Skip to comments.
Hardball Tonight: Clarke - 9/11 Might Have Been Prevented
MSNBC ^
| Updated: 3:35 p.m. ET March 31, 2004
| Alex Johnson
Posted on 03/31/2004 1:03:36 PM PST by ironman
NEW YORK - Richard Clarke, President Bushs former chief counterterrorism adviser, said Wednesday that it was possible that he and his team could have prevented the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks if the Bush administration had paid more attention ahead of time to Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaida terror network.
Clarkes comments, in an hourlong interview on MSNBCs Hardball, were a departure from the testimony he gave last week before the independent commission investigating the attacks, when he answered no to the question of whether there was the remotest chance that it would have prevented 9/11 even if everything he had called for had been implemented.
But Clarke told MSNBCs Chris Matthews that he hoped he and his team would have been able to take action to quash the attacks, which killed about 3,000 people in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania, had the CIA and the FBI sufficiently coordinated the bits and pieces of information they had about the 19 Saudis who hijacked four planes and crashed them in the worst attack on U.S. soil.
Acknowledging that he was indulging in 20/20 hindsight, Clarke said it was likely that he could have made a difference had he known that some of the hijackers were in the country ahead of time and had drawn suspicion. The full interview is scheduled to air today at 7 p.m. ET on MSNBC-TV.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
TOPICS: Announcements; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: bushknew; richardclarke
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 121-140, 141-160, 161-180 ... 481-496 next last
To: ironman
I cannot stomach one more sentence from this traitor to this country.
141
posted on
03/31/2004 3:26:02 PM PST
by
ladyinred
(Weakness Invites War. Peace through Strength (Margaret Thatcher))
To: ironman
Yes Yes 9-11 could have been prevented, but the outcry of federal officers stroming airplane nationwide and dragging of Arab men would have been deafening from puppet groups like the ACLU, NAACP and other professional protest and democrat puppets. Should have Could Have Would have.
142
posted on
03/31/2004 3:28:44 PM PST
by
Trueblackman
(I want to be the 44th White President.)
To: Howlin
I take it this is the right thread??
143
posted on
03/31/2004 3:30:14 PM PST
by
Mo1
(Do you want a president who injects poison into his skull for vanity?)
To: 1Mike; 3catsanadog; ~Vor~; ~Kim4VRWC's~; A CA Guy; A Citizen Reporter; abner; Aeronaut; AFPhys; ...
Everybody over here for the live thread!!!
144
posted on
03/31/2004 3:31:15 PM PST
by
Howlin
To: Howlin
Present and thanks.
145
posted on
03/31/2004 3:31:59 PM PST
by
onyx
(Kerry' s a Veteran, but so were Lee Harvey Oswald, Timothy McVeigh and Benedict Arnold.)
To: ironman
With a condom, Clarke could have been prevented.
146
posted on
03/31/2004 3:35:23 PM PST
by
doug from upland
(Don't wait until it is too late to stop Hillary -- do something today!)
To: Howlin
OK!
What is the fuss?
We gonna rip up the Clarke Bar?
147
posted on
03/31/2004 3:36:18 PM PST
by
Cold Heat
(Viet Nam Vet's are "NOT FONDA " John Kerry!)
To: kabar
Clarke's assertion that the Clinton administration placed a higher priority on fighting terrorism is belied by their reaction to the attacks on our embassies.If you'll permit a little "correction:" Clarke's assertion that the Clinton administration placed a higher priority on fighting terrorism is...laughable.
148
posted on
03/31/2004 3:37:25 PM PST
by
Wolfstar
(Yo, "real" conservatives. Spain's election is clear. Jihadists are on Kerry's side. Are you?)
To: Howlin
okay
To: samadams2000
Right. After all, Gergen and Isikoff are SO fair and balanced!
Mabye they could get Christina van whatever he name is, too!
150
posted on
03/31/2004 3:39:32 PM PST
by
Howlin
To: ladyinred
I cannot stomach one more sentence from this traitor to this country.Me neither. But here is a quote from a Democrat former NSC colleague, Coit Blacker that disputes Clarke:
"I'm uncomfortable with the charge that somehow the Bush people ignored or didn't treat in a serious way the fact that this country was under major threat from terrorist organizations," said Coit Blacker, a former National Security Council (NSC) official who was special assistant to President Clinton.
"I just don't think that's right," Mr. Blacker said. "They may not have been sufficiently attentive to what Dick thought they needed to know, but that's not the same thing as taking a cavalier attitude toward the threat."
The thread about it is here.
Prairie
151
posted on
03/31/2004 3:43:46 PM PST
by
prairiebreeze
(We will not deny, ignore or pass our problems along to other Presidents. ---GWBush)
To: umgud
I don't have a problem with anything Clarke is saying. My problem is that the mainstream media promotes his words as gospel and uses them in the media inspired inquisition of Bush. I also am pi$$ed the media promotes his book that would have went nowhere without their help.
