FORMER WHITE HOUSE TERRORISM ADVISOR: BUSH ADMIN WAS DISCUSSING BOMBING IRAQ FOR 9/11 DESPITE...

DRUDGE ^ | 3/19/04 | Drudge

[Tumbleweed_Connection]

Former White House terrorism advisor Richard Clarke tells Lesley Stahl that on September 11, 2001 and the day after - when it was clear Al Qaeda had carried out the terrorist attacks - the Bush administration was considering bombing Iraq in retaliation. Clarke's exclusive interview will be broadcast on 60 MINUTES Sunday March 21 (7:00-8:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.

Clarke was surprised that the attention of administration officials was turning toward Iraq when he expected the focus to be on Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden. "They were talking about Iraq on 9/11. They were talking about it on 9/12," says Clarke.

The top counter-terrorism advisor, Clarke was briefing the highest government officials, including President Bush and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, in the aftermath of 9/11. "Rumsfeld was saying we needed to bomb Iraq....We all said, 'but no, no. Al Qaeda is in Afghanistan," recounts Clarke, "and Rumsfeld said, 'There aren't any good targets in Afghanistan and there are lots of good targets in Iraq.' I said, 'Well, there are lots of good targets in lots of places, but Iraq had nothing to do with [the 9/11 attacks],'" he tells Stahl.

Clarke goes on to explain what he believes was the reason for the focus on Iraq. "I think they wanted to believe that there was a connection [between Iraq and Al Qaeda] but the CIA was sitting there, the FBI was sitting there, I was sitting there, saying, 'We've looked at this issue for years. For years we've looked and there's just no connection,'" says Clarke.

Clarke, who advised four presidents, reveals more about the current administration's reaction to terrorism in his new book, "Against All Enemies."

Developing...

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Moderator note: Be sure to read the related story on Richard Clarke:

FORMER WHITE HOUSE TERRORISM ADVISOR RICHARD CLARKE'S LEGACY OF MISCALCULATION

[danamco]

There is no loyalty left in America.


Especially when you're being bribed by the snake = Leslie Stahl!

[beckett]

Richard Clarke is a known crank who oozes self-importance from every pore.

[gogipper]

Saddam did fund terrorism,ALOT of it,but it was predominantly in Lebanon and Israel.If evidence is discovered that he did in fact have a hand in 9/11,then it will spell big problems for the Bush Admin.


Why would this be trouble for the Bush Administration? They have played this very carefully. They only say that there is no evidence of a connection. Additionally, last polling data I saw said that 60 percent of the American population also believes that Sadam had a hand in 9/11.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

Hmmm... didn't Bob Woodward say the same thing in his book?

[Homer1]

I agree, he IS a schmuck. He didn't even carry the peaceful tomorrows stuff either.

[CalifornianConservative]

Well, the "President" JOSIAH BARTLETT of WEST WING fame was very worried about Iraq in its 2000-2001 season. (And Martin Sheen and Aaron Sorkin and company MUST still have the old script, but I bet BRAVO channel WON'T play the episode in reruns!)
These libs are so two-faced. Reminds me of Stalinesque propaganda, where "history" books would have to be revised on a monthly level because the Party Bosses either murdered another of their own or had committed some horrible atrocity at odds with a previous political speech.

What worries me is that if Clinton is behind this 60 minutes bs, then that means Hillary is running as Kerry's VP.

[Michael.SF.]

read my home page.

I did. Thanks. And there is no media bias against Bush is there?

/sarcasm

[GmbyMan]

>>> I was more thinking about just completely annihilating mecca. Not exactly deposing the government. <<<<

You know, I realize that the terrorists were muslim. I also realize that many a muslim agrees with the thoughts and teachings of Osama Bin Laden. I realize that the Muslims propensity for Islamo-Fascist regimes is a key reason why 9/11 and the many other terror acts prior to and after those attacks occured.

That being stated, "melting Mecca" would start an all out war with Islam in general. Right now, we are defending our right to exist as a country. "Melting Mecca" would mean that we will not be able to stop until Islam, as a religion, is extinguished. This is not the battle we should be engaged in fighting.

