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Clarke: Clinton Would Have Likely Prevented 9/11 Attacks
NewsMax.com ^
| 3/22/04
| Carl Limbacher and NewsMax.com Staff
Posted on 03/22/2004 1:39:07 AM PST by kattracks
Former White House terrorism czar Richard Clarke said Sunday that President Clinton would have been more likely to prevent the Sept. 11 attacks than President Bush, because he took the threat posed by al Qaeda more seriously.
Praising Clinton for foiling an al Qaeda plot to bomb the Los Angeles airport in late 1999, Clarke told CBS "60 Minutes" that the ex-president ordered his White House to "battle stations" after terrorist chatter indicated an attack was coming.
"In December 1999" said Clarke, "every day or every other day, the head of the FBI and the head of the CIA and the attorney general had to go to the White House and sit in a meeting and report on all the things they personally had done to stop the al Qaeda attack."
He said the meetings forced Clinton officials to return to their agencies and "shake the trees" for evidence of the plot. In the months before Sept. 11, however, Clarke said Bush did nothing similar.
If Bush had followed the Clinton model, said Clarke, "we might have found out in the White House . . . that there were al Qaeda operatives in the United States" training for the 9/11 attacks.
Still, the ex-terrorism czar never explained why Clinton failed to act when the CIA pinpointed Osama bin Laden's whereabouts during the final months of his presidency, or why Clinton declined an offer to have bin Laden arrested in 1996.
In an astonishing journalistic oversight, "60 minutes" correspondent Leslie Stahl declined to confront Clarke with a stunning CIA videotape broadcast by NBC News last Tuesday that showed bin Laden walking through his compound out in the open and only lightly guarded.
Filmed by a Predator drone, the video was transmitted back to the CIA in real time, a technological feat that gave the Clinton White House more than enough time to launch cruise missiles from submarines stationed in the Arabian Sea, where they had been deployed for just that purpose.
But if Clarke knows why the ex-president failed to pull the trigger, he isn't saying. Nor did Stahl ask him about Clinton's admission a year after he left office that he turned down Sundan's offer to arrest bin Laden five years before the attacks.
Instead, the ex-White House terrorism czar concentrated his fire on President Bush, telling Stahl, "I think he did a terrible job on the war against terrorism."
To listen to NewsMax.com's exclusive audiotape of ex-President Clinton explaining why he turned down an offer to have bin Laden arrested, Click Here.
TOPICS: Extended News; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: 911clinton; antiamericanism; boycottviacom; bushhasser; bushhater; clintoncronies; clintonlegacy; dnctalkingpoints; lyingliar; nationalsecurity; revisionisthistory; richardclarke; seebs; tryingtosellabook; viacom; viacommie; x42
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To: kattracks
His Clintoooooooon knee pads are showing!
To: kattracks
Yes, Clinton's 8 years in office were a bulwark against terrorism -- every month bringing a new threat and a new victory. It was his primary focus -- the virtual foundation for his Bridge to the 21st Century! Too bad we couldn't elect him President-For-Life! Maybe Koffi Annan would be willing to share his leadership duties at the UN -- or step-down to make way for the greatest leader of our times. I think John Kerry should weave this into his campaign stump speech... Yeah, that's the ticket!
To: leadpenny
I wonder if that "friend of Bill" that Clinton wanted on the CIA payroll was John Huang?
Huang's legal access to American Intelligence, first as a Lippo executive and later as a Democratic Party official, is totally unique. A Commerce department security officer testified before Senator Fred Thompson's [R-TN] Senate Government Affairs Committee that "no other consultant on the Department of Commerce payroll was ever granted a top secret security clearance." The length to which Huang went to keep his security clearance as a DNC official suggests, of course, a serious intent to exercise it.
43
posted on
03/22/2004 3:38:34 AM PST
by
kcvl
To: kattracks
Amazing how good the Clintonites' hindsight is now, considering they had their heads up their hind-ends on terrorism for 8 years.
44
posted on
03/22/2004 3:39:27 AM PST
by
TomGuy
('Jacquestrap' Kerry is scarey.)
To: river rat
Why in hell were so many kept in place by Bush? Guess it was part of Bush's "new tone" policy?
Bet he regrets it now.
