Free Republic

<p>The September 11 commission will look at the discrepancy between the testimony of Richard A. Clarke that the Clinton administration considered the threat of al Qaeda "urgent" and its final national-security report to Congress, which gave the terror organization scant mention.</p>

<p>The final policy paper on national security that President Clinton submitted to Congress — 45,000 words long — makes no mention of al Qaeda and refers to Osama bin Laden by name just four times.</p> <p>The scarce references to bin Laden and his terror network undercut claims by former White House terrorism analyst Richard A. Clarke that the Clinton administration considered al Qaeda an "urgent" threat, while President Bush's national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, "ignored" it.</p>

<p>President Bush yesterday welcomed seven former Soviet Bloc nations into NATO, urging those countries that "know what tyranny is" to help him rally the alliance in the global war on terrorism.</p> <p>Diplomats and leaders from Bulgaria, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia enthusiastically greeted Mr. Bush´s speech on the South Lawn of the White House.</p>

<p>Two polls released this week suggest that a well-publicized book critical of the Bush administration's handling of the war on terror and the hearings looking to assign blame for the intelligence failures before the September 11 attacks have politically damaged President Bush.</p>

<p>A former U.S. counterterrorism expert who in his new book accuses the Bush administration of bungling the war on terror had praised the president in his letter of resignation.</p> <p>The White House released the letter yesterday in an attempt to stop any damage that Richard A. Clarke's "Against All Enemies" could inflict on Mr. Bush's record as a wartime leader.</p>

<p>The White House yesterday denied accusations by a former antiterrorism adviser that President Bush could have stopped the September 11 attacks and has set back the war on terrorism with his obsession to pin the blame on Saddam Hussein.</p> <p>Richard A. Clarke, in a book released yesterday, says he tried in vain to convince the president of the threat posed by terror network al Qaeda, then realized "with almost a sharp physical pain" that the administration would use the September 11 attacks as an excuse to invade Iraq.</p>

<p>DALLAS — President Bush yesterday accused John Kerry of wanting to weaken the nation's security by repeatedly advocating "deeply irresponsible" cuts to the CIA during his 20 years in the Senate.</p> <p>"One very important part of this war is intelligence-gathering, as Senator Kerry noted," Mr. Bush told a room full of campaign contributors.</p>

<p>CRAWFORD, Texas -- Mexican President Vicente Fox arrived at the "Western White House" last night to press his case for looser immigration laws to a leader largely powerless to enact them this year.</p> <p>President Bush continues to push his immigration reform plan that would allow at least 8 million illegal aliens currently working in the United States to keep their jobs and open the door for millions more to follow.</p>

<p>Democratic presidential front-runner John Kerry yesterday called for an investigation into statements by former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide that he was kidnapped at gunpoint and removed from power by U.S. troops over the weekend.</p> <p>"I think there ought to be some investigation of it," the Democratic senator from Massachusetts said yesterday on NBC's "Today." "I have a very close friend in Massachusetts who talked directly to people who have made that allegation. I don't know the truth of it. I really don't. But I think it needs to be explored, and we need to know the truth of what happened."</p>

<p>The clout of the homosexual voting bloc has grown significantly in the past decade, and its influence will be put to the test this presidential-election year with the debate over same-sex "marriage."</p> <p>In the 2000 presidential contest, about 6 percent of voters described themselves as homosexual or lesbian to pollsters for the Voter News Service, an increase from 1.3 percent who said so in 1990.</p>

<p>LOUISVILLE, Ky. — President Bush fired back at his increasingly critical Democratic opponents yesterday, saying they can't be trusted to adequately protect the nation from terrorist threats.</p> <p>"Our opponents have not offered much in the way of strategy to win the war," Mr. Bush said. "So far, all we hear is a lot of old bitterness and partisan anger.</p>

<p>President Bush yesterday touted his economic record, saying his tax cuts spurred the ongoing economic recovery that is overcoming corporate scandals and the psychological setbacks of the September 11 attacks.</p> <p>"We acted here in Washington. I led," Mr. Bush told a friendly audience at an auditorium in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in the White House compound.</p>

<p>Sen. John Kerry, the Democratic presidential front-runner, has asked supporters to stop suggesting that President Bush shirked his duty during the Vietnam War, but a spokesman for the Democratic National Committee says his group will not back off.</p> <p>At Sunday night's Democratic debate in Milwaukee, Mr. Kerry dismissed the charge by DNC Chairman Terry McAuliffe that Mr. Bush was AWOL — absent without leave — when he was required to report to the Alabama Air National Guard in 1972.</p>

<p>Sen. John Kerry, the Democratic presidential front-runner, has asked supporters to stop suggesting that President Bush shirked his duty during the Vietnam War, but a spokesman for the Democratic National Committee says his group will not back off.</p> <p>At Sunday night's Democratic debate in Milwaukee, Mr. Kerry dismissed the charge by DNC Chairman Terry McAuliffe that Mr. Bush was AWOL -- absent without leave -- when he was required to report to the Alabama Air National Guard in 1972.</p>

<p>The White House yesterday released President Bush's full personnel file from his service in the Texas Air National Guard, including his medical records, an attempt to defuse repeated claims by Democrats that he failed to complete his duty.</p> <p>The documents show Mr. Bush reported to duty at Dannelly Air National Guard Base in Alabama at least eight times between October 1972 and May 1973 — a time frame Democrats have questioned whether Mr. Bush fulfilled his temporary duty obligation.</p>

<p>A Democratic governor broke from the rhetoric of many in her party yesterday when she said bringing freedom to Iraq was worth going to war, even if no weapons of mass destruction are found.</p> <p>Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco joined a bipartisan group of governors fresh from a two-day trip to Iraq who urged that the delicate situation in that country not be "politicized" in the upcoming presidential election.</p>

<p>HARRISBURG, Pa. -- President Bush told a gymnasium full of high school students yesterday that he has increased federal funding for education, but expects accountability to ensure schools aren't "just shuffling kids through the system."</p> <p>Mr. Bush urged students at Central Dauphin High School to take advantage of educational opportunities so they can acquire the "skill sets" needed to qualify for thousands of "unbelievable job opportunities that are going to exist."</p>

<p>The White House has begun to aggressively fight back against Democratic criticism of the war in Iraq, President Bush's service in the Air National Guard during the Vietnam War and his economic record — after passively enduring political shots for weeks.</p>

<p>SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — President Bush continued to shadow the Democratic presidential candidates yesterday with a visit to an automotive engine plant in Missouri, where he warned that his presumptive opponent in November has promised to raise taxes.</p> <p>Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts solidified his front-runner status with a landslide victory in the Missouri presidential primary last week.</p>

<p>Growing frustration over President Bush's immigration plan and lack of fiscal discipline came to a head behind closed doors at last weekend's Republican retreat in Philadelphia.</p> <p>House lawmakers, stunned by the intensity of their constituents' displeasure at some of Mr. Bush's key domestic policies, gave his political strategist Karl Rove an earful behind closed doors.</p>