Powell on Face the Nation [nails Richard Clarke]

State Department ^ | March 28, 2004 | State Department

[Howlin]

Bump.

[eyespysomething]

thanks for the bump

read later

[Not A Snowbird]

He got in a few screaming yellow zonkers, didn't he?

[AFPhys]

I was announced to be the Secretary of State on the 16th of December, on a Saturday in Crawford, Texas. Just four days later, on the 20th of December, my very first briefing to get ready to become Secretary of State was from Mr. Clarke and all of the other counterterrorism experts...

As Powell says, it certainly doesn't sound like a disinterested approach.

Clarke was OUT OF THE LOOP ... both he and the administration were working to get him out and keep him out. This is what Clarke is now angry about, and perhaps he didn't even realize just how far out of the loop he was - until now.

The administration was most certainly dealing with terrorism more seriously, as Clarke's pre-book statements are unanimous in demonstrating.

I would have liked one other comment from Powell in this section of the interview, but I'm no diplomat:

... there was a new loop that was in place and that it was the Director of Central Intelligence, who was speaking to the President every morning and giving him his intelligence information, and not just a book being sent in, as had been the case, I believe, under the Clinton Administration.

So there was a loop now that included the direct input of intelligence information, to include threat and terror intelligence information, to the President of the United States, the Vice President of the United States. And everything that the President saw every morning, the Vice President saw, I saw, Condi saw and Don Rumsfeld saw.

MR. SCHIEFFER: But why would you not want the man who is supposed to be heading the antiterrorism efforts to know about that?

SECRETARY POWELL: I have no idea what he claims not to know. I mean, he was doing his job. ...

I wish he'd then said:

... and we were doing ours. Part of our job was to discontinue the leaks and reverse the ineffectiveness of holdover Clintoon appointees. Our compartmentalizing the terrorism operations served a second purpose of minimizing the disruptiveness of those holdovers like Mr.Clarke while we were in the process of putting the Bush policies on their feet, so there was a good reason he was out of the loop.

Unfortunately, due to the SoreLoserman debacle and the obstructionism of the Demodogs in Congress it took us until Sep.4 to have our plans solidified. That hit the president's desk in under a week, but it was not yet place. Many ineffective 'Toon holdovers were still in inappropriately responsible position on Sep.11, but fortunately we were able to respond rapidly to that since we had been working this threat and we were able to prevent even more terrorist damage in the following days and months ...

Like I said, ... I'm not a diplomat ...

[Mo1]

This is on their website??

Hmmmmmm .. smart move

[Howlin]

If Condi can get this stuff in front of the national cameras, this would be great.

[HairOfTheDog]

Good interview. Wish I had seen it because I like Powell a lot. He has a calm confident demeanor that I am sure is a benefit to everyone he works with.

I fear that even when Condi testifies, the vast majority of people will not have the attention span to listen in full... the flash has already happened. We heard from a lot of good people last week in these hearings, and Clarke is unfortunately the only one people will remember, from either side. Condi will do well.... and Powell is a big picture guy.... I hope we hear more from them in the coming days.

[hchutch]

Colin Powell does not take much BS from anyone.

I like the guy, even when he makes a bad call (like blacklisting the AUC).

[Howlin]

Mr. Clarke's claim seems to be that, well, we didn't have enough meetings of the kind that he liked.

*Snicker*

[Mo1]

BTW .. did you see Brit Humes show last night and him commenting on what 60 Minutes cut out of Condi's interview .. like the part where she said there were 46 meetings with Tenet prior to 9/11

[MEG33]

I enjoyed reading this but I loved hearing and seeing it.I never watch FTN but I saw this and Powell was very confident and firm in his statements.I believe he is terrific when challenged like this.Bravo,Secy,Powell!

[OldFriend]

These baseless attacks on the president have served to solidify the loyalty his staff has for him and the rest of the administration.

[justshutupandtakeit]

Clarke's testimony has blown up in the RATmedia's faces big time and the people ain't buying. Condi will just put the final nail in the coffin and point out irrefutably that he is just a lyin' RAT.

Once again the RAT's have overreached and led themselves into a disaster. Apparently the sadomasochists have taken over and can't wait to get whipped by Condi. It is going to be a beautiful sight to see.

[monday]

"Clarke was OUT OF THE LOOP ... both he and the administration were working to get him out and keep him out"

Why have an anti terrorism office if you are going to keep the head of the office "out of the loop" on matters related to terrorism? Sounds like a pretty ignorant thing to do if it is indeed true.

Bush should have fired Clark and replaced him with someone he trusted enough to be "in the loop" or simply shut down the anti terrorism office all together.

Oh thats right, Bush wants to be everyones buddy. Can't go around firing people, even if he doesn't trust them. Bush is a wimp. He should have fired all those Clinton appointees the moment he took office.

Strange that no one was smart enough to ask Clark the only question that really matters.

"Did you, or anyone else know 9/11 was going to happen before hand, and if so, why didn't you do something to prevent it?"

He was director of the terrorism office after all.

[Bahbah]

"Mr. Clarke's claim seems to be that, well, we didn't have enough meetings of the kind that he liked."

Bwahahahah, there you have it in a nutshell. He wasn't the star. The bloody little pig.

[Bahbah]

"I'm not a diplomat ..."

LOL, no kidding.

[Chi-townChief]

"Mr. Clarke, you may pick up your kicked pasty fat ass anytime you like."

[malia]

Everything you pulled out of the interview answered the questions. It was a terrific interview. Wish I had seen it live.

It will not matter what the answers are to Bob Schieffer and Karen Tumulty, or any other like people. How many ways does it have to be said that Dickie Clarke was useless to the Bush Team!! The only answer the media will be satisfied with is - President George W. Bush caused 9/11 and in doing that they protect their impeached x42 clinton. It is all about clinton's legacy. How can clinton write a book about being president when he failed at the most basic of his duties. National Security. And he did fail.

Three Cheers for Secretary Powell! BTW just remember how the media tried to make trouble between President Bush/Powell - Rumsfeld/Powell and there was another.

SECRETARY POWELL: I think the context in which Vice President Cheney said that was that there was a new loop that was in place and that it was the Director of Central Intelligence, who was speaking to the President every morning and giving him his intelligence information, and not just a book being sent in, as had been the case, I believe, under the Clinton Administration.

So there was a loop now that included the direct input of intelligence information, to include threat and terror intelligence information, to the President of the United States, the Vice President of the United States. And everything that the President saw every morning, the Vice President saw, I saw, Condi saw and Don Rumsfeld saw.

But not Dickie Clarke. Just another used up clinton ho!

[Darlin']

Last night Brit Hume said Condi's entire interview with Ed Bradley was 36 minutes long but only 12 minutes worth made the segment. One of the facts left on the cutting room floor was that prior to 9-11 President Bush met with George Tenet 46 or 47 times.