Drudge Report: FORMER WHITE HOUSE TERROR ADVISER ...SAYS PRESIDENT ISN’T DOING GOOD JOB...

The Drudge Report ^ | March 20, 2004 | Drudge Report

[ReleaseTheHounds]

FORMER WHITE HOUSE TERROR ADVISER SET TO BREAK SILENCE ON '60 MINS'; SAYS PRESIDENT ISN’T DOING VERY GOOD JOB FIGHTING TERRORISM
Fri Mar 19 2004 17:49:30 ET
**Updated** Sat Mar 20 2004 09:52:43 ET

President Bush’s former top terrorism advisor says the president isn’t doing the best job fighting terrorism. The former advisor, Richard Clarke, discusses this and other observations he made while he was a White House insider in an interview with Lesley Stahl to be broadcast on 60 MINUTES Sunday March 21 (7:00-8:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.

“Frankly, I find it outrageous that the president is running for re-election on the grounds that he’s done such great things about terrorism,” says Clarke in tomorrow night’s interview. “He ignored it. He ignored terrorism for months, when maybe we could have done something to stop 9/11. Maybe. We’ll never know,” he tells Stahl.

Clarke tells 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 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...

[ReleaseTheHounds]

Had to shorten the Title to fit...

What I want to know is: where was 60 Minutes when Clinton was "blowing off" the war on terror? Where was 60 Minutes when Clinton was keeping foreign leaders waiting while he was in the Oval ... well, you know.

And will 60 Minutes question this guy's motivations? I don't think so.

[secret garden]

"Former" is all you need to know. They always have an axe to grind.

[Just mythoughts]

If this guy was any good at his job, 9/11 would not have happened.

[secret garden]

And a book deal? The pieces are falling smoothly into place now, aren't they?

[teletech]

Another Bush basher gets his 15 minutes of fame. YAWN

[monkeywrench]

The "top counter terrorism advisor" failed this country by allowing 911. President Bush should've cleaned house of all the clingons.

[Texas Eagle]

pssssst....Leslie....aks Richard if he thinks we should return Saddam to power.....

[Diogenesis]

