CLARKE PRAISES BUSH IN RESIGNATION LETTER! (Dems blow it again)

Associated Press ^ | JENNIFER LOVEN

[Pukin Dog]

WASHINGTON - The White House, seeking to cool criticism from a former top anti-terror adviser, said Tuesday that Richard Clarke's resignation letter praised President Bush's "courage, determination, calm and leadership" on Sept. 11, 2001.

"It has been an enormous privilege to serve you these last 24 months," said the Jan. 20, 2003, letter from Clarke to Bush. "I will always remember the courage, determination, calm, and leadership you demonstrated on September 11th."

The letter was stamped "the president has seen" the next day.

Clarke, who left the Bush administration in March 2003 after 30 years in government service and 11 years at the White House, has written a book in which he criticizes the president and his administration for ignoring repeated warnings about al-Qaida before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and acting ineffectively afterward, primarily because of a preoccupation with Iraq (news - web sites).

On Monday, the day Clarke's "Against All Enemies: Inside America's War on Terror" hit stores and the day after he promoted it in an interview with CBS' "60 Minutes," the White House went to great lengths to dismiss Clarke's accusations. Administration officials, including Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites) and national security adviser Condoleezza Rice (news - web sites), appeared on television and radio to argue that Clarke was inaccurate, politically motivated, disgruntled over bureaucratic changes that reduced his influence, merely trying to sell books — or all four at once.

That White House campaign continued Tuesday with the release of Clarke's letter announcing his intention to step down.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan suggested Clarke's praise belies his later criticism of Bush's handling of the crisis.

"At this time period, when he was leaving, there was no mention of the grave concerns he claims to have had about the direction of the war on terrorism, or what we were doing to confront the threat posed by Iraq, by the former regime," McClellan said.

But the letter contains no praise of Bush's anti-terror actions before or after the attacks — only on the day of. Clarke does commend Bush for his "intuitive understanding" of the importance of cybersecurity.

Clarke's job as the White House's counterterrorism chief was split in two early in the Bush White House, with Clarke put in charge of cybersecurity and others brought in for the anti-terror role.

"You had prescience in creating the position of Special Adviser to the President for Cyberspace Security and I urge you to maintain that role in the White House," Clarke wrote.

Also, even though the White House argued that Clarke's memoir was released to do the maximum political damage to Bush in a presidential election year, McClellan would not say when the required national security review of the book was completed, allowing its publication to proceed. Publications by administration officials are routinely vetted to make sure that nothing is released that compromises classified information or national security.

[johnb838]

This AP reporter doesn't seem too happy about having to write it at all.

[Williams]

Damn straight. And again, Clarke's "biggest" complaint is that on Sept 12 Bush directs Clarke to find out if there was a Sadaam - 9/11 link. With the nation burning, Clarke gives Bush guff and says he doesn't need to investigate who did the attacks! Bush then "intimidates" this jerk by "daring" to repeat his direct order to get the President an answer to this important question. I think Clarke is insane - and was then.

[mrsmith]

Well in defense of Clarke, Bush41 could be flying over his head in a secret plane and transmitting mind-control rays to the recievers in his teeth.

Or he could just be nuts.

[Pukin Dog]

I just saw Daschle on Fox calling it abuse to go after Clarke.
Dems can dish it out, but when the fire comes at them, they run home to momma.

[onyx]

HAHAHA!

This is a "must get read into the hearings' record."

Gosh, the whole thang just sort of crashed and burned, didn't it?

[Hazzardgate]

How bout dem

[Columbine]

I wonder how many people saw the 60 minutes BS and not all the responses to counter the charges?

That's the problem. Many people hear only the first accusations and not the later truth.

[Williams]

I think maybe this time Bush has brought a howitzer to a knife fight.

[Samwise]

calling it abuse to go after Clarke

When Democrats attack, it's campaigning.

When Republicans campaign, it's attacking.

It's a doublespeak kind of thing.

[cwb]

Britt just reported on this resignation letter and the other one Clarke wrote, both praising Bush.

[Pukin Dog]

Crashed and burned it did.

The Bush team handled it masterfully. They held their fire until getting ALL the dems on the record supporting the liar. They let the Dems hold up his book like a bible, let them quote it, and now when Clarke goes down, they ALL go down.

I would not be surprised if Clarke is a no-show tomorrow. Simon and Shuster might even sue the bastard for fraud.

[Piranha]

He actually liked Bush before he didn't like Bush.

[LiteKeeper]

archive for future reference

[NYC Republican]

You've got to see this story...

[woodyinscc]

Chuck Shumer blasted the R's this morning in the Senate, for trashing Clark. I wonder if he wants change the Senate record? Nope, Shumer is like Clinton, he has no shame.!

[cyncooper]

Showcased on Brit's show, too.

This administration is NOT going to sit back and let these people run around making their outrageous charges anymore.

Wolfowitz was terrific in citing just two examples of where Clarke completely and utterly got it wrong in his book--and it hasn't even hit the shelves. He was going by quotes the reporters who did get a copy told him about. Once the honest folk get their hands on it, the whole thing will probably be a lie.

[wjcsux]

I just saw Daschle on Fox calling it abuse to go after Clarke.
Hey Tommy, you arrogant little p*ick! Do you want some cheese to go with that whine? BWAAAAAAAAA!

[mass55th]

I've been watching Brit Hume and they showed the Dems (Daschle and Schumer) going ballistic over the White House using this letter. Wah!!!

[kennedy]

I'd sure like to see the entire letter, rather than just the redacted portions that AP felt that they could not avoid printing.

[NYC Republican]

Pukin- didn't mean to undercut your thread. I did a search, the reason it didn't come up (in my search) is because Clarke is spelled with an e... You may want to ask the moderators to correct the typo... Thanks