Found notes may show Bush plan on Clarke

UPI ^ | 3/31/04 | Pamela Hess

[South40]

WASHINGTON, March 31 (UPI) -- The White House was worried about the damaging testimony of a former counter-terrorism chief to a commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks last week but was trying to let the issue die on its own, according to Pentagon briefing notes found at a Washington coffee shop.

"Stay inside the lines. We don't need to puff this (up). We need (to) be careful as hell about it," the handwritten notes say. "This thing will go away soon and what will keep it alive will be one of us going over the line."

The notes were written by Pentagon political appointee Eric Ruff who left them in a Starbucks coffee shop in Dupont Circle, not far from U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's home.

The notes are genuine, a Pentagon official said. They were compiled for an early morning briefing for Rumsfeld before the Sunday morning talk shows, during which administration officials conducted a flurry of interviews to counter the testimony of Richard Clarke, President George W. Bush's former terrorism czar who left the post in 2003. Rumsfeld appeared on Fox and ABC.

The Starbucks customer who found them gave them to the liberal advocacy group the Center for American Progress, which published them on its Web site Wednesday. Included in the notes was a hand-drawn map to Rumsfeld's house, which is largely blacked out on the Web site for security reasons.

Clarke told the commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks that the White House was obsessed with Iraq and ignored warning from him and others that al-Qaida was the real threat to the United States. Bush signed an order Sept. 17 directing the Pentagon to begin planning military options for an invasion of Iraq, the commission staff reported.

The Starbucks notes, printed on paper titled "Eric's Telephone Log" with a notation indicating the points came from a conference call, counseled to "rise above Clark" and "emphasize importance of 9-11 commission and come back to what we have done."

Since the notes were found, however, the White House has decided to allow national security adviser Condoleezza Rice to testify before the committee under oath. She will provide a direct answer to Clarke's account.

Rice answered Clarke's allegations in media appearances last week but declined to provide sworn public testimony to the panel, saying it set a dangerous precedent for the separation of powers between the executive and legislative branches of government.

One of Clarke's most damaging allegations is that he crafted an anti-terrorism plan -- a National Security Presidential Directive -- to take on al-Qaida in January 2001. The NSPD was not approved until Sept. 4, and neither was it substantially changed in the intervening months, according to Clarke. He has challenged the White House to release both documents to allow for a side-by-side comparison.

The notes address this matter, saying the plan to attack the Taliban existed before Sept. 4.

"The NSPD wasn't signed till Sept. 4 but had an annex going back to July (with) contingency plans to attack Taliban," the notes say.

That point is related to another in the notes. The briefing says commission member Jamie Gorelick, a former general counsel of the Defense Department under President Clinton, was pitting Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage against Rice. Under sworn testimony, Armitage contradicted Rice's claim the White House had a strategy before Sept. 11 that called for military operations against al-Qaida and the Taliban.

[Enduring Freedom]

Dickie Clarke whines, but no one is listening.

Here's the truth:

This plan, NEVER ENACTED BY KLINTON, was to be implemented over THREE YEARS, beginning with dialogue with the Taliban.

Fact is nothing other than CIA & FBI intelligence could have detected and stopped the 9/11 hijackers after Bush took office. Nothing.

However, Klinton's avoidance of the 1st WTC terrorist bombing in 1993, a disgraceful and shameless act, was directly linked to the eventual attack.

Eight years under Klinton vs. Eight months under Bush.

Bush launched an offensive that saw the American military conquer invincible Afghanistan and walk the streets of Kandahar only 59 days after the 2nd WTC attack.

[mrsmith]

From the paper ( there's a PDF copy at John Podesta's CFAP):

"...Sept 4 NSPD had an annex going back to July- contingency plans to attack Taliban"

Clarke said the NSPD was the same as he'd offered in January, but this says it was changed in July.

Podesta must have told UPI not to report that part. Just the part about the administration plot not to attack Clarke.

[michigander]

Nice reply.

This Ruff guy needs to be taken out to the woodshed for this.

[So Cal Rocket]

Biography for Eric Ruff

Eric Ruff is the Director of Communications for the Office of the Secretary, a position not subject to Senate approval. Before joining Interior, Ruff was providing on-the-ground counsel to executives and media relations staff at the Monsanto Company in St. Louis, Missouri. He developed and carried out an array of strategic and tactical programs in support of the company’s global agricultural biotechnology acceptance campaign.

Before working on biotechnology, Ruff served as the senior vice president of communications and technology for the National Restaurant Association, overseeing its efforts to promote the restaurant industry and its views to the publicand the news media.

Prior to joining the association, Ruff spent several years in senior public affairs positions in government. In the U.S. Senate he was communications director for Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) and Senator John Warner (R-VA). In the Administration of President George Herbert Walker Bush he served in public affairs posts at the U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Commerce.

Earlier he served as legislative assistant for Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska). After managing the successful 1986 re-election campaign of Att.Gen. Brian McKay of Nevada, Ruff jointed DRGM, the state’s largest advertising and marketing agency, where he represented Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Nevada in Carson City. He also directed the agency’s highly successful public relations campaign for the Nevada mining industry.

In his earlier career as a journalist, Ruff covered Capitol Hill for Congressional Quarterly. Prior to working for CQ, he covered Congress as a bureau chief and regional reporter for the Donrey Media Group. Ruff and his wife, Rebecca, live in Arlington, Va., and have two sons.

[MamaLucci]

An absolute MUST READ.


When former White House counterterrorism czar Richard Clarke fingered President George W. Bush for having "botched the response to 9/11," he and other critics left out a major point: Until just two months before the attack, nearly all the senior counterterrorism and intelligence officials on duty at the time were holdovers from the Clinton administration.

Here's a link for ya.

[Southack]

"WASHINGTON, March 31 (UPI) -- The White House was worried about the damaging testimony of a former counter-terrorism chief to a commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks last week but was trying to let the issue die on its own, according to Pentagon briefing notes found at a Washington coffee shop.

"Stay inside the lines. We don't need to puff this (up). We need (to) be careful as hell about it," the handwritten notes say. "This thing will go away soon and what will keep it alive will be one of us going over the line."

In the old days, one of the things that Free Republuic did well was to actually analyze what was written in articles.

Look above. The lead in paragraph is pure editorial conjecture. The author is taking a guess at what the notes mean.

Then the 2nd paragraph is actually the money quote from the notes.

Notice that the notes themselves don't agree with the author's original speculation. Her bias led her astray, most likely.

From just what she printed of the notes, the White House is simply expressing caution as well as insisting that everyone involved take the high road rather than simply take pot shots at Clarke.

[pointsal]

poor job

[Steve_Seattle]

Right after 9-11, I recall having conversations with a liberal friend who claimed the Bush administration had developed a contingency plan to attack Afghanistan prior to 9-11 (his take, of course, was that this was an oil-related scheme). Now, the liberals are complaining that Bush DIDN'T have a plan to go into Afghanistan.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

The notes were written by Pentagon political appointee Eric Ruff who left them in a Starbucks coffee shop in Dupont Circle

"Eric...you're fired."

[Law is not justice but process]

Maybe I will go "loose" some notes in a Starbucks that will make the Democrats look really bad. Then we can see if that shows up on UPI.

[rhombus]

Hey these notes don't make them look bad, they make them look reasonable. Maybe the were lost on purpose. They sure read better than those democrat memoes from the judicial committee.

[anniegetyourgun]

This stuff is starting to make me laugh out loud. And they call themselves "journalists." HAHAHAHAHAHA..........

[cricket]

"Anytime the Republican Party wants to spread some disinfo, just "accidentally" leave some handwritten notes at a DC-area Starbucks."

LOL. . .Have always recommended it as good place to accidentally. . .drop some truth!

[Iron Matron]

There's nothing in the notes... However, I think I'll bypass Starbucks for coffee from now on since their employees don't respect customer privacy..


I'm happy to report that Starbucks just opened a new starbucks in Odessa. Now I can bypass them too!

[Law is not justice but process]

I quite agree with you on that. I guess I phrased my point poorly. What I wanted to point out is how UPI picked this up and tried to spin it as embarassing whereas they would be indignant at the intrusion of Democrat privacy if the shoe was on the other foot. Just another attempt at a "liberal press bias" rant.

[aShepard]

Now, Eric, just where did you leave your laptop computer?

Jerk!

[CyberAnt]

Thanks for connecting that. I posted the original Waller article regarding this issue - and the link you cited is his updated article. Good catch!

[CyberAnt]

Yeah, Charles Ruff (I think). Don't know if there is any connection. But, looking at who Ruff has worked for - I'd say that even if there was a connection, Charles wasn't much of an influence on Eric's choice of politics.

[cricket]

"Imagine if the notes were found from a Clinton aide. It would say something like, "We have to pull out the FBI files. Say he's a flamer, attack his Grandma, call Peter Jennings and have him do a hit piece."

LOL. . .and see how many times you can use the following in one sentence. . .Enron; Enron friends; Haliburton; pretext for war; oil; oil scheme; disengenuous; 'If I only had a brain. . .and of course, those WMD's. . .

[MamaLucci]

My pleasure. The issue of dem obstruction of the President's political appointees, etc. has not gotten the attention that it deseves.