Iraqi 55 Most Wanted List

1.	Saddam Husayn GEN	President / Revolutionary Command Council (RCC) Chairman	Captured December 13th
2.	Qusay Saddam Husayn al-Tikriti	Chief, Special Security Organization/special Republican Guard (SSO/SRG); Commander, Central Region Commander	Killed July 22nd
3.	Uday Saddam Husayn al-Tikriti	Member Of The National Assembly, Olympic Committee	Killed July 22nd
4.	Abid Hamid Mahmud al-Tikriti GEN	Saddam’s Personal Secretary, National Security Advisor And Senior Bodyguard/inner Circle	Taken into custody June 16th
5.	Ali Hasan al-Majid GEN	Revolutionary Command Council (RCC) / Commander, Ba'ath Party Regional Command / Inner Circle/ Presidential Advisor/ Head Of Central Workers Bureau	Taken into custody August 21st
6.	Izzat Ibrahim al-Duri LTG	Revolutionary Command Council (RCC) Vice-Chairman / Northern Region Commander / Inner Circle/ Deputy Secretary General, Ba’th Party Regional Command / Deputy Commander, Armed Forces
7.	Hani abd al-Latif al-Tilfah al-Tikriti COL	Director, Special Security Organization (SSO) And Responsible For Security And Investigations (MUDIRIYAH NUMBER TWO); Assistant To Qusay; Saddam's Nephew
8.	Aziz Salih al-Numan	Regional Command Chairman For Ba’ath Party Baghdad	Taken into custody May 22nd
9.	Muhammad Hamza al-Zubaydi	Former Secretary Of Ba'ath Party Northern Bureau, Former Deputy Prime Minister, Former Member Of The Ba'ath Regional Command	Taken into custody April 20th
10.	Kamal Mustafa abdallah Sultan al-Tikriti GEN	Secretary, Republican Guard/special Republican Guard (RG/SRG); Inner Circle	Taken into custody May 17th
11.	Barzan abd al-Ghafur Sulayman Majid al-Tikriti Bg	Commander, Special Republican Guard (SRG)	Taken into custody July 23rd
12.	Muzahim Sab Hasan al-Tikriti LTG	Commander, Iraqi Air Defense Forces / Deputy Director Organization Of Military Industrialization (OMI)	Taken into custody April 23rd
13.	Ibrahim Ahmad abd al-Sattar Muhammad al-Tikriti GEN	Chief Of Staff Of Iraqi Armed Forces General Staff & Army	Taken into custody May 15th
14.	Sayf al-Din Fulayyih Hasan Taha al-Rawi LTG	Iraqi Republican Guard (RG) Chief Of
15.	Rafi abd al-Latif Tilfah al-Tikriti MG	Director, Directorate Of General Security (DGS)
16.	Tahir Jalil Habbush al-Tikriti LTG	Director, Iraqi Intelligence Service (IIS)
17.	Hamid Raja Shalah al-Tikriti LTG	Commander, Iraqi Air Force	Taken into custody June 14th
18.	Latif Nusayyif al-Jasim al-Dulaymi	Former Member Of Revolutionary Command Council (RCC) / Central Ba'ath Party Member / Deputy Secretary Of The Ba'ath Military Bureau/inner Circle	Taken into custody June 9th
19.	abd al-Tawab abdullah Mullah al-Huwaysh GEN	Director, Organization Of Military Industrialization (MIC/OMI); Deputy Prime Minister Of Iraq	Taken into custody May 2nd
20.	Taha Yasin Ramadan al-Jizrawi	Iraqi Vice President	Taken into custody August 20th
21.	Rukan Razuki abd al-Ghafar Sulayman al-Nasiri Bg	Saddam’s Senior Bodyguard/head-Tribal Affairs/inner Circle
22.	Jamal Mustafa abdallah Sultan al-Tikriti	Saddam’s Personal Security/ Deputy Chief-Tribal Affairs/inner Circle/ Presidential Diwan/saddam Husayn’s Son-in-Law	Taken into custody April 20th, turned over the Coalition April 21st
23.	Mizban Khudr al-Hadi	Member Of Revlutionary Command Council (RCC)/central Euphrates Region Commander/ Ba'ath Party Regional Command Member/secretary Of Central Peasants Bureau	Taken into custody on July 9th
24.	Taha Muhyi al-Din Maruf	Vice President, Member Of Revolutionary Command Council (RCC)	Taken into custody May 2nd
25.	Tariq Aziz	Deputy Prime Minister / Revolutionary Command Council (RCC)	Taken into custody April 25th
26.	Walid Hamid Tawfiq al-Tikriti GEN	Governor Of al-Basrah, Former Special Security Organization (SSO) Chief	Surrendered April 29th
27.	Sultan Hashim Ahmad al-Jabburi al-Tai GEN	Iraqi Minister Of Defense; Inner Circle	Taken into custody September 19th
28.	Hikmat Mizban Ibrahim al-Azzawi	Deputy Prime Minister / Minister Of Finance	Taken into custody April 18th
29 .	Mahmud Dhiyab al-Ahmad	Iraqi Minister Of Interior	Surrendered on August 8th
30.	Ayad Futayyih Khalifa al-Rawi	Quds Force Chief Of Staff	Taken into custody June 4th
31.	Zuhayr Talib abd al-Sattar al-Naqib LTG	Director, Directorate Of Military Intelligence (DMI)	Taken into custody April 23rd
32.	Amir Hamudi Hasan al-Sadi LTG	Presidential Advisor, Scientific And Technical Affairs	Surrendered April 12th
33.	Amir Muhammad Rashid al-Tikriti al-Ubaydi LTG	Presidential Advisor	Taken into custody April 28th
34.	Hussam Muhammad Amin al-Yasin LTG	Head, National Monitoring Directorate (NMD) (SINCE AT LEAST 1992); Former Minister Of Interior	Taken into custody April 27th
35.	Muhammed Mahdi al-Salih	Iraqi Minister Of Trade	Taken into custody April 23rd
36.	Sabawi Ibrahim al-Hasan al-Tikriti	Presidential Advisor; Half Brother Of Saddam Husayn
37.	Watban Ibrahim Hasan al-Tikriti	Presidential Advisor; Half Brother Of Saddam Husayn	Taken into custody April 13th
38.	Barzan Ibrahim Hasan al-Tikriti	Presidential Advisor; Half Brother Of Saddam Husayn	Taken into custody April 16th
39.	Huda Salih Mehdi Ammash	Central Ba'ath Party Regional Command Member, Head Of Professional Bureau And Student Youth Bureaus (MAJOR PLAYER IN BIOTECH/GENETIC PROGRAMS)	Taken into custody May 9th
40.	abd al-Baqi abd al-Karim al-Abdallah al-Sadun	Central Ba'ath Party Regional Command Chairman, Diyala Region
41.	Muhammad Zimam abd al-Razzaq al-Sadun	Central Ba'ath Party Regional Chairman, Ninawah And Ta'mim Governorates	Taken into custody Feb 16th 2004
42.	Samir abd al-Aziz al-Najim	Central Ba'ath Party Chairman, Baghdad al-Resafa District	Taken into custody April 17th
43.	Humam abd al-Khaliq abd al-Ghafur	Minister Of Higher Education And Scientific Research	Taken into custody April 19th
44.	Yahya abdallah al-Ubaydi	Central Ba'ath Party Regional Chairman, Basrah Governorate
45.	Nayif Shindakh Thamir Ghalib	Ba'ath Party Regional Chairman An-Najaf Governorate
46.	Sayf al-Din al-Mashhadani	Central Ba'ath Party Regional Chairman, al-Muthanna Governorate	Taken into custody May 24th
47.	Fadil Mahmud Gharib	Central Ba'ath Party Chairman, Babil Governorates	Taken into custody May 15th
48.	Muhsin Khadr al-Khafaji	Ba'ath Party Chairman, al-qadisiyah Governorate	Taken into custody Feb 7th 2004
49.	Rashid Taan Kazim	Central Ba'ath Party Regional Chairman, Anbar Governorate
50.	Uglah Abid Saqir al-Kubaysi	Central Ba'ath Party Regional Chairman, Maysan Governorate	Taken into custody May20th
51.	Ghazi Hammud al-Ubaydi	Central Ba'ath Party Regional Command Chairman, Wasit Governorate	Taken into custody May 7th
52.	Adil abdallah Mahdi al-Duri al-Tikriti	Ba'ath Party Regional Chairman, Dhi Qar Governorate	Taken into custody May 15th
53.	Husayn al-Awadi Bg	Ba'ath Party Regional Command Chairman, Ninawa Governorate; Bg In Chemical Corps	Taken into custody June 9th
54.	Khamis Sirhan al-Muhammad	Ba'th Party Regional Chairman For Karbala Governorate	Taken into custody January 11th 2004
55.	Sad abd al-Majid al-Faysal	Ba'th Party Regional Chairman For Salah al-Din Governorate	Taken into custody May 24th

