Hillary Clinton defends husband's record

WASHINGTON, Sept. 27 (UPI) -- U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton, D.-N.Y., is defending her husband's record on national security as he didn't get the warning U.S. President George Bush did.

Speaking Tuesday on Capitol Hill, the senator lashed back at conservative remarks that began Sunday claiming her husband didn't take the threat of al-Qaida attacks seriously enough.

"I'm certain that if my husband and his national security team had been shown a classified report entitled 'Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the United States,' he would have taken it more seriously," she said.

Former President Bill Clinton took the offensive on "Fox News Sunday" when the interviewer suggested his administration had underestimated the threat.

Clinton said the Bush administration had demoted his appointed terrorism czar, Richard Clarke, and said Clarke had argued for aggressive action against al-Qaida and its leader, Osama bin Laden before the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.