Richard Clarke: A Counterterrorism Expert Ignored
-CTF Editorial: February 11, 2005
Richard Clarke, a widely recognized counter-terrorism expert who had served Presidents of both parties for over 2 decades, was consistently ignored by the Bush Administration.
In his blistering testimony before Congress, Clarke bluntly detailed how he'd tried to and failed to even get a MEETING with the President regarding these vital security matters prior to 9/11, clearly indicating that the Bush Administration was asleep at the switch.
Rightwing commentators responded by impugning his character and attempting to diminish his perceived importance, but they didn't count on one thing: an honest man resonates with the American people. And since Clarke is the only official to publicly take responsibility for failing to stop the 9/11 attacks (even though he obviously tried) and the only official to formally apologize to the families (and remains the only official to do so) his credibility with the American people is high, because he has earned their respect by simply being honest with them.
This is something the Neocons simply can't fathom.
Now the actual memo which Clarke wrote to Condoleeza Rice has been released, and we can see just how adamant Clarke was, and how his appeals for attention to this vital national security matter went unheeded by the Administration. Indeed, by the tone of the memo, it is impossible not to conclude that the Bush Administration didn't even understand the scope of the threat - as if an entire decade hadn't passed and the political realities hadn't changed since G.H.W. Bush was in power, because he leads off the memo with an apparent response to how they've characterized the Al Qaeda threat as "just some terrorist group".
What is apparent is that if the advice was coming from former Clinton Administration officials, it was disregarded out of hand, whether the lives of the American people were in the balance or not. Sandy Berger indicated much the same thing during his Congressional testimony.
So click on the link below and have a look at the January 2001 memo yourself, and decide - who was actually trying to protect us? Richard Clarke, or the Bush Administration?