[sheik yerbouty]

Because he is a fool.

[BluH2o]

Former White House terrorism advisor Richard Clarke tells Lesley Stahl ...

Lesley Stahl ... a sympathetic ear if ever there was one. She's been bashing Republicans for decades.

[IrishRainy]

Just purchased "Breakdown," Bill Gerst's book about our intelligence failures which led to 9/11. Regarding the bombing of the aspirin factory in the Sudan, George Tenet was told by Rear Admiral Thomas Wilson, "We don't have the evidence that the factory is involved in producing nerve agent," to which Tenet ordered "You will make it a target."

The CIA later claimed that the factory was targeted by demand of White House NSC staff, specifically Richard Clarke, its specialist on terrorism. This rash action embarassed the State Department, which ended up paying damages to the Sudanese owner of the factory.

I'd believe what Bill Gerst has to say any day rather than a former Clinton appointee.

[ovrtaxt]

Two words-- Salman Pak.

Two more words-- Oklahoma City.

[leadpenny]

Good catch. All I've seen over the past couple of days regarding Clarke is Madeleine Albright and Sandy Berger. No one will ask them about the specifics you posted. Maybe Tenet will leak the truth. As I remember, only the SECDEF (Cohen) and C,JCS (Shelton) were informed of the Afghan and Sudan strikes ahead of time. The Service Chiefs were left in the dark. The CNO may have known.

[IrishRainy]

Um, sorry, that's GERTZ.

[IrishRainy]

Just got the book yesterday at a book fair where I work. It was on clearance too, so I snapped it up.

One surprising fact that sickened me as I read it was that George Tenet was originally a lobbyist, then a congressional staffer -- Dumbocrat I might add -- prior to being named staff director of the Select Committee's oversight panel in 1988.

In 1995, The Toon named him deputy director of the CIA despite never having received training as a professional intelligence officer.

Maybe that's SOP, but I had always just assumed he had come up through the ranks and knew SOMETHING about intelligence gathering. Instead, it sounds like he took a class at the Learning Annex or something -- "Learn How To Be A Spy in 2 Weeks!"

Maybe that's part of the problem -- we have too many bureaucrats in key decision-making positions, and it's obviously not working too well.

[leadpenny]

Woolsey was a Rhodes Scolar before Clinton and served in the Carter Administration (Navy). Clinton chose him as his DCI and wouldn't talk to him. When Woolsey left in disgust (eventually working to elect Dole) Clinton almost had to order Deutsch from DOD to go take the job. He was a miserable failure and got caught up in taking classified material home with him. When he left, Tenet was about the only person inside the Beltway remotely qualified and willing to take the job.

[mewzilla]

FWIW, Richard Clarke appears quite a bit in Richard Miniter's book Losing bin Laden. I really, really recommend people read that book. Including Appendix A, which is entitled "The Iraq-Al Qaeda Connection". If you do read it, you'll know than the interviewer on 60 Minutes will know. I'll guarantee it.

[mewzilla]

And here's another question someone might ask Clarke: How is it that Zawahairball was running around the US in 1996, during the Toon admin, on a fundraising trip and no-one said Boo! to the guy...

[mewzilla]

Q: And three guesses why the 9-11 Commission won't talk to Miniter?

A: Ben Veniste, Fielding, and Gorelick.

[kabar]

Iraq was on the State Department's list of state ssponsors of terrorism for over a decade. Hence, Iraq was an integral part of the War Against Terrorism. Also, the US had been maintaining the enforcement of two no-fly zones in Iraq for almost ten years costing us billlions of dollars a year and placing our pilots at risk. If we had not removed Iraq as a threat, we would still be bogged down flying these missions while Saddam would be using his Oil for Food money to fund terrorists and the development of WMD.

Clarke is another failed bureaucrat who was wrong on terrorism and now wants to attack a President who has figured out how to combat the terrorists successfully.