Posted on 07/26/2004 2:36:03 PM PDT by swilhelm73
In his apology to the families of the victims of 9/11, Richard Clarke said, "Your government failed you. Those entrusted with protecting you failed you, and I failed you."
The 9/11 Commission's report shows that last statement, "I failed you," to be truer than we knew.
I encourage every American to read the section in the 9/11 Commission Report titled, "The Desert Camp, February 1999," which can be found beginning on page 137, in chapter four.
The section discusses a plan by the Clinton administration to target Osama bin Laden while he was at a desert hunting camp in the Afghan desert south of Kandahar. The camp was a favorite of officials from the United Arab Emirates and bin Laden would often visit from his adjacent camp.
The plan was to hit the camp with cruise missiles when bin Laden was there. However, because of concerns that an Emirati prince or other senior official might be killed in the strike as well, it was never launched.
This is where the story gets interesting, and I'll let the report speak for itself.
Even after Bin Ladin's departure from the area, CIA officers hoped he might return, seeing the camp as a magnet that could draw him for as long as it was still set up. The military maintained readiness for another strike opportunity. On March 7, 1999, Clarke called a UAE official to express his concerns about possible associations between Emirati officials and Bin Ladin. Clarke later wrote in a memorandum of this conversation that the call had been approved at an interagency meeting and cleared with the CIA. When the former Bin Ladin unit chief found out about Clarke's call, he questioned CIA officials, who denied having given such a clearance. Imagery confirmed that less than a week after Clarke's phone call the camp was hurriedly dismantled, and the site was deserted. CIA officers, including Deputy Director for Operations Pavitt, were irate. 'Mike' (the CIA's Bin Ladin unit chief) thought the dismantling of the camp erased a possible site for targeting Bin Ladin.
Clarke's phone call was the equivalent of sending bin Laden a telegram saying, "We know all about the camp and we're watching it." It may have cost us a chance to eliminate bin Laden before 9/11, which could have disrupted al Qaeda's plans and forestalled the attack.
Richard Clarke has condemned the Bush administration for not taking the war on terror seriously. Is tipping off the Emiratis about the hunting camp and their association with bin Laden taking terrorism seriously? After this devastating revelation, hopefully we'll hear no more from Mr. Clarke.
However, I do see a future for him as a Kerry foreign-policy adviser. Let's see: Joe Wilson the fabricator. Sandy Berger the inadvertent thief. Richard Clarke the tipster.
Looks like he'd fit right in.
With Clarke's 'deep' background in..........
Hmmmmmmmm...who knows?,.....
Berger certainly made a 'footnote' of it.
/sarcasm
But, I don't think that I'll hold my breath.
I wonder what Tom Brokaw will have to say about this tonight... (nothing, of course)
From the article: On March 7, 1999, Clarke called a UAE official to express his concerns about possible associations between Emirati officials and Bin Ladin..
bttt
bttt
The underlined link in the reply --- a search engine for the 9/11 Commission's Report.
.
Nice work; and thanks.
Yes .. make sure you badmouth the repubs .. they certainly don't get beat up on enough!!
I have written letter upon letter upon letter, email after email after email expressing my support for aggressive tactics in the Senate, but always receive a bland reply and no action.
I'm sick and tired of watching the demoSCUM school us in politics. It is time for the Senate Republicans to play some hardball.
Who BLABBED that we were listening to Bin Ladens's Cell Phone calls??? Was it a Senator?? Or WHO? Anyone know?/
"I reject your comment. I am Republican to the core."
You can reject my comment if you want; and NO ONE challenged your status as a repub.
The President of the United States is the "leader" of all members of his party .. that means President Bush has control over the repubs .. whether we like it or not.
Majority leaders of both the House and Senate are directed by the President. Yes, I agree there needs to be more agressive behavior by the repubs .. but whining about it doesn't make it happen. And .. just a few months before an election is no time to get heavy-handed with the dems who have a ready and willing media cabal to spew their garbage. Plus .. I believe that after the election, we will see a slightly different tone.
If you're mad .. you might as well say .. "it's Bush's fault".
I just get so frustrated that it seems that we aren't doing enough to fight back at the outright lies.
And, I know, the willing media only amplifies their lies and mutes the truth.
Anyway, just feeling a little frustrusted. Thanks for the attitude adjustment, CyberAnt.
Torricelli.
 |
 |
| Interview: Richrd A. Clarke | |
| President Clinton's national coordinator for counterterrorism, he is currently President Bush's special adviser for cyberspace security. In this interview he talks about the attributes that made John O'Neill stand apart in the world of counterterrorism, sketches Al Qaeda's threat and how it came into focus for U.S. intelligence, and discusses some of John O'Neill's battles, including the USS Cole investigation. This interview was conducted March 20, 2002. | |
"a little frustrated"
I think we all feel that way .. especially having to put up with 24/7 of the dems garbage.
Don't watch the dem convention .. it's designed to make you feel hopeless .. and it's not hopeless .. guaranteed - it's not hopeless.
|
|
| Interview: Richrd A. Clarke | |
| President Clinton's national coordinator for counterterrorism, he is currently President Bush's special adviser for cyberspace security. In this interview he talks about the attributes that made John O'Neill stand apart in the world of counterterrorism, sketches Al Qaeda's threat and how it came into focus for U.S. intelligence, and discusses some of John O'Neill's battles, including the USS Cole investigation. This interview was conducted March 20, 2002. | |
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.