---

=========== Documents linking Atta, Saddam, Nidal, bin Ladin ===========

Handwritten letter dated Feb. 19, 1998 linking bin Laden and Saddam Hussein
discussing arrival of a secret envoy sent by bin Laden to Iraq.
The signature beneath the letter is a codename, "MDA" - the Mukhabarat.

---

========= Chemical Warhead found in Kirkuk =============

Chemical warhead found at an Iraqi air base, marked with a green band,
the symbol for chemical weaponry. Trace amounts of a nerve agent were found
at two spots along the ~meter-long warhead. These amounts are consistent with
leakage from the chemically armed weapon. A 13-foot missile was found next to it.

---

========= Halabja =========

Dead children, previously playing in Halabja
Victims of Saddams' WMD in March 1988.

---

=========== French missiles FIRST given to Iraq to be USED Against US and Coalition Heroes =========

French missiles found by the Poles, and to protect France, blown up.

Froggies said they did not say "2003". LOL. Decide for yourself.

---

Iraqi missiles given to, and now located in, Syria:

---

========= RUSSIAN MISSILES AND DIRTY BOMBS FOUND IN IRAQ =========

Russian-made R-60, NATO AA-8 Aphid, air-to-air missiles were found..
The Russian-made missiles are >6 feet long. Each carries 3.5 pounds of uranium.
wrapped around a high explosive warhead (13.2-pound) making a "dirty bomb".

---

Also found in Iraq:

* A clandestine network of laboratories and safehouses within the Iraqi Intelligence Service
that contained equipment subject to UN monitoring and suitable for continuing CBW research.

* A prison laboratory complex, possibly used in human testing of BW agents, that Iraqi officials
working to prepare for UN inspections were explicitly ordered not to declare to the UN.

