Mark Steyn: Bush has nothing to fear from this hilarious work of fiction

The Sunday Telegraph (U.K.) ^ | 03/28/04 | Mark Steyn

[Pokey78]

In January 2002, the Enron story broke and the media turned their attention to the critical question: how can we pin this on Bush? As I wrote in this space that weekend: "Short answer: You can't."

So Enron retreated to the business pages, and, after a while, the media and the Democrats came up with an even better wheeze: how can we pin September 11 on Bush? Same answer: you can't. But that doesn't stop them every month or so from taking a wild ride on defective vehicles for their crazy scheme.

The latest is a mid-level bureaucrat called Richard Clarke, and by the time you read this his 15 minutes should be just about up. Mr Clarke was Bill Clinton's terrorism guy for eight years and George W Bush's for a somewhat briefer period, and he has now written a book called If Only They'd Listened to Me - whoops, sorry, that should be Against All Enemies: Inside the White House's War on Terror - What Really Happened (Because They Didn't Listen to Me).

Having served both the 42nd and 43rd Presidents, Clarke was supposed to be the most authoritative proponent to advance the Democrats' agreed timeline of the last decade - to whit, from January 1993 to January 2001, Bill Clinton focused like a laser on crafting a brilliant plan to destroy al-Qa'eda, but, alas, just as he had dotted every "i", crossed every "t" and sent the intern to the photocopier, his eight years was up, so Bill gave it to the new guy as he was showing him the Oval Office - "That carpet under the desk could use replacing. Oh, and here's my brilliant plan to destroy al-Qa'eda, which you guys really need to implement right away."

The details of the brilliant plan need not concern us, which is just as well, as there aren't any. But the broader point, as The New York Times noted, is that "there was at least no question about the Clinton administration's commitment to combat terrorism".

Yessir, for eight years the Clinton administration was relentless in its commitment: no sooner did al-Qa'eda bomb the World Trade Center first time round, or blow up an American embassy, or a barracks, or a warship, or turn an entire nation into a terrorist training camp, than the Clinton team would redouble their determination to sit down and talk through the options for a couple more years. Then Bush took over and suddenly the superbly successful fight against terror all went to hell.

Richard Clarke was supposed to be the expert who could make this argument with a straight face. And, indeed, his week started well. The media were very taken by this passage from his book, in which he alerts Mr Bush's incoming National Security Adviser to the terrorist threat: "As I briefed Rice on al-Qa'eda, her facial expression gave me the impression that she had never heard of the term before, so I added, 'Most people think of it as Osama bin Laden's group, but it's much more than that. It's a network of affiliated terrorist organisations with cells in over 50 countries, including the US.' "

Mr Clarke would seem to be channelling Leslie Nielsen's deadpan doctor in Airplane!: "Stewardess, we need to get this passenger to a hospital."

"A hospital? What is it?"

"It's a big building with patients, but that's not important right now."

As it turns out, Clarke's ability to read "facial expressions" is not as reliable as one might wish in a "counter-terrorism expert". In October the previous year, Dr Rice gave an interview to WJR Radio in Detroit in which she discoursed authoritatively on al-Qa'eda and bin Laden - and without ever having met Richard Clarke!

I don't know how good Clarke was at counter-terrorism, but as a media performer he is a total dummy. He seemed to think that he could claim the lucrative star role of Lead Bush Basher without anybody noticing the huge paper trail of statements he has left contradicting the argument in his book.

The reality is that there is a Richard Clarke for everyone. If you are like me and reckon there was an Islamist angle to the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, then Clarke's your guy: he supports the theory that al-Qa'eda operatives in the Philippines "taught Terry Nichols how to blow up the Oklahoma Federal Building".

On the other hand, if you're one of those Michael Moore-type conspirazoids who wants to know why Bush let his cronies in the House of Saud and the bin Laden family sneak out of America on September 11, then Clarke's also your guy: he is the official who gave the go-ahead for the bigshot Saudis with the embarrassing surnames to be hustled out of the country before they could be questioned.

Does this mean Clarke is Enron - an equal-opportunity scandal whose explicitly political aspects are too ambiguous to offer crude party advantage? Not quite. Although his book sets out to praise Clinton and bury Bush, he can't quite pull it off. Except for his suggestion to send in a team of "ninjas" to take out Osama, Clinton had virtually no interest in the subject.

