Hardball Tonight: Clarke - 9/11 Might Have Been Prevented

MSNBC ^ | Updated: 3:35 p.m. ET March 31, 2004 | Alex Johnson

[ironman]

NEW YORK - Richard Clarke, President Bush’s 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.

Clarke’s comments, in an hourlong interview on MSNBC’s “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 MSNBC’s 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.

[Mo1]

Sickening Senator Corzine was on Hannity's show today and would not disagree with Clarke. Corzine said the Bush administration was obsessed with Iraq, blah blah blah. He also said that people who go rustling around in documents belonging to the Senate Intelligence Committee are the bad guys. The content of the memo wasn't political in his opinion, but whomever leaked it was being political.

Gee .. interesting that Corzine thinks Clarke is believable when not to long ago (when Memogate hit) Corzine was saying that whistle blowers aren't believable

[cyncooper]

I think his underlying MO is/was to take down everyone he had to report to, from Condi Rice, to Ms. Plame

Don't put Plame in that group. If he mentioned her it was to puff her and Wilson up, not to take them down.

Typical dems, once Novak did write his piece they crafted the "outing" talking point, much like those "stolen FBI files" were squirreled away by dems, then they point the finger at the "Nixonian dirty tricks GOP". Just tweaking facts to suit themselves.

[cyncooper]

I posted an article by Novak just the other day. It was on Clarke but I was looking for hints if he's the one who told Novak why Wilson went to Niger. I didn't see any though one poster thought Novak was sending signals over the heads of the average reader.

(Repeating my point that there was no "outing" or anything criminal in someone saying what they said to Novak)

[cyncooper]

This [from Congressman Shays own website] is what I have NOT heard anyone ask the certifiably insane RAC

It is outrageous that Russert and Matthews welcome the likes of Clarke on their programs and act like he has even one bit of credibility and actually act like the Bush administration has been dishonest or at least not given terrorism appropriate attention when they MUST know that Clarke's self-aggrandizing account in his damn book and testimony is undercut by Shays, for just one example.

They are not to be respected or trusted ever again.

[arasina]

It's almost as if the left thinks that people can be deceived enough to lose sight of what they themselves experienced. It had a profound effect on ALL of us. We saw the quick reaction to 9/11 by the Bush administration. NO amount of spin can change that!

I will say that I hope President Bush takes just as strong a tack with the debacle in Falujah. Get the innocents out of the way and then bomb those evil people like the Iraelis did to Yassin. Then we should spray the town with bacon grease or something. We can't have our good Marines and civilian workers being blown to bits and dragged through the streets and do nothing in response. My prayers for the families. They are surely devastated for the rest of their lives.

[EllaMinnow]

This is what bothered me the most...according to Clarke, he was the only smart person in the White House. He was the only intuitive person in the White House. He was the only reasonable person in the White House. If only the fools had trusted him, and told him everything they knew, he would have saved the world...

He truly is a megalomaniac, and Chris was feeding his megolomania with both hands. It seems to never have occured to Chrissy that when ten people disagree with the eleventh person, just maybe the ten are the ones who are right.

[prairiebreeze]

Interesting. Thanks!

[cyncooper]

when ten people disagree with the eleventh person, just maybe the ten are the ones who are right.

EXACTLY. Well said.

[arasina]

Clarke left his post at the White House in January, 2003. I don't think he is the source of the leak to Novak since his column on the Wilson-yellow cake issue didn't appear until July.

I wish Novak would just open up and give the name of the leaker just like he opened up with Valerie Plame's name! He's supposedly doing the "honorable journalist" thing. Bah!

[cyncooper]

I seem to recall Novak said he talked to a couple sources and he said they weren't in the the WH. I seem to recall one was a former official.

I don't have my heart set on it, and you may be right. My point was the man's a talker, he reminds of Wilson, more than likely sympathizes and agrees with Wilson and above all I wanted to make the point that there really wasn't an "outing" or "leak" about Plame in the way Wilson would have one believe and I don't think his wife's CIA affiliation was a big secret.

[cyncooper]

This is the most bizarre "interview" I've ever seen.

Uh, how shall I say this...It sounds like when Thompson said last night he hoped Chris would "put the screws to Clarke" Chris got the wrong idea...

It sounds worse than I dared imagine.

[EllaMinnow]

It really tells us more than we need to know about Chrissy's private life that when someone says "put the screws to" he takes it as bend over and grab your ankles.

[cajungirl]

I couldn't watch. It started and my husband was shaking and yelling , turn it off, like we were going to get a disease watching it. My thanks to all who did,,it is a dirty job. I think this man is very close to the edge. He is narcissitic, very grandiose and full of hate and venom. He however, from what I read above, is scared to death of GWB.

[MamaLucci]

This one's for you:

Monday March 29, 2004

MSNBC HARDBALL 0.5 rating share

Glad I missed it.;)

[EllaMinnow]

Thank you, thank you! I'm basking in schadenfreude!

[CyberAnt]

Good point! Tie Clarke to Kerry AND TO HILLARY!

[CyberAnt]

You forgot one thing - all that is a departure from what's in his book - a least a lot of it.

[Spotsy]

great summary in your post

The news media are treating Clarke's opinions of Operation Iraqi Freedom like "gotcha statements," as if there is some concrete measurement to determine if a war is just or unjust, and to determine if it was right or wrong for the War on Terror.

Clarke's opinion is just that - an opinion. And I don't share his opinion.

Bush's foreign policy and his prosecution of the War on Terror are often criticized as a "radical departure" from previous US policies - darn right they are a radical departure, especially from the policies of the previous administration!!

[cyncooper]

They will try to use all of her prior statements to impeach her testimony and make her out to be untruthful.

"Try" being the operative word. Good always triumphs over evil and will this time. We do have precedent to look to, and believe me, despite the efforts of the media Clarke is NOT gaining a following.

[CyberAnt]

Yeah, this is from J. Michael Waller's articles about all the obstruction the Bush admin has had to put up with since they took office.