45
posted on
03/22/2004 3:44:09 AM PST
by
Jorge
To: Jorge
bump to read after while...long thread already
46
posted on
03/22/2004 3:46:42 AM PST
by
meema
To: kattracks
"Clarke: Clinton Would Have Likely Prevented 9/11 Attacks"
Thank you, Mr. Clarke. Here's your lithium and hot tea. Go back to your room, now, before you hurt yourself.
47
posted on
03/22/2004 3:48:07 AM PST
by
DustyMoment
(Repeal CFR NOW!!)
To: ATOMIC_PUNK
"Why the heck would a Republic need one ?"
Ya ne znaiou!
Priviet!
48
posted on
03/22/2004 3:51:24 AM PST
by
Jimmy Valentine
(DemocRATS - when they speak, they lie; when they are silent, they are stealing the American Dream)
To: kattracks
Eight long years filled with terror attacks and clinton did nothing.
Is Clarke suggesting that if only clinton had another four years he might have actually done something besides launch a missile into a tent and hit a camel in the butt.
49
posted on
03/22/2004 3:54:42 AM PST
by
OldFriend
(Always understand, even if you remain among the few)
To: Belisaurius
And we know that Freeh met with clinton EVERY day!
Doubtful that Freeh got anywhere near the oval office for many a year.
50
posted on
03/22/2004 3:55:58 AM PST
by
OldFriend
(Always understand, even if you remain among the few)
To: kattracks
Bill Clinton fiddled with an intern while terrorists trained to fly jets. Emperor Nero played the fiddle while Rome burned.
51
posted on
03/22/2004 3:57:37 AM PST
by
arasina
(So there.)
To: GiovannaNicoletta
Awwwwww, bubala was intimidated by Dubya!
And notice how the media NEVER mentions that Clarke was in slick willie's administration for eight years before the two years he was in the Bush administration.
52
posted on
03/22/2004 3:57:48 AM PST
by
OldFriend
(Always understand, even if you remain among the few)
To: OldFriend
Let's see...Clinton couldn't act on nabbing Bin Laden because he was preoccupied with sex scandals.
It's the Republicans fault! I knew it, I knew it!
To: malia
On September 24, 2001
Kerry on Hardball w/Chris Matthews
Included TWA 800 in the list of terror attacks
If you google Kerry TWA 800 Terror Act you can read the entire quote.
54
posted on
03/22/2004 4:03:27 AM PST
by
OldFriend
(Always understand, even if you remain among the few)
To: kcvl
Carol Devine-Molin has been on 60 Minutes dozens of time.
The Clarke appearance was simply an attempt at fair and balanced reporting.
No need for the sarcasm symbol!!!!!
55
posted on
03/22/2004 4:08:34 AM PST
by
OldFriend
(Always understand, even if you remain among the few)
To: kattracks
Mansoor Ijaz just tore Clarke a new one on Fox and Friends!
Real fighting words. Wants to go one on one with Dick Clarke. Go Mansoor!
To: OldFriend
Monsoor Ijaz just cleared up Richard Clark's lies. Richard Clark went to Sandy Burger and blocked the effort to get Osama Bin Laden, AT EVERY STEP. Monsoor will challenge him on any television show or testify anywhere he is asked. Monsoor said that Clark is completely out of control and he will see that Clark is held accountable for the lies he is telling.
57
posted on
03/22/2004 4:28:25 AM PST
by
kcvl
To: pieces of time
He sure did!
58
posted on
03/22/2004 4:28:57 AM PST
by
kcvl
To: nopardons; Mo1; Miss Marple; Howlin
bttt
59
posted on
03/22/2004 4:30:32 AM PST
by
kcvl
To: pieces of time; prairiebreeze; onyx; Texasforever; CyberAnt; BigSkyFreeper; dixiechick2000; ...
Mansoor Ijaz just tore Clarke a new one on Fox and Friends! Real fighting words. Wants to go one on one with Dick Clarke. Go Mansoor I heard that too .. WOW
He said that Clark blocked many attempts during the Clinton Administration when dealing with the attacks on the USS Cole and the African Embassy bombings
60
posted on
03/22/2004 4:31:57 AM PST
by
Mo1
(Do you want a president who injects poison into his skull for vanity?)
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