Partisan Clarke (himself)

TownHall.com ^ | 3/26/04 | Charles Krauthammer

[Huber]

WASHINGTON -- It is only March but the 2004 Chutzpah of the Year Award can be safely given out. It goes to Richard Clarke, now making himself famous by blaming the Bush administration for 9/11 -- after Clarke had spent eight years in charge of counterterrorism for a Clinton administration that did nothing.

The 1990s were al Qaeda's springtime: Blissfully unmolested in Afghanistan, it trained, indoctrinated, armed and, most fatally, planned. For the United States, this was a catastrophic lapse, and in a March 2002 interview on PBS' ``Frontline,'' Clarke admitted as such: ``I believe that had we destroyed the terrorist camps in Afghanistan earlier, that the conveyor belt that was producing terrorists sending them out around the world would have been destroyed.'' Instead, ``now we have to hunt (them) down country by country.''

[Huber]

This guy is the angry Howard Dean of the counterterrorism administration!

[sinkspur]

"Doing it now for" who? You left out part of the final sentence. Please go back and insert it.

[Mr. Mojo]

Yep, Clarke's an angry, bitter, partisan. .....and one who doesn't like the fact that far more competent people than himself are running the anti-terrorism show right now. ......with great success, I might add.

[NormsRevenge]

Clinton was in office eight years, not eight months. As Clarke himself said in a 2002 National Security Council briefing, the Clinton administration never made a plan for dealing with al Qaeda and never left one behind for the Bush administration.

This IS contrary to what Clinton, Gore, Albright and a herd of bootlicking swine have stated for the record.

[pinz-n-needlez]

I'm beginning to wonder about what the 9/11 Commission found in their months of research...

Is it possible that the Dem's only found reasons to criticize Clinton? Did they work behind the scenes to get this book put out with it's particular slant because they had nothing else to use to help along Kerry's run for the White House?

What questions would have been asked in this week's hearings if Clarke had not put together all his little stoies for them to use in the public questioning?

They didn't seem to have any other gotcha's to spring on the Bush folks. Intriguing questions, don't you think?

Pinz

[NormsRevenge]

96 months in office for Clintoon vs. 8 months for Mr. Bush.

I'll give ya 12 to 1 odds anyday on where the bulk of the "gotchas" were found.

FRom 2 African embassy attacks to the 1st WTC attack to the USS Cole.. No pattern there , I reckun?

This "spin" cycle may destroy the very fabric it was intended to help cleanse of the soiled intelligence processes that resulted in so much tragedy.

[NormsRevenge]

or maybe not .. (/kerryflop)

[lainde]

Final paragraph and complete sentence:

Clarke is clearly an angry man, angry that Condoleezza Rice demoted him, angry that he was denied a coveted bureaucratic job by the Bush administration. Angry and unreliable. He told the commission to disregard what he said in his 2002 briefing because he was, in effect, spinning. ``I've done it for several presidents,'' he said. He's still at it, doing it now for himself.

[MEG33]

Here it is..hard to find!

[Huber]

Can you please insert the last word, "himself". to the article above?

[leprechaun9]

"Is it possible that the Dem's only found..."

You should substitute LIBERALs for Dems! Tom Kean is more in bed with the Dems than he is with those supporting the President!

[Cold Heat]

Best way to get their attention is to use the abuse button and explain your problem or point out a post number.

[pinz-n-needlez]

yep. You're right. ANd they couldn't think of a somewhat plausible way to spin THAT!

Clarke's lameness is the best they had. Must've been some truly frightening stuff that they uncovered.

Pinz

[pinz-n-needlez]

lol

[pinz-n-needlez]

Too true, lep9, too true. :-)

Pinz

[piasa]

As Clinton Defense Secretary William Cohen testified, three times the CIA was ready with plans to assassinate Osama. Every time, President Clinton stood them down, because ``We're not quite sure.''

There are at least two instances where this was true in Somalia as well. In both cases it was well AFTER the planning stage and while people were in eyeshot of Aidid and all they needed was a 'go' from Bubba that never came.

[piasa]

It wasn't neccessarily the CIA, though...

[Stultis]

and in a March 2002 interview on PBS' ``Frontline,'' Clarke admitted as such: ``I believe that had we destroyed the terrorist camps in Afghanistan earlier, that the conveyor belt that was producing terrorists sending them out around the world would have been destroyed.'' Instead, ``now we have to hunt (them) down country by country.''

I just started a thread with another exceprt from that interview, if anyone want to read the whole thing or check the context:

Clarke Requested Own "Demotion" (PBS Frontline Interview - "The Man Who Knew [John O'Niell]") ^
			Posted by Stultis On News/Activism ^ 03/26/2004 9:47:51 AM CST with 1 comment PBS Frontline ^ | 2002 | Richard Clarke (PBS Interview) You tried to convince him [John O'Niell], it has been written, to take your job. Can you tell me a little bit about that what happened?Shortly after the Bush administration came into office, we were asked to think about how we organized the White House for a number of issues, including cybersecurity, computer security, homeland security, and counterterrorism. I was asked for my advice, and I proposed that the counterterrorism responsibility be broken off be a separate job, and that the cybersecurity job be broken off as a separate job. I said I had done counterterrorism for about a decade,...

[mcrommert]

number 1-Clarke is a conservative
number 2-Clarke has said that he has voted for Republican presidents all the way from Ronald Reagan.
number 3-I think that this program of character assasination that you and many other people have made on Clarke is dispicable and wrong. Clarke served his country for over 30 years and no one in any administration, rep or dem, was as verbal for destroying Al Qaida. If you want to get real information read the brief he gave the commission two years ago instead of this shifted, biased stuff that is slanting everything to the way they want it. I am a conservative, not a republican. I am sick and tired of people following the republican party even when they make mistakes and do things that are not conservative. Bush makes mistakes. Maybe not as many as Clinton, but he still makes mistakes. If you guys are looking for a Conservative god, you are going to be very sorry.

[mcrommert]

actually, the go was denied by Tenet, the head of the CIA. THis was because they did not have the actualized intelligence they needed and they could have killed a group of refugees for all they knew. If Tenet and CLarke would have given the go ahead Clinton would have attacked. Both have said as much. Even though I detest Clinton and think he is the worst thing that happened to this country, he was not at fault in this circumstance.