Sunday, March 21, 2004
Richard A. Clarke, Bush's former terror adviser: Bush "ignored terrorism," doing "a terrible job on the war against terrorism"
Dawkins asks:
So what does that make Richard A. Clarke?
a. an appeaser of terrorists
b. weak and indecisive
c. French
d. the father of a black child
e. all of the above
posted by Blicero : 3/21/2004 04:32:00 PM
So what does that make Richard A. Clarke?
a. an appeaser of terrorists
b. weak and indecisive
c. French
d. the father of a black child
e. all of the above
Richard A. Clarke, the former White House counterterrorism coordinator, accuses the Bush administration of failing to recognize the al-Qaida threat before the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks and then manipulating America into war with Iraq with dangerous consequences.[Blicero adds:] Then he said, 'Cheesburgers! Is it possible to get some fucking cheeseburgers around here? Andy, hop to.'
He accuses Bush of doing "a terrible job on the war against terrorism."
…
"I'm sure I'll be criticized for lots of things, and I'm sure they'll launch their dogs on me," Clarke said. "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."
…
Almost immediately after the Sept. 11 terror attacks, Clarke said the president asked him directly to find whether Iraq was involved in the suicide hijackings.
"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-Qaida.
"He came back at me and said, 'Iraq! Saddam! Find out if there's a connection,' and in a very intimidating way," Clarke said.
posted by Blicero : 3/21/2004 04:32:00 PM
