[kj] ot - he never said make it up but...

Sat, 20 Mar 2004 22:05:00 -0500

--Alt-Boundary-6752.6067544
Content-type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Content-transfer-encoding: Quoted-printable
Content-description: Mail message body

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2004-03-20-clarke_x.htm?csp=3D24
Former counterterror adviser slams White House, Rumsfeld 
WASHINGTON (AP) =94 Richard Clarke, the former White House 
counterterrorism coordinator, accuses the Bush administration of failing t=
o 
recognize the al-Qaeda threat before the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks an=
d 
then manipulating America into war with Iraq with dangerous consequences. 
He accuses Bush of doing "a terrible job on the war against terrorism." 
Clarke, who is expected to testify Tuesday before a federal panel reviewin=
g 
the attacks, writes in a new book going on sale Monday that Bush and his 
Cabinet were preoccupied during the early months of his presidency with 
some of the same Cold War issues that had faced his father's administratio=
n. 
"It was as though they were preserved in amber from when they left office 
eight years earlier," Clarke told CBS for an interview Sunday on its 60 
Minutes program. 
CBS' corporate parent, Viacom Inc., owns Simon & Schuster, publisher for 
Clarke's book, Against All Enemies. 
Clarke acknowledges that, "there's a lot of blame to go around, and I prob=
ably 
deserve some blame, too." He said he wrote to National Security Adviser 
Condoleezza Rice on Jan. 24, 2001, asking "urgently" for a Cabinet-level 
meeting "to deal with the impending al-Qaeda attack." Months later, in Apr=
il, 
Clarke met with deputy cabinet secretaries, and the conversation turned to=

Iraq. 
"I'm sure I'll be criticized for lots of things, and I'm sure they'll laun=
ch their 
dogs on me," Clarke said. "But frankly I find it outrageous that the presi=
dent 
is running for re-election on the grounds that he's done such great things=
 about 
terrorism. He ignored it. He ignored terrorism for months, when maybe we 
could have done something." 
The Associated Press first reported in June 2002 that Bush's national secu=
rity 
leadership met formally nearly 100 times in the months prior to the Sept. =
11 
attacks yet terrorism was the topic during only two of those sessions. 
The last of those two meetings occurred Sept. 4 as the security council pu=
t 
finishing touches on a proposed national security policy review for the 
president. That review was finished Sept. 10 and was awaiting Bush's appro=
val 
when the first plane struck the World Trade Center. 
Almost immediately after the Sept. 11 terror attacks, Clarke said the pres=
ident 
asked him directly to find whether Iraq was involved in the suicide hijack=
ings. 
"Now he never said, 'Make it up.' But the entire conversation left me in 
absolutely no doubt that George Bush wanted me to come back with a report 
that said, 'Iraq did this,'" said Clarke, who told the president that U.S.=

intelligence agencies had never found a connection between Iraq and al-
Qaeda. 
"He came back at me and said, 'Iraq! Saddam! Find out if there's a connect=
ion,' 
and in a very intimidating way," Clarke said. 
CBS said it asked Stephen Hadley, Rice's deputy on the national security 
council, about the incident, and Hadley said: "We cannot find evidence tha=
t 
this conversation between Mr. Clarke and the president ever occurred." 
CBS responded to Hadley that it found two people it did not identify who 
recounted the incident independently, and one of them witnessed the 
conversation. 
"I stand on what I said," Hadley told CBS, "but the point I think we're mi=
ssing 
in this is, of course the president wanted to know if there was any eviden=
ce 
linking Iraq to 9-11." 
Clarke also harshly criticizes Bush over his decision to invade Iraq, sayi=
ng it 
helped brew a new wave of anti-American sentiment among supporters of 
Osama bin Laden. 
"Bin Laden had been saying for years, 'America wants to invade an Arab 
country and occupy it, an oil-rich Arab country.' This is part of his 
propaganda," Clarke said. "So what did we do after 9/11? We invade ... and=

occupy an oil-rich Arab country, which was doing nothing to threaten us." 
Clarke retired early in 2003 after 30 years in government service. He was 
among the longest-serving White House staffers, transferred in from the St=
ate 
Department in 1992 to deal with threats from terrorism and narcotics. 
Clarke previously led the government's secretive Counterterrorism and 
Security Group, made up of senior officials from the FBI, CIA, Justice 
Department and armed services, who met several times each week to discuss 
foreign threats. 

--Alt-Boundary-6752.6067544
Content-type: text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1
Content-transfer-encoding: Quoted-printable
Content-description: Mail message body

<?xml version=3D"1.0" ?><html>
<head>
<title></title>
</head>
<body>
 

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2004-03-20-clarke_x.htm?csp=3D24=

Former counterterror adviser slams White House, Rumsfeld <=
/p>
WASHINGTON (AP) &mdash; Richard Clarke, the former White House 
counterterrorism coordinator, accuses the Bush administration of failing t=
o 
recognize the al-Qaeda threat before the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks an=
d 
then manipulating America into war with Iraq with dangerous consequences. =

He accuses Bush of doing &quot;a terrible job on the war against terrori=
sm.&quot; 
Clarke, who is expected to testify Tuesday before a federal panel review=
ing 
the attacks, writes in a new book going on sale Monday that Bush and his 
Cabinet were preoccupied during the early months of his presidency with 
some of the same Cold War issues that had faced his father's administratio=
n. 
&quot;It was as though they were preserved in amber from when they left =
office 
eight years earlier,&quot; Clarke told CBS for an interview Sunday on its =
60 
Minutes program. 
CBS' corporate parent, Viacom Inc., owns Simon &amp; Schuster, publisher=
 for 
Clarke's book, Against All Enemies. 
Clarke acknowledges that, &quot;there's a lot of blame to go around, and=
 I probably 
deserve some blame, too.&quot; He said he wrote to National Security Advis=
er 
Condoleezza Rice on Jan. 24, 2001, asking &quot;urgently&quot; for a Cabin=
et-level 
meeting &quot;to deal with the impending al-Qaeda attack.&quot; Months lat=
er, in April, 
Clarke met with deputy cabinet secretaries, and the conversation turned to=

Iraq. 
&quot;I'm sure I'll be criticized for lots of things, and I'm sure they'=
ll launch their 
dogs on me,&quot; Clarke said. &quot;But frankly I find it outrageous that=
 the president 
is running for re-election on the grounds that he's done such great things=
 about 
terrorism. He ignored it. He ignored terrorism for months, when maybe we 
could have done something.&quot; 
The Associated Press first reported in June 2002 that Bush's national se=
curity 
leadership met formally nearly 100 times in the months prior to the Sept. =
11 
attacks yet terrorism was the topic during only two of those sessions. </s=
pan>
The last of those two meetings occurred Sept. 4 as the security council =
put 
finishing touches on a proposed national security policy review for the 
president. That review was finished Sept. 10 and was awaiting Bush's appro=
val 
when the first plane struck the World Trade Center. 
Almost immediately after the Sept. 11 terror attacks, Clarke said the pr=
esident 
asked him directly to find whether Iraq was involved in the suicide hijack=
ings. 
&quot;Now he never said, 'Make it up.' But the entire conversation left =
me in 
absolutely no doubt that George Bush wanted me to come back with a report 
that said, 'Iraq did this,'&quot; said Clarke, who told the president that=
 U.S. 
intelligence agencies had never found a connection between Iraq and al-
Qaeda. 
&quot;He came back at me and said, 'Iraq! Saddam! Find out if there's a =
connection,' 
and in a very intimidating way,&quot; Clarke said. 
CBS said it asked Stephen Hadley, Rice's deputy on the national security=

council, about the incident, and Hadley said: &quot;We cannot find evidenc=
e that 
this conversation between Mr. Clarke and the president ever occurred.&quot=
; 
CBS responded to Hadley that it found two people it did not identify who=

recounted the incident independently, and one of them witnessed the 
conversation. 
&quot;I stand on what I said,&quot; Hadley told CBS, &quot;but the point=
 I think we're missing 
in this is, of course the president wanted to know if there was any eviden=
ce 
linking Iraq to 9-11.&quot; 
Clarke also harshly criticizes Bush over his decision to invade Iraq, sa=
ying it 
helped brew a new wave of anti-American sentiment among supporters of 
Osama bin Laden. 
&quot;Bin Laden had been saying for years, 'America wants to invade an A=
rab 
country and occupy it, an oil-rich Arab country.' This is part of his 
propaganda,&quot; Clarke said. &quot;So what did we do after 9/11? We inva=
de ... and 
occupy an oil-rich Arab country, which was doing nothing to threaten us.&q=
uot; 
Clarke retired early in 2003 after 30 years in government service. He wa=
s 
among the longest-serving White House staffers, transferred in from the St=
ate 
Department in 1992 to deal with threats from terrorism and narcotics. </sp=
an>
Clarke previously led the government's secretive Counterterrorism and 
Security Group, made up of senior officials from the FBI, CIA, Justice 
Department and armed services, who met several times each week to discuss 
foreign threats. 
<div align=3D"left"> </div>
 
<div align=3D"left"></div>
</body>
</html>

--Alt-Boundary-6752.6067544--