In October 2000, Clarke and Special Forces Colonel Mike Sheehan leave the White House after a meeting to discuss al-Qa'eda's attack on the USS Cole: "'What's it gonna take, Dick?' Sheehan demanded. 'Who the s*** do they think attacked the Cole, f****** Martians? The Pentagon brass won't let Delta go get bin Laden. Does al-Qa'eda have to attack the Pentagon to get their attention?'"

Apparently so. The attack, on the Cole, which killed 17 US sailors, was deemed by Clinton's Defence Secretary Bill Cohen as "not sufficiently provocative" to warrant a response. You'll have to do better than that, Osama! So he did. And now the same people who claim Bush had no right to be "pre-emptive" about Iraq insist he should have been about September 11.

As for Clarke's beef with Bush, that's simple. For eight years, he had pottered away on the terrorism brief undisturbed. The new President took it away from him and adopted the strategy outlined by Condoleezza Rice in that Detroit radio interview, months before the self-regarding Mr Clarke claims he brought her up to speed on who bin Laden was: "We really need a stronger policy of holding the states accountable that support him," Dr Rice told WJR. "Terrorists who are just operating out there without basis and without state support are a lot less dangerous than ones that find safe haven, as bin Laden does sometimes in places like Afghanistan or Sudan."

Just so. In the 1990s when al-Qa'eda blew up American targets abroad, the FBI would fly in and work it as a "crime scene" - like a liquor-store hold-up in Cleveland. It doesn't address the problem. Sure, there are millions of disaffected young Muslim men, but, if they get the urge to blow up infidels, they need training and organisation. Somehow all those British Taliban knew that if you wanted a quick course in jihad studies Afghanistan was the place to go. Bush got it right: go to where the terrorists are, overthrow their sponsoring regimes, destroy their camps, kill their leaders.

Instead, all the Islamists who went to Afghanistan in the 1990s graduated from Camp Osama and were dispersed throughout Europe, Asia, Australia and North America, where they lurk to this day. That's the Clarke-Clinton legacy. And, if it were mine, I wouldn't be going around boasting about it.

[beckett]

Frist was absolutely correct to slap Clarke down for presuming to apologize for 911! He is not now nor was he ever in a position to make a public apology for the government. That is clearly a leadership function and in democracies we elect our leaders. Clarke was a mid-level technocrat whose sappy presumption of responsibility for 911 was a craven ploy designed to smear the administration. If you fell for it, you need to worry about your own "tone deafness."

[maryz]

I think the issue is the grandiosity of Clarke. . . . He is simply not in a position to offer the apology he did.

I think your comment is spot on! It reminds me of that comment (by Winston Churchill maybe?) that "He isn't important enough to be that humble!"

[maica]

BINGO!

And .. remember - Clarke had the direct ear of WJC, and when Bush came into office all that changed. I believe Clarke was expecting to get Condi's job - instead he was required to report to her. There are emails asking him why he didn't attend her meetings. Evidently, it was beneath him. I think we should add arrogance to his list of smarmy characteristics.

DOUBLE BINGO! This is all anyone needs to say to those who are 'supporting' the actions of Dick Clarke!

Somehow I doubt this myth that he is a Republican.

[M. Dodge Thomas]

"I think the issue is the grandiosity of Clarke..."

I think that's an excellent term for this aspect of his personality - though for course a degree of "grandiosity" is a common characteristic of successful politicians and political commentators.

---

"He is simply not in a position to offer the apology he did."

My point about First and Clarke is that whatever one thinks of validity of Clarke's prespective or the appropriateness of his apology, it clearly touched a nerve for many listeners - and that whoever manages to latch onto this sentiment is mining valuable political ground.

[M. Dodge Thomas]

"Clarke was a mid-level technocrat whose sappy presumption of responsibility for 911 was a craven ploy designed to smear the administration. If you fell for it, you need to worry about your own "tone deafness."

IMO it's a mistake to confuse one's certainty about the inappropriateness of the apology with the fact that it resonated for many listeners.

For the reasons I listed (and many others) it's near suicide in American political culture to admit error - and I view this as an unfortunate and occasionally dangerous aspect of our system.

I don’t pretend to know how Rove (or anyone else) ought to finesse this problem.