Me too, just sent another donation to the Bush Camp. They are going to need all the help they can get given how the DNC directed "News Media" has pulled out all the stops to smear Bush.
152
posted on
03/31/2004 3:45:06 PM PST
by
MNJohnnie
(If you have to pretend to be something you are not, you have all ready lost the debate)
To: prairiebreeze
Oh, that's a Clinton guy, too!
Wasn't there one yesterday from a guy who was actually in the Situation Room with Clarke on 9-11?
153
posted on
03/31/2004 3:45:20 PM PST
by
Howlin
To: kabar
Sending them an email does have a cathartic effect. I wish someone in the Administration or the media would pick up on the fact that the number of casualties inflicted by AQ prior to 9/11 were huge. Clarke attempts to minimize the damage prior to 9/11 by citing just the US deaths. The property damage was also in the hundreds of millions. Clarke knows the causus belli was well before 9/11 and he should assume some of the blame for our policy.
Actually I think they should just back off an let Clarke and the media hang themselves. When they stuff like "well only 36 people dies on Clinton's watch" they look petty, childish and irrational. The MORE exposure Clarke gets, the MORE the Media hyperventilates about Clarke the LESS the Average Voter takes them seriously. I suspect that Bush's numbers at the end of April will be higher then right now MAINLY because of Clarke. For the average voters there is the for Bush Crowd and the Anti-Bush crowd and having wacko hate filled bigots like Clarke and MoveOn.org linked to Kerry does NOTHING to help Kerry with the Political Middle
154
posted on
03/31/2004 3:51:06 PM PST
by
MNJohnnie
(If you have to pretend to be something you are not, you have all ready lost the debate)
To: Howlin
Without going through the whole "Bush at War" book by Woodward, I'd be interested in knowing the entire quote attributed to President Bush that he wasn't focused on terrorism pre-9/11.
Does anyone have that quote handy?
155
posted on
03/31/2004 3:54:20 PM PST
by
Peach
To: rocklobster11
I really like this quote from the MSNBC article:
Clarkes testimony was considered so damaging that the White House agreed Monday to allow the commission to question Rice in public and under oath, reversing course after insisting that she should not have to do so to protect the presidents executive privilege.
Oh yeah, it was so damaging that Bush is UP to 51% in the latest Pro Democrat POST CLARKE CNN/GALLUP poll. OH my MR DNC Media, please don't inflict any more such damage on President Bush.
The media clowns still do not get it. The bulk of the American people neither like nor trust them.
156
posted on
03/31/2004 3:54:30 PM PST
by
MNJohnnie
(If you have to pretend to be something you are not, you have all ready lost the debate)
To: Howlin
The more he talks, the loonier he looks, IMO. He's taking on that Captain Queeg demeanor now.Absolutely! Partly because I was in the middle of moving when this story broke, and partly because I didn't want to polute what's left of my brain (post-move) with the blatherings of a bitter Leftist bureaucrat, I've paid virtually no attention to this story. Which is to say I've gotten news about it in the same way the vast majority of Americans usually get their news in bits and pieces as events of the day sort of wash over them while the TV or radio is on in the background of their lives.
Even paying such sparse attention, the strongest impression that came through to me was that this guy is a mean, bitter, near-anonymous DC bureaucrat who hung around the fringes of power long enough to acquire too high an opinion of himself. I keep wondering if the idea for doing a book was his own, or if someone approached him and offered a fat deal (read bribe) if he'd come up with something to rock the Bush administration.
Doing it on your own can take upwards of a year or more to develop a book proposal, shop it around, get a contract with a publisher, write the manuscript, self-edit it, have the publisher's editor work on it, get it on the publishing schedule, get it printed, bound and out to bookstores, and arrange for a book tour. (Of course, if someone connected to a publisher approaches you to do a book, the first several steps are unnecessary.) When did Clarke leave his government job?
157
posted on
03/31/2004 3:59:39 PM PST
by
Wolfstar
(Yo, "real" conservatives. Spain's election is clear. Jihadists are on Kerry's side. Are you?)
To: Howlin
It's On!!!
158
posted on
03/31/2004 4:00:30 PM PST
by
Mo1
(Do you want a president who injects poison into his skull for vanity?)
To: Mo1
And I am FURIOUS already.
He said that Cheney testifying with Bush would "help him" remember some of the answers.
159
posted on
03/31/2004 4:01:25 PM PST
by
Howlin
To: Howlin
What an ASS!
160
posted on
03/31/2004 4:01:51 PM PST
by
EllaMinnow
("Pessimism never won any battle." - Dwight D. Eisenhower)
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 121-140, 141-160, 161-180 ... 481-496 next last
Disclaimer:
Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual
posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its
management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the
exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson