Bombing bin Laden [What Richard Clarke left out of his book]

The New York Times Sunday Book Review ^ | May 9, 2004 | Daniel Willard

[aculeus]

Letter To the Editor [of The Sunday New York Times Book Review]:

I would like to respond to your review of the timely books ''Against All Enemies,'' by Richard A. Clarke, and ''Ghost Wars,'' by Steve Coll (April 11).

I say ''timely'' because I am in the process of reading both, and I find a curious difference in the way they report a certain incident. ''Ghost Wars'' describes a discussion at the Clinton White House of the pros and cons of cruise missile attacks on hunting camps in Afghanistan where Osama bin Laden might have been. Despite his evident desire to ''get'' bin Laden, Clarke is said to have argued against attacking a particular site partly because he was good friends with sheiks of the United Arab Emirates (whose camp this was), and they would also be at risk if present. Clarke had negotiated arms deals with the royal family in the United Arab Emirates, and was apparently concerned about an $8 billion military contract. ''If the United States bombed the camp and killed a few princes,'' Coll writes, ''it could put all that in jeopardy.'' The same attack is discussed in ''Against All Enemies,'' but there Clarke makes no mention of these details.

Daniel Willard Bethesda, Md.

[jla]

Richard A. Clarke

never heard of him.

[corkoman]

the United States bombed the camp and killed a few princes,'' Coll writes, ''it could put all that in jeopardy.''

Politics hampering military decisions...sounds like Rats to me.

I just hope the decision to back off Falujia was done by the military and not the pols.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Richard Clarke is a career government bow-wow who now sees a payday spoiling the next.

[freeangel]

The thought of "either you are with us or against us" would never occur to the left. The loss of American lives in increasing numbers simply would mean that America did something the muslims didn't like and that we should give in to more demands.

[Thebaddog]

There's a disconnect here, if Clarke was a career diplomat, what was he doing negotiating contracts for foreign potentates?

[marbren]

Isn't Clarke responsible for Clinton's cover-up of the TWA 800 attack?

[justshutupandtakeit]

Goreslick.

[dighton]

Doesn't look good for St. Richard.