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.

[Cosmo]

It boils down to this: career bureaucrat doesn't receive expected promotion while relative newbie of a black woman becomes ~4th most powerful person in America. That is all there is to say about Richard Clarke.

[Destro]

while relative newbie of a black woman becomes ~4th most powerful person in America.

Is that supposed to make me feel safer or scare the sh*t out of me? :)

[Ez2BRepub]

Of course he is, just look at the time line for the last couple of weeks.
Kerry makes numerous mistakes that hurt him no matter how hard the media tries to spin them to the better. Kerry goes on vacation claiming he is tired and needs rest. His vacation just happens to coincide with Clarke's book release bashing President Bush.
Kerry is on vacation and therefore can claim not to be able to answer any questions concerning the book until he reads it(stays out of the fray).
The claims by Clarke fall flat on there face,so Kerry has to cut his vacation short to get back out there and try his new (nice) campaign on the voters he may have lost from the Clarke debacle. The Clinton's, the media, Clarke, Kerry, and the rest of the Dem party are without a doubt, one pile of excrement working together to stink up this country.

[IrishRainy]

Daschle calling the release of the Clarke letter "an unprecedented abuse of power"...

Is that what it was then when The Toon released the letter from Kathleen Willey? Don't seem to remember Tiny Tom crying about any abuse of power then!

[kennedy]