrong.'' Reno ``took full responsibility. As the first woman to hold the attorney general's post, she thought it was important not to pass the buck. By the time I finally talked to the press about Waco, Reno was being praised and I was being criticized for letting her take the fall.''