But when I look at the poll numbers (for example, that Newsweek poll) and they show a substantial decline in the public's confidence in what has previously been their most favorable impress of this Administration, it's certainly looks to me like a problem.

[SquirrelKing]

In October 2000, Clarke and Special Forces Colonel Mike Sheehan leave the White House after a meeting to discuss al-Qa'eda's attack on the USS Cole: "'What's it gonna take, Dick?' Sheehan demanded. 'Who the s*** do they think attacked the Cole, f****** Martians? The Pentagon brass won't let Delta go get bin Laden. Does al-Qa'eda have to attack the Pentagon to get their attention?'"

SPANK!

[MeekOneGOP]

Steyn knocks another one outta the park ! I loved the comment referencing the Airplane! line, too.

Excerpt:

Having served both the 42nd and 43rd Presidents, Clarke was supposed to be the most authoritative proponent to advance the Democrats' agreed timeline of the last decade - to whit, from January 1993 to January 2001, Bill Clinton focused like a laser on crafting a brilliant plan to destroy al-Qa'eda, but, alas, just as he had dotted every "i", crossed every "t" and sent the intern to the photocopier, his eight years was up, so Bill gave it to the new guy as he was showing him the Oval Office - "That carpet under the desk could use replacing. Oh, and here's my brilliant plan to destroy al-Qa'eda, which you guys really need to implement right away."

The details of the brilliant plan need not concern us, which is just as well, as there aren't any. But the broader point, as The New York Times noted, is that "there was at least no question about the Clinton administration's commitment to combat terrorism".

Yessir, for eight years the Clinton administration was relentless in its commitment: no sooner did al-Qa'eda bomb the World Trade Center first time round, or blow up an American embassy, or a barracks, or a warship, or turn an entire nation into a terrorist training camp, than the Clinton team would redouble their determination to sit down and talk through the options for a couple more years. Then Bush took over and suddenly the superbly successful fight against terror all went to hell.

Please let me know if you want ON or OFF my General Interest ping list!. . .don't be shy.

[MeekOneGOP]

Oh ! You beat me here. Yeah, we know what the 'A' stands for alrighty ...

[international american]

Clarke will be just a memory in 2 months:)

[John Jorsett]

Another, very witty Freeper (whose name I don't recall) said that her facial expression was actually expressing, "Hey, did I demote this guy FAR enough?"

That was in Ann Coulter's piece titled "Chair-warmer on the hot seat" (last paragraph). Hilarious line.

[Rummyfan]

Thanks Pokey!

[MeekOneGOP]

Yeah ! ;^)

[international american]

Watched Clarke on "Meet the Depressed" Just ended. Clarke is in love with himself,Russert was very easy on him.

[Bahbah]

"Instead, all the Islamists who went to Afghanistan in the 1990s graduated from Camp Osama and were dispersed throughout Europe, Asia, Australia and North America, where they lurk to this day. That's the Clarke-Clinton legacy."

Slimey, gutless X42, pay attention. Your attempt to rehab your "legacy" is not working. Thanks for the ping, Meekie.

[Victoria Delsoul]

Nowadays, talk radio and the internet have muted the mainstream to the extent that even the Newsweek poll says over half of Clarke's audience doesn't believe a word he's saying.

LOL, indeed, talk radio and the internet are powerful tools of communication. I just hope that sooner rather than later, we'll be able to undo the damage the liberals with the help of the media keep causing.

[Alamo-Girl]

Bump!

[BOBTHENAILER]

That's the Clarke-Clinton legacy. And, if it were mine, I wouldn't be going around boasting about it.

Yup, you nailed him.

[sandbar]

>Mr Clarke would seem to be channelling Leslie Nielsen's >deadpan doctor in Airplane!: "Stewardess, we need to get >this passenger to a hospital."
>"A hospital? What is it?"
>"It's a big building with patients, but that's not >important right now."

This guy is freaking brilliant!!! LMAO!

[Dr.Deth]

Do we Begin to see a resemblance between "The Left" & "An Orthodox Religion??"

I resent that slander to Orthodox Jews and Orthodox Christians. I suggest you rephrase that as "Kool-aid gargling cult".

[nutmeg]

Brilliant article! This gives me hope after enduring several days of the libs high-fiving it over Clarke's "success".