Clarke Sucks

Clarke Sucks

I figure we should just cut through the bull and lay it on the line.

Clarke is a partisan who has made directly contradictory statements concerning the Bush administration and its handling of terrorists. He has also made contradictory statements on the Clinton admonistration's actions (or inactions as the case may be). He also has strong ties to the Democratic party including contributions to campaigns, voting for Al Gore, and a deep friendship and working relationship with a top Kerry advisor.

He has lots of experience in matters of national security. He should be someone with a lot to say and the credentials to back it up.

Unfortunately, he decided to go for the money and fame and change his story.

Which statement should we believe? The one made when he did not have a financial stake in it or the one made now that his book is out and sales depend on the public hearing about it and becoming interested in it?

Which Clarke should you believe?

"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," Clarke told CBS's Lesley Stahl. "He ignored it. He ignored terrorism for months, when maybe we could have done something to stop 9/11.

Maybe. We'll never know."

What we'll never know is how Clarke could say this. He probably assumed his 2002 background briefing would never pop up again. But not only did he reveal in this earlier briefing that there was "no plan on Al Qaeda that was passed from the Clinton administration to the Bush administration," he also said that the Clinton Al Qaeda strategy had failed to evolve since 1998, leaving "on the table" such vital questions as Pakistan policy and aid for the Northern Alliance. As a result, he said in 2002, "the Bush administration decided then, you know, mid-January (2001), to do two things.

One, vigorously pursue the existing policy, including all of the lethal covert action findings ... (and) initiate a process to look at those issues which had been on the table for a couple of years and get them decided." By the end of the summer, Bush officials -- who, Clarke reminded the media, "didn't get into office until late March, early April" -- had "developed implementation details" and, even more important, changed the Clinton strategy of "rollback" to "a new strategy that called for the rapid elimination of Al Qaeda." As Clarke put it then, "President Bush told us in March to stop swatting at flies and just solve the problem."