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Found notes may show Bush plan on Clarke
UPI ^ | 3/31/04 | Pamela Hess

Posted on 03/31/2004 1:36:56 PM PST by 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.


TOPICS: Government; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 200101; 200107; 20010911; 200403; 2004electionbias; 911commission; armitage; bushhaters; cap; clarke; dickclarke; ericruff; gorelick; jamiegorelick; mediabias; memogate; memogate2; memogateii; nspd; podesta; richardarmitage; richardclarke; ruff; starbucks
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1 posted on 03/31/2004 1:36:56 PM PST by South40
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To: South40
Lame. They wasted paper to print this?
2 posted on 03/31/2004 1:38:09 PM PST by Coop ("Hero" is the last four-letter word this veteran would use to describe John Kerry)
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To: South40
WTF? This is idiotic. The press has gone to the dogs, and it's nothing but mongrels.
3 posted on 03/31/2004 1:40:03 PM PST by Frank_Discussion (May the wings of Liberty never lose a feather!)
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To: South40
Isn't it interesting that the notes reveal a White House that has character? 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."
4 posted on 03/31/2004 1:40:09 PM PST by Defiant (When its Wimps vs. Warriors, the Warriors always win.)
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To: South40
And your point is??????????????????????????
5 posted on 03/31/2004 1:40:26 PM PST by jos65
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To: South40
"Found notes", that's convenient. This is really sound reporting....."a Pentagon official said",....roadapples.
6 posted on 03/31/2004 1:41:33 PM PST by caisson71
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To: Frank_Discussion; Coop
des·per·a·tion ( P )
The condition of being desperate.
Recklessness arising from despair.
7 posted on 03/31/2004 1:42:15 PM PST by South40 (Amnesty for ILLEGALS is a slap in the face to the USBP!)
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To: South40
Let's see, in the old days you needed two sources to corroborate a story.......now you can pick some sh*t off the floor of a Starbucks and assume it is fact.

I ahve a great idea...let's all go down to Starbucks and drop all kinds of lies, handwritten on napkins, all over the floor.

I am sure some paper jockey saw a White House person drop them, but never confirmed the source and the UPI ran with it.....

8 posted on 03/31/2004 1:42:33 PM PST by irish guard
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To: South40
This just in. Secret notes reveal Republican plan to tell the truth.
9 posted on 03/31/2004 1:44:55 PM PST by js1138
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To: South40
Get ready for the Clarke memo scandal.

10 posted on 03/31/2004 1:45:23 PM PST by zencat
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To: South40
Leave notes in a Starbucks near Rumsfeld's home? Sounds like a set-up. "Don't throw me into the brier patch!"
11 posted on 03/31/2004 1:46:15 PM PST by reagandemocrat (VOTE JOHN KERRY--Al Queda's Choice for America)
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To: South40
This just proves the press will report anything.

I wonder if the guy who left the notes is still employed?
Directions to Rumsfelds home are now in the hands of ultra leftist kooks....wonderful. He'll have to move.
12 posted on 03/31/2004 1:46:17 PM PST by Feiny (Never has so much genius been combined with so little talent.)
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To: South40
This is great.

You know how all Starbucks baristas look like they've just stepped out of the 60s, except with more tatoos and piercings?

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

Great idea, eh?
13 posted on 03/31/2004 1:46:20 PM PST by rogueleader
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To: South40
The part the meadie will continue to ignore - the factual refutation of Clarke's primary lie:

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.

14 posted on 03/31/2004 1:46:31 PM PST by Notwithstanding (Good parents don't let their kids attend public school or recieve catechsim lessons from sinky)
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To: jos65
And your point is??????????????????????????

The point is not mine. It was a news story, one that you'll probably hear in the liberal network news this evening. You heard it hear first.

15 posted on 03/31/2004 1:46:51 PM PST by South40 (Amnesty for ILLEGALS is a slap in the face to the USBP!)
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To: Coop
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..
16 posted on 03/31/2004 1:46:56 PM PST by RepatriatedTexan
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To: South40
A nation at war, mourning its dead, with homeland innocents slain en route to work, has a press corps obsessed with undermining a govt focused on preventing a further domestic slaughter.

I keep asking: IS IT TREASON YET?

17 posted on 03/31/2004 1:47:01 PM PST by NativeNewYorker (Don't blame me. I voted for Sharpton.)
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To: South40
Keystone Kops. What are we doing???
18 posted on 03/31/2004 1:47:06 PM PST by faithincowboys
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To: irish guard
Say, wasn't there another "notes found in a Starbucks" just a year ago. This place must be really, really popular. Notes being found all over the floor whenever the dims want to fly another kite. I say it is nothing more than a bunch of C***.
19 posted on 03/31/2004 1:47:29 PM PST by wheels
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To: js1138
This just in. Secret notes reveal Republican plan to tell the truth.

Exactly!

20 posted on 03/31/2004 1:48:12 PM PST by South40 (Amnesty for ILLEGALS is a slap in the face to the USBP!)
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