* Reference strains of biological organisms concealed in a scientist's home,
one of which can be used to produce biological weapons.

* New research on BW-applicable agents, Brucella and Congo Crimean Hemorrhagic Fever (CCHF),
and continuing work on ricin and aflatoxin were not declared to the UN.

* Documents and equipment, hidden in scientists' homes, that would have been useful in
resuming uranium enrichment by centrifuge and electromagnetic isotope separation (EMIS).

* A line of UAVs not fully declared at an undeclared production facility and an admission
that they had tested one of their declared UAVs out to a range of 500 km, 350 km beyond the permissible limit.

* Continuing covert capability to manufacture fuel propellant useful only for prohibited SCUD variant missiles,
a capability that was maintained at least until the end of 2001 and that cooperating Iraqi scientists
have said they were told to conceal from the UN.

* Plans and advanced design work for new long-range missiles with ranges up to at least 1000 km -
well beyond the 150 km range limit imposed by the UN. Missiles of a 1000 km range would have allowed
Iraq to threaten targets through out the Middle East, including Ankara, Cairo, and Abu Dhabi.

* Clandestine attempts between late-1999 and 2002 to obtain from North Korea technology
related to 1,300 km range ballistic missiles --probably the No Dong -- 300 km range anti-ship cruise missiles,
and other prohibited military equipment.

---

Still missing based on the UNSCOM report to the UN Security Council in January 1999,
when the UN inspectors left Iraq in 1998, they had been unable to account for:

• up to 360 tons of bulk chemical warfare agents, including 1.5 tons of VX nerve agent;

• up to 3,000 tons of precursor chemicals, including approximately 300 tons which,
in the Iraqi chemical warfare program, were unique to the production of VX;

• growth media procured for biological agent production (enough to produce
over three times the 8,500 litres of anthrax spores Iraq admitted to UN inspectors to having manufactured);

• over 30,000 special munitions for delivery of chemical and biological agents;

• 20 al-Hussein missles with a range of 650 km, in violation
of UN Security Council Resolution 687 (Iraq had told UNSCOM that it filled these warheads with anthrax and botulinum);

• 2,850 tons of mustard gas, 210 tons of tabun, and 795 tons of sarin and cyclosarin;

• development of the Al-Samoud short-range missle (which had the capability to fly beyond the 150 km allowed by UN resolutions)

[tirednvirginia]

I don't understand this. I remember Cheney on MTP right after 9-11 saying that there was no indication Iraq had a hand in the attacks. It was always about Afghanistan until we heard the "Axis of Evil" speech. Maybe my memory needs freshening.

[kaboom]

His primary motivation for this interview and criticism would be his upcoming book release

Below the surface, it should become obvious that this man is deeply troubled by his personal failure to properly advise President Bush and his predicesors. As a terrorism expert, he has only proven himself to be a monday morning quarterback who failed to recognize, or convey effectively, the the true threat that Osama presented.

[Wait4Truth]

We all better prepare for a few very ugly weeks as the media RAT lapdogs assail President Bush. Then it will be our turn. Our President needs our support now as all the clintonites try to pin 9/11 on him while giving the clinton team a complete pass. The 9/11 commission is a total disgrace...even the Republican chairman, Kean, is a past friend of bill. On top of that, Chris Wallace has McCain (Bush-hater) and Joe Lieberman (Bush-hater) as his guests tomorrow morning. Ain't life grand?

[jwalsh07]

Dubya demoted him, thats what this is all about.

8 years of Clinton, 200 days of Bush, and it is Bush's failure to act. These people are freaking lunatics.

[pieces of time]

Exactly! Is she going to mention that after all of the Terrorist attacks during the Clinton Administration, Clinton blew-off getting Osama bin laden (while being "serviced" by an intern). How many times did Sudan try to hand Osama over? What about the Lisa Myers CIA tape from a Predator that showed Osama in a terrorist camp? Clinton did nothing but it's Bush's fault? I don't get the logic here. Do you think viewers of the mainstream media will really buy this? (don't answer)

[Prospero]

Viacom = Publisher of Clarke's hit piece

Viacom = CBS

End of story

Outrageous, and CBS should get hit hard for this trash.

