Bush, Clinton Varied Little on Terrorism (Evem Washington Post disputes Clarke)

Washington Post ^ | 27 March 2004 | By Dana Milbank and Dan Eggen

[shrinkermd]

For all the sniping over efforts by the Bush and Clinton administrations to thwart terrorism, information from this week's hearings into the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks suggests that the two administrations pursued roughly the same policies before the terrorist strikes occurred.

Witness testimony and the findings of the commission investigating the attacks indicate that even the new policy to combat Osama bin Laden and his Taliban hosts, developed just before Sept. 11, was in most respects similar to the old strategy pursued first by Clinton and then by Bush.

The commission's determination that the two policies were roughly the same calls into question claims made by Bush officials that they were developing a superior terrorism policy. The findings also put into perspective the criticism of President Bush's approach to terrorism by Richard A. Clarke, the former White House counterterrorism chief: For all his harsh complaints about Bush administration's lack of urgency in regard to terrorism, he had no serious quarrel with the actual policy Bush was pursuing before the 2001 attacks.

Clarke did not respond to efforts to reach him for comment yesterday

[shrinkermd]

Clarke did not respond to efforts to reach him for comment yesterday

As people realize Clarke's assertions are based on revenge and/or emotional problems, Clarke will be less available. Until analysis like the above, Clarke felt free to appear on each and every media opportunity. This fits his alleged long term "media savy" experience.

[Dog]

The wheels are falling of the Clarke bandwagon..

[jwalsh07]

Compare this to the garbage Milbank was writing at the beginning of the week and one is left with the impression that Emperor Clarkes clothes are being peeled off one by one.

[Patriot11]

The only reason the media has spent the last few days even talking about this is because there really isn't anything to report right now, well not against the Bush administration anyways. The economy is good, we are making progress in the war on terror, so they have to run with this.

[shield]

bmp

[shield]

Maybe he's scared of the declassification of his other testimony.....perjury and federal pen is not too inviting.

[MEG33]

Dana Milbank must be living on Rolaids right now.It's going to get worse for Clarke,not better.

[syriacus]

The only reason the media has spent the last few days even talking about this is because there really isn't anything to report right now, well not against the Bush administration anyways.

My feeling is that they are lining up the "Bush lied about the cost of Medicare" attack.

[Asclepius]

For all his harsh complaints about Bush administration's lack of urgency in regard to terrorism, he had no serious quarrel with the actual policy Bush was pursuing before the 2001 attacks.

Competent medical professionals should place Clarke on suicide watch. I half suspect he will follow the lead of the Blair administration "whistleblower" whose suicide caused and subsequent scandal and coverup prompted several resignations at the BBC.

[LdSentinal]

Dana (what a name for a male) Milbank is flip-flopping on Dicky Clarke.

The latest Newsweek poll showed no damage to Bush, if not a increase in his approval ratings. The media will try another angle in a few weeks.

[FRgal4u]

Kind of surprise Milbank so fast to spill the beans on this Clarke thing.

In an ironic way, this whole Clarke firestorm is sucking up all the oxygen from Kerry. Did ANYONE notice the jobs, economic plan from Kerry yesterday? Nope...

These few weeks will be crucial for Kerry, his unfavorables are sky rocketing and his image of he will say whatever for political purposes IS STICKING.

All these attention on terrorism, Bush vs Clarke are serious distractions for the Kerry campaign. The longer Kerry is off the front page, the more vulnerable hsi unfavorable image will stick.

Dole was defined as a "grumpy old man with harsh policies" or the other hip joint to Gingrich in early 1996. Kerry has to worry about his image of he will say whatever regardless on core belief sticking, in the post 9/11 world, Americans are more likely to vote for someone who stand for something (right or wrong), not a softie waffler.

Could this Clarke thing a clintonian ploy - suck up the Kerry oxygen, airbrush the clinton policy of the 90s...hmmmmm

[shrinkermd]

"Competent medical professionals should place Clarke on suicide watch. I half suspect he will follow the lead of the Blair administration "whistleblower" whose suicide caused and subsequent scandal and coverup prompted several resignations at the BBC.

I have little or no knowledge of the person in the Blair Administration; however, our own Secretary Forrestal who was the first Secretary of Defence committed suicide in 1949. IMHO his personality was quite similar to Mr. Clarke's and both seemed to fit the Meyer/Briggs/Kiersey personality pattern of "Mastermind" or INTJ.

In any case Secretary Forrestal used a poem by Sophocles to be his suicide note. It is as follows: His suicide note was Sophocles' poem, "The Chorus from Ajax":

Frenzy hath seized thy dearest son,

Who from thy shores in glory came

The first in valor and in fame;

Thy deeds that he hath done

Seem hostile all to hostile eyes...

Better to die, and sleep

The never waking sleep, than linger on,

And dare to live, when the soul's life is gone

[Dog]

ping!

