Richard Clarke's new offensive

[JoFerret]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A19314-2004Jun6.html


After his blistering book and congressional testimony alleging Bush administration failures to heed the threat of al Qaeda, former counterterrorism czar Richard Clarke takes another shot in the July issue of Vanity Fair.

"I'm not sure everybody has grasped this," he says, pointing out that CIA Director George Tenet mentioned al Qaeda to the president "on 40 occasions" in morning briefings before Sept. 11, 2001. "Forty times, many of them in a very alarmed way, about a pending attack," Clarke declares. (The emphasis appears in the article.) "And, as far as I can tell from what has been said at the <9/11> commission, on one of these occasions, one out of 40, the president must have said something like, 'Well, what are we going to do about it?' "

CIA spokesman Bill Harlow was quick to blast back: "Richard Clarke was not present during those daily briefings and therefore could not know what was said," he told us. "While we never discuss what we say to a president or what a president's reaction is, the notion that President Bush was not concerned or engaged on counterterrorism is ridiculous."

<more>

[rooboy]

1. "the notion that President Bush was not concerned..."

DAMN STRAIGHT!!!

Now watch this drive...

[maggrwaggr]

27. of course it's ridiculous. Everything about Shrub is ridiculous

including the fact that he ever ended up in the oval office.

It's not a denial, it's just a statement that it's "ridiculous".

Yup

[Kinkistyle]

37. Non-denial denial.

This Administration is rife with them. They never question the validity of the content of accusations, just that the "notion" of them are "ridiculous". :eyes:

[CJCRANE]

2. You always know that

you've touched a raw nerve when a politician/spokesman says that an allegation is "ridiculous" or "outrageous" or "absurd".

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

8. Translation:

"Concise," "on point" and "relevant."

[VolcanoJen]

3. Hey! There's a great new article about Clarke in "Vanity Fair."

Everyone check out the latest issue, with David "Yum!" Beckham adorning the cover.

[xchrom]

21. david ''yum'' beckham

is right -- oh pardon me i have to go -- i'm drooling on my keyboard.

[The Backlash Cometh]

4. Clarke may not have been present, but so far everyone that has been

present seems to be corroborating his story.

[Cooley Hurd]

5. Tenet's not even cold yet and "his" CIA is dissing him...

Clearly, Clarke is trying to lay blame back at the feet of the WH for 9/11. That's why I could never figure out why any blame for the 9/11 intel failures went to Tenet. There's plenty of accounts of Tenet expressing grave concerns to the WH during the summer of 2001, only to be rebuffed by Condi...

[Disturbed]

6. Mistakes?

Uh, um, ah, er, well, ahr, can't think of any right now.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

18. Read my Post #17...Harlow is more a creature of the Pentagon than CIA.

[Toots]

7. Right Bush* was so engaged and concerned he took the longest

vacation in Presidential history. When all else fails go on vacation, especially after seven whole months on your new job.

[Gin]

9. I agree that Tenent was extremely comcerned about 9-11....to say

his hair was on fire indicates that..maybe getting no response from the WH dampened his enthusiasm....why he stayed and played their game is the real question.

Did he prostitute his values for a job? or to be friends with *?

[molly]

10. I honestly feel that he presented the facts

many times. I've doubted that he ever uttered the words "SLAM DUNK". I will be expecting his book.

I too read Clarke's book and every reference he made to Tenet was positive.

[H2O Man]

12. Very good point. molly.

I think that the "slam dunk" quote is a lie. It doesn't fit. He knew that Joseph Wilson had found that the Niger "incident" was bullshit. The administration has built their entire case on a foundation of lies.

[JoFerret]

26. That slam dunk comment sounds dubious

to me too. How could he have been so stupid. Tenet wasn't even one of those in the thrall of Chalabi. Has he ever been asked about that comment?

[jdj]

30. So who is this Bob Woodward, and why are they kissing

his ass? I don't mean in the sense of google, but why is he so credible? He is the one that came up with the "slam dunk" comment, was he present in the meeting where it was said? If no, who was the source, was it recorded or transcibed? I was nauseated when he was making the p.r. rounds when the book came out, he seems to be very respected but why??? He seemed like a human hallmark card, as disingenuous as Reagan used to be, I had the same nausea I used to have whenever I heard Reagan speak.

Was this whole thing a set-up, with the Woodward book? I mean he sure got the royal treatment, and he is a journalist, not a cabinent member like Clarke or O'Neil. I was stupified then and I am still stupefied at why he was treated as being so credible. Were they just using Woodward to pin this on Tenet in the end? I have felt since 9/11 that Tenet was being incredibly naive. How he could not see that this would end up this way is beyond me.

on edit: re: Woodward. especially in light of the fact that the quotations attributed to Bush in his book are big fat lies, there is no way the pretzeldent could wrap his mouth around those big ol' three and four syllable words.