[Samurai_Jack]

"If this guy was any good at his job, 9/11 would not have happened. "

Yeah, I agree with this post right here. This 'terrorism expert' advised FOUR presidents. And what exactly did he advise them? Is he the one who advised to treat terrorism as a criminal act?

Trump Says -- YOUR FIRED

[pieces of time]

Get ready to write the media, Cable news shows, talk radio (not just conservative), letters to the editor, and Congress to refute the propaganda.

[Texas Eagle]

"But frankly I find it outrageous that the president is running for re-election on the grounds that he's done such great things about terrorism. He ignored it. He ignored terrorism for months, when maybe we could have done something."

Oct. 12, 2000 - A terrorist bomb damages the destroyer USS Cole in the port of Aden, Yemen, killing 17 sailors and injuring 39. Aug. 7, 1998 - Terrorist bombs destroy the U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. In Nairobi, 12 Americans are among the 291 killed, and over 5,000 are wounded, including 6 Americans. In Dar es Salaam, one U.S. citizen is wounded among the 10 killed and 77 injured. In June 21, 1998 - Rocket-propelled grenades explode near the U.S. embassy in Beirut. July 27, 1996 - A pipe bomb explodes during the Olympic games in Atlanta, killing one person and wounding 111. June 25, 1996 - A bomb aboard a fuel truck explodes outside a U.S. air force installation in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. 19 U.S. military personnel are killed in the Khubar Towers housing facility, and 515 are wounded, including 240 Americans. Nov. 13, 1995 - A car-bomb in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia kills seven people, five of them American military and civilian advisers for National Guard training. The "Tigers of the Gulf," "Islamist Movement for Change," and "Fighting Advocates of God" claim responsibility. April 19, 1995 - A car bomb destroys the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people and wounding over 600. February 1993 - A bomb in a van explodes in the underground parking garage in New York's World Trade Center, killing six people and wounding 1,042.

Yup. President Bush should've done something about terrorism when Bill Clinton was President. Is that about what you are saying, Dick?

[Texas Eagle]

"But frankly I find it outrageous that the president is running for re-election on the grounds that he's done such great things about terrorism. He ignored it. He ignored terrorism for months, when maybe we could have done something."

Oct. 12, 2000 - A terrorist bomb damages the destroyer USS Cole in the port of Aden, Yemen, killing 17 sailors and injuring 39.

Aug. 7, 1998 - Terrorist bombs destroy the U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. In Nairobi, 12 Americans are among the 291 killed, and over 5,000 are wounded, including 6 Americans. In Dar es Salaam, one U.S. citizen is wounded among the 10 killed and 77 injured.

In June 21, 1998 - Rocket-propelled grenades explode near the U.S. embassy in Beirut.

July 27, 1996 - A pipe bomb explodes during the Olympic games in Atlanta, killing one person and wounding 111.

June 25, 1996 - A bomb aboard a fuel truck explodes outside a U.S. air force installation in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. 19 U.S. military personnel are killed in the Khubar Towers housing facility, and 515 are wounded, including 240 Americans.

Nov. 13, 1995 - A car-bomb in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia kills seven people, five of them American military and civilian advisers for National Guard training. The "Tigers of the Gulf," "Islamist Movement for Change," and "Fighting Advocates of God" claim responsibility.

April 19, 1995 - A car bomb destroys the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people and wounding over 600.

February 1993 - A bomb in a van explodes in the underground parking garage in New York's World Trade Center, killing six people and wounding 1,042.

Yup. President Bush should've done something about terrorism when Bill Clinton was President. Is that about what you are saying, Dick?

[Texas Eagle]

Viacom = Publisher of Clarke's hit piece
Viacom = CBS
End of story

So, this segment of 60 Minutes is pretty much an infomercial.
But wait! There's more! If you order this pile of crap right now, we'll throw in a set of Ginsu knives FREE! Now how much would you pay!!!???

[BlueAngel]

It looks as if the entire TV media and nearly all the print media have gotten together. Their sole purpose is to oust President Bush from office. It is really making me sick. But they are not going to win.

FOX News better watch out because if President Bush loses the election, the dems will be sure they have no access to the White House. This morning on that stupid Fox and Friends they were talking about the commission. Not a one of the 3 brought up anything about the Clinton administration not doing anything about terrorism in their eight years. They just talked about how the Bush administration may be in some real trouble.