[Mo1]

Gee .. why the backpeddling ??

Could it have anything to do with

"Sixty-Five Percent Say Clinton Administration Did Not Take Global Terror Threat Seriously Enough"

[Peach]

1. Rep. Christopher Shays, chairman of the Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats and International Relations, said that in June 2000 Clark told the subcommittee there was "no need for an assessment" of the terrorist threat.

Three national commissions concluded the US needed a comprehensive threat assessment and a national strategy. Shays held 20 hearings pre 9/11 and on June 28, 2000 he asked Mr. Clarke, then serving as Clinton's Special Assistant and National Coordinator, Security, Infrastructure Protection and Counterterrorism, when an all source threat assessment and strategy would be completed.

Clark answered "No assessment has been done, and there is no need for an assessment. I know the threat."

2. In 2000, the Department of Defense Worldwide Conference on Terrorism asked Mr. Clarke's assistant when a national strategy on terrorism would be completed. The assistant responded that a strategy was being developed (in 2000 - the last year of the Clinton presidency). However, no national strategy to combat terrorism was every produced during the Clinton administration.

3. 911 Commissioner Lehman noted to Clarke on Tuesday that his 15 hours of private testimony differed substantially from his public testimony. So substantially that Lehman told Clarke he couldn't believe it. As a result of that, the White House is seeking to declassify whether Clarke lied under oath.

4. On page 127 of Clarke's new book "Against All Enemies", Clarke notes that it's possible that al Qaida operatives in the Phillipes "taught Terry Nichols how to blow up the Oklahoma Federal Building." Intelligence places Nichols there on the same days as Ramzi Yousef, and "we do know that Nichols's bombs did not work before his Philippines stay and were deadly when he returned."

And yet, the Clinton administration focused exclusively on homegrown terrorists, and never talked publicly about this matter. Laurie Mylroie, terrorism expert who worked for the Clinton administration, and others, have since talked about the Iraqi connection to the OKC bombing frequently. Yet your news organization has been largely if not completely silent.

5. Despite Clarke's assertion that he is non-partisan, a few moments research into public records indicates that Clarke has only donated to Democrat's campaigns, never to Republicans.

6. Insight magazine published an article in June 2001 (pre 9/11) that reflects exactly what the Bush administration was doing to combat terrorism and provides information that proves Clarke was primarily focused on cyber terrorism vs. the kind of terrorism that kills thousands of people.

[Freee-dame]

The commission's determination that the two policies were roughly the same calls into question claims made by Bush officials that they were developing a superior terrorism policy.

Did this writer ever study logic? The Bush administration was developing a new policy and it was almost ready for President Bush's desk when Sept. 11 occurred. If I know this, surely a writer for the vaunted Washington Post (a leader of the partisan press) must also.

[montag813]

Clarke did not respond to efforts to reach him for comment yesterday

Didn't respond? He was on ABC and CNN for half the day! I guess he only comes out where he knows he will be praised and not questioned.

[Pikamax]

http://oxblog.blogspot.com/2004_03_21_oxblog_archive.html#108037116584348759


Posted 2:06 AM by David Adesnik
WaPo CLIMB DOWN: Without admitting they ever got the story wrong, the WaPo correspondents on the Clarke beat are backing down from their initial assessment of Clarke's criticism. In a News Analysis column entitled "Bush, Clinton Varied Little on Terrorism", Dana Milbank and Dan Eggen (with an assist from Walter Pincus) write that the

[9/11] commission's determination that the two policies were roughly the same calls into question claims made by Bush officials that they were developing a superior terrorism policy. The findings also put into perspective the criticism of President Bush's approach to terrorism by Richard A. Clarke, the former White House counterterrorism chief: For all his harsh complaints about Bush administration's lack of urgency in regard to terrorism, he had no serious quarrel with the actual policy Bush was pursuing before the 2001 attacks.

Clarke did not respond to efforts to reach him for comment yesterday.
Ouch. Anyhow, compare that passage from the WaPo to the Eggen/Pincus front pager from Thursday which reports that "The two [9/11 commission] staff reports issued yesterday appeared to confirm many of Clarke's key allegations and criticisms." Also on Thursday's front page, Dana Milbank wrote that even "Though more prominent personalities testified in the commission's two-day public hearings, the longtime foreign policy bureaucrat [i.e. Clarke] stole the show." And you thought John Kerry was prone to flip-flops...

[observer5]

"Bush, Clinton Varied Little on Terrorism"

Wrong, Bush reacted when attacked, Clintoon not!

[M-cubed]

"Bush, Clinton Varied Little on Terrorism"

Wrong, Bush reacted when attacked, Clintoon not!"<<<..EXACTLY!!!..The Clinton doctrine was...Dont do anything...Maybe it will go away!