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.

[veronica]

Too funny.

[Pukin Dog]

There are two of them.
Here is the first one.




From: Richard Clarke
To: All ISAC's

With the completion of the National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace and
the stand up of the Department of Homeland Security, it is a good
juncture for me to end my 11 years in the White House. I have,
therefore, sent a letter of resignation to the President.

The events of the last weekend demonstrate yet again how vulnerable our
society is to cyberspace attacks. The Sapphire Worm was essentially a
dumb worm that was easily and cheaply made. It attacked only one
vulnerability on one piece of software from one vendor for one type of
machine. Moreover, that vulnerability was one for which a patch had
been available for many months. Nonetheless, the results of the worm
were significant. It spread to hundreds of thousands of machines in less
than 15 minutes. It disabled some root servers, the heart of internet
traffic. Although it was aimed at servers, it caused routers to flop
and cease to function. Some airline flights were delayed or cancelled.
Some banking functions ceased. A national election/referendum in
Canada was canceled. Workers were sent home at some major US companies.

With slight modifications, the results of the worm would have been more
significant. More sophisticated attacks against known vulnerabilities
in cyberspace could be devastating. As long as we have vulnerabilities
in cyberspace and as long as America has enemies, we are at risk of the
two coming together to severely damage our great country. We can not
assume that the past level of damage is in any way indicative of what
could happen in the future.

Therefore, it is essential to the health of the nation 's economy and
the security of the country that we aggressively implement the National
Strategy to Secure Cyberspace. It can not be the job of the Department
of Homeland Security alone. Every major Federal agency has a role.
White House leadership will remain essential. Congressional attention,
support, and oversight must continue. Active partnership with and by
the Private Sector will be crucial.

I have enjoyed working with you to raise awareness about terrorism and
more recently about cyberspace security. Thirty years after beginning
federal service, I hope now to learn how to contribute to these issues
as a private citizen. I hope we can stay in touch.

[onyx]

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.





For such a dunce, Bush seems to out-smart the democrats every single time they take him on.

PD, this is an excellent post!

I hope you're right about S & S.
They at least ought to have to call it "fiction."
Or maybe "fantasy."

[Pukin Dog]

think nothing of it, just wanted you to join us.

Hey Mods, can you put an 'e' on the end of Clarke, in the title of this thread?

[onyx]

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.!





Gawd.
I've often thought that somebody else must shave Shumer's face.
How could he look himself in the mirror?
You have set me straight:
"like Clinton, he has no shame."

[BossLady]

This thread should come with an audio of Nancy Sinatra's 'These Boots Were Made For Walkin' ;)

[glock rocks]

How could he look himself in the mirror?

he can't... no reflection.

[StarCMC]

Doh!

[Pukin Dog]

Google cant find the letter to Bush. I guess it was private, and Clarke did not expect Bush to keep it around for later use.

[StarCMC]

This is a total crack up!

[onyx]

he can't... no reflection.





Made me laugh out loud!
Thanks. Good one.

[John Jorsett]

This was in the distant past. Can't we all just Move On^®?

[South40]

"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."

But he might not sell as many copies had he put that in his book.

[princess leah]

Clarke with an "E" - is that like DOPEY with an "E"? Sure seems to have alot in common with THAT dwarf (except Dopey was a LOVABLE character)

[Fiddlstix]

[South40]

Thanks for the ping! Clarke's book still stands a chance of making the "Al Franken Piece of Liberal Trash" best seller list.

[Indy Pendance]

Excellent. I just posted this, of course AP always switches titles.

[MizSterious]

"I think Clarke is insane - and was then."

No kidding. A lot of people in charge for the 8 years of the Clinton admin (including the Clintons) were insane, evidently. The thought of how much danger we were actually in during those years is unsettling.

[NYC Republican]

From Drudge...

UPDATE: '60 MINUTES' executive producer Don Hewitt said not identifying VIACOMCBS's ownership of Richard Clarke's book was an oversight... Developing...

Riiiiigggghhhht...

[Mo1]

Looks like the demoncRATS have to now 'file' Clarke in the 'aw sh*t', or oops drawer.

They'll make fools out of themselves a little more .. remember Clark is tesitfying tomorrow

Then it will be the 'aw sh*t', or oops drawer