New York Times
Administration officials moved quickly to respond to the harsh criticism by Mr. Clarke and his recounting of how top White House advisers were fixated on Iraq, issuing a detailed rebuttal that said Mr. Bush "specifically recognized the threat posed by Al Qaeda."
But Senator Bob Graham, the Florida Democrat who was the former chairman of the Intelligence Committee, barely let Mr. Clarke's appearance on "60 Minutes" end before he issued a scathing statement about the administration's record on terror.
...The focus on Mr. Clarke's account of what he described as the president's failure on terrorism could not be welcome at the Bush campaign headquarters, where strategists had been celebrating what they saw as new success with their attacks on Senator John Kerry, the Democratic presidential candidate.
A furor over the president's handling of terror threatened to shift attention from the Bush campaign's efforts to keep Mr. Kerry on the defensive over tax and spending policy.
But Senator Bob Graham, the Florida Democrat who was the former chairman of the Intelligence Committee, barely let Mr. Clarke's appearance on "60 Minutes" end before he issued a scathing statement about the administration's record on terror.
...The focus on Mr. Clarke's account of what he described as the president's failure on terrorism could not be welcome at the Bush campaign headquarters, where strategists had been celebrating what they saw as new success with their attacks on Senator John Kerry, the Democratic presidential candidate.
A furor over the president's handling of terror threatened to shift attention from the Bush campaign's efforts to keep Mr. Kerry on the defensive over tax and spending policy.
Fox News
Clarke, who has served in the last four administrations, said that he had tried to warn the president about the threat from Al Qaeda long before the attacks. His appearance on television coincides with the release of his new book, "Against All Enemies," which is scathingly critical of administration actions.
"Richard Clarke had plenty of opportunity to tell me he thought we were going awry on the war on terror," Rice told Fox News, saying Clarke was vying for a position as deputy secretary of homeland security under Tom Ridge at the time. But when he thought he had a shot at that job, she said, "he told me he supported the president."
"So I don't quite know what he's doing. I do know that we apparently have a different view on how to deal with terrorism," Rice said, pointing out that Bush has a broader approach to wiping out terrorism, including targeting state sponsors of terrorism and changing the Middle East in a way that homegrown terrorists don't come out of the woodwork there. ...
"Richard Clarke had plenty of opportunity to tell me he thought we were going awry on the war on terror," Rice told Fox News, saying Clarke was vying for a position as deputy secretary of homeland security under Tom Ridge at the time. But when he thought he had a shot at that job, she said, "he told me he supported the president."
"So I don't quite know what he's doing. I do know that we apparently have a different view on how to deal with terrorism," Rice said, pointing out that Bush has a broader approach to wiping out terrorism, including targeting state sponsors of terrorism and changing the Middle East in a way that homegrown terrorists don't come out of the woodwork there. ...
Indianapolis WISHTV
The White House communications director responded to charges the administration tried to pin 9/11 on Iraq.
“I think the American people would expect their leader 24 hours after the attack to be asking, ‘I want to know all facts. I want to know any country that might be involved,’” said Dan Bartlett, White House communications director.
“I think the American people would expect their leader 24 hours after the attack to be asking, ‘I want to know all facts. I want to know any country that might be involved,’” said Dan Bartlett, White House communications director.
As for that argument....according to Mr. Clarke, that's not at all what our "leader" said. Read the transcript. Mr. Clarke says Bush specifically said - Iraq. Saddam. Find out if there's a connection. And when Clarke submitted a report that there was no connection, it came back to him saying check again. There was no other country specified to find involvement.
There was this interesting bit in the 60 Minutes program when Leslie Stahl interviewed Bush's number two person currently at the NSC, Steven Hadley:
HADLEY: We can not find evidence that this conversation between Mr. Clarke and the President ever occurred.
STAHL: Now can I interrupt you for one second. We have done our own work on that ourselves and we have two sources who tell us independently of Dick Clarke that there was this encounter. One of them was an actual witness.
HADLEY: Look, the -- I -- I stand on what I said. But the point I think we're missing in this is of course the President wanted to know if there was any evidence linking Iraq to 9/11.
STAHL: Now can I interrupt you for one second. We have done our own work on that ourselves and we have two sources who tell us independently of Dick Clarke that there was this encounter. One of them was an actual witness.
HADLEY: Look, the -- I -- I stand on what I said. But the point I think we're missing in this is of course the President wanted to know if there was any evidence linking Iraq to 9/11.
The conversation Hadley is trying to ignore is this one:
STAHL: You talk about a conversation you personally had with the president.
CLARKE: Yes. The president -- we were in the situation room complex -- the president dragged me into a room with a couple of other people, shut the door, and said, 'I want you to find whether Iraq did this.' Now he never said, 'Make it up.' But the entire conversation left me in absolutely no doubt that George Bush wanted me to come back with a report that said 'Iraq did this.'
STAHL: Didn't you tell him that you'd looked and there'd been no connection?
CLARKE: I said, 'Mr. President. We've done this before. We have been looking at this. We looked at it with an open mind. There's no connection.' He came back at me and said, "Iraq! Saddam! Find out if there's a connection.' And in a very intimidating way. I mean, that we should come back with that answer. We wrote a report.
CLARKE: Yes. The president -- we were in the situation room complex -- the president dragged me into a room with a couple of other people, shut the door, and said, 'I want you to find whether Iraq did this.' Now he never said, 'Make it up.' But the entire conversation left me in absolutely no doubt that George Bush wanted me to come back with a report that said 'Iraq did this.'
STAHL: Didn't you tell him that you'd looked and there'd been no connection?
CLARKE: I said, 'Mr. President. We've done this before. We have been looking at this. We looked at it with an open mind. There's no connection.' He came back at me and said, "Iraq! Saddam! Find out if there's a connection.' And in a very intimidating way. I mean, that we should come back with that answer. We wrote a report.
And this week, Clarke goes before the 9/11 (Worthless) Commission, on which commission sits one of the major White House players who Clarke was reporting to prior to 9/11, Philip Zelikow. Gee, I wonder how he got on the commission, and what his job there is. Shouldn't the commission be made up of independents? People who didn't have anything to do with the information coming in to the White House? In my dreams, huh?
Check the headlines here for more coverage.
Via Sadly No! via Bob's Links & Rants, here's a transcript of the interview.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comments are moderated. There may be some delay before your comment is published. It all depends on how much time M has in the day. But please comment!