[comsymp]

32. Woodward's name still carries a certain cachet because

30 years ago he did some real reporting, although I always understood that Carl Bernstein did most of the heavy lifting...

[Hamlette]

36. we were discussing the possibility of the Woodward book being a setup

this morning (gawd knows the talking heads this am were not worth watching!)

Woodward doesn't tell us who provided him with the "slam dunk" quote but from reading the passage it seems like he is getting info from McLaughlin (because he talks about what McLaughlin was thinking) or from Bush or maybe both. I don't think he got the quote from Tenet.

Did Tenet say it? Why? From what Clarke said I've had the impression Tenet was in the Powell/Clarke camp: go after bin Laden, not Iraq.

Anyway, the slam dunk comment was made on December 21, 2002. Bush was going to war by then anyway. There is talk in the book that our people in the middle east were told we were going to war in January, early Feb at the latest. We were going to war in January and Bush didn't think we had a case to go to war on December 21? Even after reviewing all the evidence, Bush still thought there was no case for war on December 21 but had plans to go to war the very next month?

I'd love to hear Tenet's side of the story, if it's different. My guess is we will not until AFTER the war. There are some good reasons for that...and some terrible reasons for waiting.

My guess is that Tenet was pushed and if they try to blame him he will fight back IF, and perhaps only if, he was support in the CIA still. If Tenet has no support in the CIA, he'll have to take the fall.

[comsymp]

28. Actually, he said "you damn drunk"

(visions of South Park dancing in cs' head)

*: Get me the excuse I need to invade Iraq.

GT: This is all we've been able to come up with, sir.

*: Did you just call me sir!!?

GT: Mr. President, ya damn drunk.

*: WHAT DID YOU SAAAY???

GT: I said, "Mr. President, it's a slam dunk."

[TLDHOME99]

29. VERY cute

:evilgrin:

[Kinkistyle]

38. Its too bad Richard Clarke is such a straight-laced conservative.

They can't dig up dirt like he once looked at Internet Porn, or went to a nude beach or something along those lines to smear and discredit him.

Shrub and the Neo-cons != straight-laced conservatism.

[robbedvoter]

33. Slam dunk may be Woodward's lie or Powell's (he have Woody lots

of his gripes and he seems content to blame the CIA of his own cowardly acts. A Mcneil Hour news discussion seems to have attributed those words to W. Anyway, I take Mark Fiore over Woodward any time:
http://www.markfiore.com/animation/dissent.html

[nolabels]

39. I think that was fishy also, Woodward was kept on trying to elaborate

on Sixty Minutes he told the story like he knew it was B.S. but with emphasis like he needed people to believe him. He must of been the lesser of the two that took on Nixon.

[nodictators]

13. On 9/12, Wolfowitz wanted to invade IRAQ

That's right, forget about bin Laden and the 9/11 attacks. This was their "opportunity", as Condi said later.

I think that Bush went along with that crazy idea for a few days, and that Poppy told him he had to go after bin Laden.

The Wolfowitz plan was even reported in BBC. Any real president would have fired Wolfowitz for his promotion of invading Iraq on the day after 9/11.

[starroute]

23. And Chalabi was already tangled up in it

"The Defense Policy Board (DPB) meets in secrecy in Rumsfeld's Pentagon conference room on September 19 and 20 {2001} for nineteen hours to discuss the option of taking military action against Iraq. This is reported in detail by the New York Times three weeks later on October 12 Among those attending the meeting are the 18 members of the Defense Policy Board, Paul Wolfowitz, and Donald Rumsfeld, Ahmed Chalabi, and Bernard Lewis."

http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/context.jsp?item=complete_timeline_of_the_2003_invasion_of_iraq_62

[Paradise]

11. Well, Mr. Harlow, evidently Mr. Tenet told Mr. Clarke! nt

[gatlingforme]

14. I know what you are but what am I mentality, The Republicans

think that if you are not in a room with the president you do not know what was said is a joke. If that is the case then, what is the point of the meeting? I guess if Condi is not in the room she doesn't get it either, along with Rummy, Cheney, Ashcroft...

[July]

15. Note Harlow does not deny what Clarke says.

At least in what's in your post (I didn't register at the WP to read the whole article).

Deftly changes the subject to whether Bush was concerned about terrorism, throws in "ridiculous." Says Clarke wasn't there.

NEVER says "Tenet did not raise al Qaeda 40 times."

SOP for POS.

[steely]

16. The ultimate proof was in their (WH) inaction.

eom

[Mithras61]

20. It would be pretty stupid to try and deny it at this point...

more from the article:

But just where did that magic "40 times" come from? Turns out Clarke's old pal Condi Rice used it in her testimony April 8 defending the administration: "At these meetings, the president received up-to-date intelligence and asked questions of his most senior intelligence officials. From January 20th through September 10th <2001>, the president received at these daily meetings more than 40 briefing items on al Qaeda, and 13 of those were in response to questions he or his top advisers posed."


