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 ... 41-60, 61-80, 81-100 ... 481-496 next last
To: ironman
Gee, I have this desire to grab the nearest baseball bat! I don't know why!!!
61
posted on
03/31/2004 1:40:56 PM PST
by
HenryLeeII
("The war on terror is not a figure of speech, it is an inescapable calling of our generation." -GWB)
To: Steve_Seattle
The investigation of terror is the responsibility of the FBI and the CIA; more than a year ago, we learned that they dropped the ball on a couple of leads - THAT is where the failure was, but now it's all become politics.And the only hope they have to pin it on Bush is to say that if the White House had had more meetings they could have gotten the information to bubble up through the CIA and FBI. Which is what Clarke is trying to do now, and what I head Richard Ben Veniste say on hardball last night.
It's really no different than what Time said in the summer of 2002 right before Clarke gave that awesome press briefing supporting Bush.
To: TomGuy
Koolaid is proud to announce its Sponsorship of the 2004 Democrat Convention in Boston, Mass.. Mr.Robert Shieffer is a CBC-Viacom Shill and is a Guest Host ........................... Is Richard Clarke having a gay mans midlife crisis???...................................
63
posted on
03/31/2004 1:43:22 PM PST
by
Helms
To: Howlin
So, his remarks tonight are a departure from what he said last week, which, according to committee members, was a departure from what he told them in private. Am I up to date?Yes, exactly. To paraphrase the man who could have saved America if only Bush had listened, pay no attention to what he said in the past. He was only trying to put a positive spin on things.
64
posted on
03/31/2004 1:43:30 PM PST
by
HenryLeeII
("The war on terror is not a figure of speech, it is an inescapable calling of our generation." -GWB)
To: Southflanknorthpawsis
It happened to Gore, why not him?
65
posted on
03/31/2004 1:43:47 PM PST
by
Syncro
To: ironman
IMHO, Mr.Clarke is a General Patton wanabee.
66
posted on
03/31/2004 1:43:55 PM PST
by
jos65
To: Jan Hus
67
posted on
03/31/2004 1:43:59 PM PST
by
ironman
To: Howlin
Heh, heh, heh. This guy is cooking his own goose right in front of us. That's the problem with liars, they just keep digging the hole deeper and deeper and deeper.
68
posted on
03/31/2004 1:44:44 PM PST
by
McGavin999
(Evil thrives when good men do nothing!)
To: ironman
Delusions of granduer.
69
posted on
03/31/2004 1:44:46 PM PST
by
Finalapproach29er
(" Permitting homosexuality didn't work out very well for the Roman Empire")
To: ironman
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. Translation - "If I had only had been on al-Qaida's distribution list,...."
70
posted on
03/31/2004 1:44:59 PM PST
by
steveegg
(Radical Islam has more in common with Islamic populations than the mainstream media has with America)
To: Howlin
Hehe........let's not forget to watch Hardball tonight!
thank you for the ping
...can't miss this...he's my hero
< /fluttering eyelashes> < /BS>
71
posted on
03/31/2004 1:45:10 PM PST
by
firewalk
To: ReleaseTheHounds
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.
72
posted on
03/31/2004 1:47:49 PM PST
by
kabar
To: ironman
This contradicts his sworn testimony, under questioning from Sec. Lehman.
To: ironman
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.
So the media and the Dems, and even some Republicans pound on the White House for weeks to have her testify in public, and when the White House agrees it is because of Richard Clarke's damaging testimony?
To: Howlin
From the article:
He said his access to senior officials was cut off by the new Bush administration, which he said did not consider terrorism to be an urgent problem.
Christopher Shays sent a letter to Condi pronto, January 22, 2001, to alert her not to depend on Clarke and I'm sure that started the ball rolling when she assessed him and agreed.
In Clarke's world, if he's not at a meeting it didn't happen.
Shays: Clarke Statements Revisionist
See link for Shays' comments and link to pdf files with most interesting remarks to and about Clarke. The media is ignoring his assessment of this lunatic. I'll bet Chrissy flat out ignored them, too.
75
posted on
03/31/2004 1:49:18 PM PST
by
cyncooper
("The 'War on Terror ' is not a figure of speech")
To: Helms
76
posted on
03/31/2004 1:49:21 PM PST
by
onyx
(Kerry' s a Veteran, but so were Lee Harvey Oswald, Timothy McVeigh and Benedict Arnold.)
To: ironman
In the immortal words of the Queen B****, "Could'a, should'a, would'a."
77
posted on
03/31/2004 1:49:37 PM PST
by
E. Pluribus Unum
(Drug prohibition laws help fund terrorism.)
To: rocklobster11
You didn't get the mouth quite right.
To: TomGuy
"Clarke also stated in another interview (MTP with Tim Russert, IIRC) that he put his team on highest alert during the summer of 2001 for 6 weeks. Nothing happened, so he released them from highest alert status. That was apparently a week or two before 9-11-01.
Perhaps Clarke's tale is to CYA. It would seem that, if anyone deserved blame, it would be Clarke and his team for Clarke's removing their alert status too early."
I think you make an excellent point. Too bad, though, that the mainstream press prefers to go after Condi's credibility rather than his.
To: ironman
Chris probably said, "Dick, I need you to make news and it has to be devastating for Bush. Say 9-11 could've been prevented."
This Clarke stuff is getting absolutely disgraceful.
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 41-60, 61-80, 81-100 ... 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