11/12/1994

“Bin Laden, his emissaries explained, wanted [World Trade Center bomber Ramzi] Yousef to assassinate President [Bill] Clinton when he visited the Philippines on 12 November 1994, at the start of a five-day tour of Asia. Yousef appears to have been keen on the operation, relishing the prestige of his target, but he was also concerned that assassinating the most powerful man in the world would be no easy task–far harder than taking bombs into Iran or the World Trade Center. …Deterred from his mission to kill President Clinton by the US leader’s security precautions, Ramzi Yousef decided he would instead assassinate Pope John Paul II [during his mid-January visit to Manila].”

 – Simon Reeve, The New Jackals, Pages 76, 78