The CBS 60 Minutes Richard Clarke Interview

Actually, I prefer the term "slimy" to describe Rove.

ach

jeez bunny, you're very single-vowelly today ... tho "ach" is oddly more evocative than "arr" or "ork" ... should we start slapping you on the back so you can spit it out? ;-)

And where has Rove been recently? Conspicuously low-keyed. And I was right about Clarke being on NBC's "Meet the Press" this morning, for those of you who can get it. Now Kerry is calling for Rice to testify under oath.

So much fun, so little time.

BBB
Is it time for Bush et al to start using some of the millions of dollars he's amassed to campaign on his anti-terrorism leadership podium for truckloads of correction fluid instead?

Is there enough bars of soap in the world to wash out the lieing Bush's mouth? May I be the first to donate a bar of soap to the effort?

BBB

Clarke handled Russert's questions very well indeed this morning on "Meet the Press". Credibility intact.

Indeed

In light of which, the spin doctors will have to write some new language for Condi's performance Sunday night on "60 Minutes". Ya wanna bet there is reference to anything new said by Clarke this morning?

By the way, a natural follow-up question for Russert wasn't asked by him of Clark: "How much and what material did the White House take out of the book?"

Sumac
Sumac, very good point. Why don't you e-mail Russert and suggest he ask your question of someone?

[email protected]

BBB

Transcript of Meet The Press Clarke Interview
Transcript for March 28 Guest: Fmr. White House counterterrorism official Richard Clarke NBC News
MEET THE PRESS
Sunday, March 28, 2004
GUEST: Former White House counterterrorism official Richard Clarke
MODERATOR/PANELIST: Tim Russert - NBC News

Transcript posted on separate site---BBB

http://www.able2know.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=21479&highlight=

Impessive. He sticks to his guns, and doesn't try to play the victim.

I was listening to tv this morning and the x democrat news caster said a new poll just came out that says that 65% of the electroiate dont believe Clark. They think he is just trying to sell books. He dident mention that most of the information in the book was backed up by other xgovernment officials and government officials still in government. The tv news coverup has begun. As long as foriegn people like Rupert Murdock control our media truth is going to take a huge hit.

Thanks BBB, great idea, and I did so. Hugs and kisses.

And thanks for the link to the transcript. I forwarded it to both Kara and Ul, who are overseas.

Condi Rice is going to be on 60 minutes tonight to rebuke Clarkes statements.

Don't miss it.

Thanks BBB, I was gone this morning so I missed all the sunday morning talk shows. I'll be gone this evening so I will miss the 60 minutes as well.

I think that Clark is a little disgruntled, but who wouldn't be in his position. I find him to be very credible and I think a lot of people do too. There was a poll done on CNN during late edition that asked if people think that more could have been done to prevent 9/11. 96 or thereabouts said yes.

Clarke's Frontline Interview:
From a program about the FBI agent's jeremiad.

Clark was great on Meet the Press. He speaks in a calm, rational manner and doesn't play the victim. I'm glad that finally, somebody is fighting back against the neocons. Their 'house of cards' is finally starting to implode.

I'm glad Clarke said don't just release the emails that might look questionable, release them all so we can see all the emails in context - and I think he's right - however, I don't think this WH would ever do that.

Nor do I, which is why I think it was a brilliant thing for him to say.

Blowing the whistle on Mr. Bush
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bal-op.witcover24mar24,0,3702548.column?coll=bal-news-columnists

Blowing the whistle on Mr. Bush
Jules Witcover
March 24, 2004

WASHINGTON - The intensity and vehemence of the White House's attacks on its former anti-terrorism chief, Richard A. Clarke, show how clearly President Bush's political strategists recognize that Mr. Clarke's allegations strike at the heart of his bid for re-election.
His charge that the president pressed him on the day after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks to look for a link between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaida feeds the notion that Mr. Bush, early on, sought to use such a link as a rationale to go to war against Iraq.

That view, in turn, reinforces the argument that the ultimate invasion of Iraq was a colossal blunder, a diversion from the broader requirement of seeking out and eliminating the al-Qaida terrorist network and its leader, Osama bin Laden.

Mr. Clarke's additional allegation that Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and his chief deputy, Paul Wolfowitz, were so intent on going after Mr. Hussein that they lost the more critical focus on al-Qaida further challenges the premise that Mr. Bush has been an effective wartime president.

Mr. Clarke charges in his new book, Against All Enemies: Inside America's War on Terror, that the president and his aides, rather than pursuing the war on terror with vigor and wisdom, brushed off warnings by him and CIA Director George J. Tenet of an impending major al-Qaida attack before 9/11.

It's no wonder, therefore, that the White House decided to go into a full-bore campaign to discredit Mr. Clarke as a disgruntled subordinate and even as an agent of the presidential campaign of rival John Kerry, flooding the airwaves with administration damage-controllers.

Tactically, however, this heavy-handed approach risks being dismissed as no more than the standard Washington procedure for dealing with whistleblowers. Mr. Clarke, at the least, has credentials as a counterterrorism expert - in both Republican and Democratic administrations - that command serious consideration of what he has to say.

The opening White House assaults on Mr. Clarke ran from ridicule to slander. Presidential press secretary Scott McClellan dwelt on the timing of the book's release in the presidential election year, labeling it "Dick Clark's American Grandstand" - a sophomoric play on the ageless TV host's long-running show.

Mr. Clarke has noted that the White House took three months to clear the manuscript for security concerns. That left only 10 months to write and publish the book, an unusually swift amount of time considering he left government service only 13 months earlier.

That's not to suggest that Mr. Clarke was unaware of the benefit - political and financial - of publishing the book now, especially when the commission investigating the 9/11 attacks is holding televised hearings. Mr. Clarke is on the witness list.

Joining the opening attack on Mr. Clarke was Vice President Dick Cheney, whose tenure since 9/11 has been marked by very rare public appearances - until his blossoming as the Republican national ticket's chief Kerry critic. Mr. Cheney chose the Rush Limbaugh radio show to allege that Mr. Clarke "wasn't in the loop, frankly, on a lot of this stuff" and "may have had a grudge to bear" for not being in "a more prominent position."

But in his book, Mr. Clarke placed three aides in the White House Situation Room at the time of his brief conversation with Mr. Bush about Mr. Hussein and Iraq. The three have confirmed it took place.

Mr. Clarke quotes Mr. Bush as saying, "See if Saddam did it. See if he's linked in any way." When he assured the president that "al-Qaida did this," Mr. Clarke wrote, the president pressed him to "look for any shred," and repeated, "Look into Iraq, Saddam," and left the room.

The question is whether the effort to discredit Mr. Clarke will put out this fire. The attempt already is under way by Republicans in the 9/11 commission hearings.

At the same time, Democratic campaigners and antiwar activists will be working hard to fan the flames on an issue critical to Mr. Bush's credibility and his re-election.
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Jules Witcover writes from The Sun's Washington bureau. His column appears Monday, Wednesdays and Fridays.