Montreal man linked to Clark controversy - Presidential candidate claims pressure

The Star ^ | 9/18/03

[areafiftyone]

WASHINGTON—A Montreal man has emerged as the key figure in a controversy that has dogged Democratic presidential aspirant Wesley Clark during the summer months.

Questions have swirled since June when the former NATO commander alleged on national television that he was pressured to link the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein in a mystery phone call he received.

Clark first implied the call, not long after the attacks, might have come from White House, then later said it came from a Middle Eastern think tank in Canada. He has never identified the caller.

As Clark kicked off his campaign yesterday in Little Rock, Ark., Thomas Hecht, founder of the Begin-Sadat Centre for Strategic Studies, told the Star he placed the call to Clark and drew his attention to a potential link between Saddam and the Al Qaeda suicide hijackers.

But Hecht said he did not pressure the former army general, who became a CNN commentator after retiring from the military, to make the link and said the matter was raised in a phone call inviting Clark to come to Montreal for a speech.

Clark's original claim and its subsequent variations had drawn much press and Internet attention in the United States as it became increasingly clear he was set to become the 10th candidate for the Democratic nomination.

Clark told the widely watched NBC show Meet the Press June 15 that the pressure to make the link "came from the White House, it came from people around the White House. It came from all over.

"I got a call on 9/11. I was on CNN, and I got a call at my home saying, `You got to say this is connected. This is state-sponsored terrorism. This has to be connected to Saddam Hussein.'"

Clark, in the interview, said he asked for evidence of the link and received none and still hasn't seen any evidence.

As he prepared for his presidential bid, Clark backed away from his comment, denying he was drawing a link to the White House, telling Fox News in July: "I personally got a call from a fellow in Canada who is part of a Middle Eastern think tank who gets inside intelligence information. He called me on 9/11."

Later in July, in another television interview, he said: The call came from "a man from a Middle East think tank in Canada, the man who's the brother of a very close friend of mine in Belgium. He's very well connected to Israeli intelligence and he follows Middle Eastern events very closely."

Hecht said his sister, who lives in Brussels, knows Clark socially.

One columnist, George Will of the Washington Post, took Clark to task because, he said, there was no Middle East think tank in Canada.

The Begin-Sadat Centre has its headquarters in Israel and its only office elsewhere is the one Hecht established in Montreal. Former prime minister Brian Mulroney is on its board, but strictly in a ceremonial role, Hecht said.

Hecht said he called Clark either Sept. 12 or Sept. 13 — not the morning of the attacks, as the former general said — but he merely passed on information he had received from Israel which drew a purported link.

Hecht said Clark called him in Montreal Sept. 7 this year to clarify the conversation the two men had, perhaps in anticipation of the question being raised again as part of his campaign.

"I told him the Begin-Sadat Centre is a center for strategic studies in Israel and has made various studies on the Iraqi threat to the state of Israel and therefore we have carried out analyses of what connection there could be between Saddam Hussein and other militant Islamic groups," Hecht said.

"I don't know why I would be confused with the White House. I don't even have white paint on my house," he added. "I saw those comments he made and I just chuckled."

The Clark campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

[Peach]

LOL. I'm sure Weasley Clark was the last person on the minds of ANYONE on 9/11, let alone the White House.

He is a malignant narcissist to even make such a bizarre claim, a term I've seen a few conservative writers begin to use to refer to the leftists who will spin their way to power and try to dazzle the uninformed electorate.

[Peach]

Good points; it would explain the otherwise unexplainable.

[Shermy]

There aren't many more political jobs in the world than being a general. Making to 4 stars he obviously learned the art of phraseology as good as any politician.

Yep, that's true. He also suffers from the temptation of saying more than he really knows, an affliction from the temptations and demands of a cable TV/talking head employment. IMO.

[Peach]

Thank you! I've seen you in the trenches doing the hard work too and without FR, we wouldn't be nearly so successful getting the word out.

It's almost too easy and it makes one wonder why the left continues to spin their little webs but perhaps they didn't understand Gore when he talked about how the internet would change the world! LOL

[Howlin]

Clark first implied the call, not long after the attacks, might have come from White House

BS.

He flat out said it. I heard him.

He implied NOTHING.

[Shermy]

LOL. I'm sure Weasley Clark was the last person on the minds of ANYONE on 9/11, let alone the White House.

Well, some Canadian guy cared. And what's that thing about his sister...?

[BlessedByLiberty]

Oops, didn't make myself clear - I know they had suspicions of who the perps might be - afterall they were already preparing a case to go after Bin Laden. However,I cannot believe this White House under such circumstances would be so foolish enough to take a moment on 9/11 itself to contact Wesly Clark to discuss who was behind the attacks to ask Clark to link them with Hussein.

Does anyone know if there had been contact between this Administration and Clark prior to 9/11? Especially if there had been no prior contact, it would make his claims even more far-fetched.

[Peach]

Those are some pretty impressive links - thank you and saved to my files.

[DaBearOne]

This is proof that it is all President's Bush fault.
After all he lives in the WH.

I hate being smarter than a Democrat...they should have known all along how the Bush adminstration is to blame for EVERYTHING!
Gee, I wish they would stay on message...

[Peach]

I agree partly with what you said, but Clark continued with his self-important lies for a fairly long time after the immediate crisis of 9/11 was over.

He'd have been better off just dropping it rather than changing stories 3 times (at last count).

[dljordan]

Lying must be a character trait of Rhodes Scholars from Arkansas.

[BlessedByLiberty]

Okay, I can picture Dick Cheney, no Condi Rice, no Rumsfeld! saying "Quick, get Weasley Clark on the line. I need him to say this on CNN!"

Now that's entertainment!

[Alamo-Girl]

I checked the Downside Legacy, and I don't have that name anywhere. Sorry about that...

[Peach]

I heard it, too Howlin. And more than once, BTW. But we can't convince those who would like to believe otherwise.

Glad to hear you have power and have made out okay in the hurricane!

[Peach]

LOL! Yes, as they were all fleeing for their lives, they were thinking to call Weasley Clark to push the Iraqi connection.

I'm not really a conspiracy theorist, but I did sleep in a Holiday Inn last night.

[Atlas Sneezed]

This feels like a "Perot" moment.

[mewzilla]

I checked the Downside Legacy, and I don't have that name anywhere.

Not yet :)

Sorry about that...

None needed. The DSL is an info treasure trove.

[Shermy]

Actually I was hoping the Canadian connection was something bigger, more ready to be spun as ominous.

Why? In the spirit of the movie "Dr. Strangelove" I was going to name Wesley as "The Manitoban Candidate"

;)

[MEG33]

He said the pressure was from the White House and people around the White House.