Of course, it wouldn't be the first time that this misadministration has come out in direct contradiction to what one of it's own has said on the record...

[Media_Lies_Daily]

17. Note that Harlow is MUCH more a creature of the Pentagon...

...and therefore is MUCH more closely aligned to Rummy and the OSP.

<http://www.cia.gov/cia/information/harlow.html>

Excerpt:

"Bill Harlow was appointed Director, Office of Public Affairs on 18 August 1997 after a career of 25 years with the United States Navy.

Previously he served as the Deputy Director of the American Forces Information Service (AFIS) at the Department of Defense.

For over three years he was Special Assistant for Public Affairs to the Secretary of the Navy. From 1988 to 1992 Mr. Harlow was Assistant Press Secretary for Foreign Affairs and National Security at the White House during the Reagan and Bush administrations."

[Just Me]

19. I admire Clarke's persistence,...

,...and I am grateful that he continues to blast the Bush regime. After all, that regime IS responsible (whether LIHOP or MIHOP) for what happened on 9/11. It could have been prevented but just happened to serve a neocon agenda.

[TLDHOME99]

22. he needs to keep it up

And so does everybody else who knew of Bush* complicity in 9/11.

We need to keep reminding the American public that our president cared more about Iraq and oil than he did about the safety of this country. His main agenda from day one was to go after Iraq. He used 9/11 for political purposes, and fought terrorism in Afghanistan just long enough to make the Repubs think he was serious about fighting terrorism.

I say to Clarke, "got get 'em!" we need more people like him.

[peacetalksforall]

24. I regret that the only Commission investigating 9-11 that is getting any

play at this point in time is the one that is only investigating U.S. agencies and whether there was a breakdown.

I can't wait for an investigation into LIHOP vs MIHOP vs U.S. agency breakdowns.

I envision a giant room with giant working room to line up timelines of what EVERYONE was doing before and after 9-11.

And for Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfkowitz, Kristol et al - there will be the 1998 letter to Clinton asking him to invade Iraq and the founding of PNAC.

We need to see the 9-12 nineteen hour meeting on a choronological list right next to the exact details of where the alleged terrorist-pilots were - with every memo, meeting and warning.

This is massive, serious, and it is being covered up and made light of.

[lagniappe]

25. The counter-terrorism czar was not present during Al Qaeda briefings.

This administration damns themselves with their own stupidity.

[jdj]

31. God bless Richard Clarke!

And duh! to him saying "I'm not sure everyone grasped this".

This is the most cynical admin. ever with regards to it's outlook on the public. They know people aren't paying attention, and they take full advantage of it.

[buycitgo]

34. amen to that! I'm on about page 100 of his book

and it's compelling, to say the least

he really was everywhere; knows just about everything, if what he says is accurate

from Lebanon to OK City, he was involved

he was even buds, for awhile, with fricking PERLE!

he was the one who arranged for the Mujahadeen to get the stingers that won the Afghan resistance, that eventually led to bin Laden's realization that they could defeat a SUPERPOWER, which led to........

what a book

[truthisfreedom]

35. well, let's not mince words here, bill. why not just say it like it is...

it's not that the notion that our president was not concerned or engaged on counterrrorism is ridiculous. it's that the reality that our president was not concerned or engaged on counterterrorism is ridiculous. and what's worse, he's still not councerned or engaged on counterterrorism. he's simply in a desperate downward spiral, grasping at straw men, following rove into the abyss, and not doing a damned thing to stop terrorism. in fact, on the contrary, he's done more to generate a new crop of terrorists than any human in recent history.

bush's primary objectives are to "f*ck over" his "enemies," force his way back into office even by extra-legal means, and continue to spend more time vacationing than any other president in history. of any country. at any time. oh, yeah, i forgot... keep up his tan.

[PATRICK]

41. Their only strategy

Mind you they adopted Homeland Security mostly as a proprietary afterthought so they could control another big agenda. Right from the start the whole idea was to eliminate the nations that supported terrorism- provided that the highest priority be given not on the actual homelands or bases of terrorism but to a plan of global hegemony and encirclement, a transformational empire. Ignoring defense as the highest priority(impossible anyway, they said dismissively), ignoring the actual bases of terrorists and WMD's, the could not help but come back to what they wanted in their souls most of all. Economic dominance, oil empire.

Somehow in their brilliant rationalizations they came upon the most self-serving and imperial goals as THE cause for terrorism, despite the fact that all of human history shows that such a course breeds more terrorism. Or they knew this and welcome the petty chaos of the Big Bang little enemy while they maintain power over the human race.

In the latter case, these patriots presuming with good to fight "our enemies" are in fact the true sponsors of terrorism for political ends.
It is worth knowing if they are self-deluded or knowingly manipulative.

The results for all of us, unfortunately are the same in either case. The cure is also. The removal of our unelected regime.

[dusty64]

40. Worth a

:kick: