Friday, February 11, 2005
Richard Clarke Is Vindicated...
Isn't it funny how all this new info about the Bush administration being asleep at the wheel prior to 9-11 is being declassified almost 4 months after the election?
It's puzzling, really...
Take, for instance, the newly-declassified memo that was given to Condoleezza Rice by Richard Clarke on January 25, 2001:
The memo dated Jan. 25, 2001 -- five days after Bush took office -- was an essential feature of last year's hearings into intelligence failures before the attacks on New York and Washington. A copy of the document was posted on the National Security Archive Web site on Thursday.
The memo, from former counterterrorism chief Richard Clarke to then-national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, had been described during the hearings but its full contents had not been disclosed.
Clarke, a holdover from the Clinton administration, had requested an immediate meeting of top national security officials as soon as possible after Bush took office to discuss combating al Qaeda. He described the network as a threat with broad reach.
"Al Qaeda affects centrally our policies on Pakistan, Afghanistan, Central Asia, North Africa and the GCC (Gulf Arab states). Leaders in Jordan and Saudi Arabia see al Qaeda as a direct threat to them," Clarke wrote.
"The strength of the network of organizations limits the scope of support friendly Arab regimes can give to a range of U.S. policies, including Iraq policy and the (Israeli-Palestinian) Peace Process. We would make a major error if we underestimated the challenge al Qaeda poses."
The memo also warned of overestimating the stability of moderate regional allies threatened by al Qaeda.
It recommended that the new administration urgently discuss the al Qaeda network, including the magnitude of the threat it posed and strategy for dealing with it.
At this point, you might be asking yourself: "Did the Bush administration heed Clarke's warning?"
The meeting on al Qaeda requested by Clarke did not take place until Sept. 4, 2001.
There's that answer...
For her efforts in "combating" terrorism, Dr. Rice got a promotion from National Security Advisor to Secretary of State.
For his efforts, Richard Clarke got a big "FU" from the Bush administration and the joy of being slandered by every doofus with an "R" after his/her name that could get in front of a camera for the better part of the last 3 years...
Who says mediocrity isn't rewarded in America?
Ashlee Simpson has a career doesn't she?
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