Clarke comes off good in report, so a BS rhetorical question is added

[shockingelk]

P 201:

Within the first few days after Bush’s inauguration, Clarke approached Rice in an effort to get her—and the new President—to give terrorism very high priority and to act on the agenda that he had pushed during the last few months of the previous administration. After Rice requested that all senior staff identify desirable major policy reviews or initiatives, Clarke submitted an elaborate memorandum on January 25, 2001. He attached to it his 1998 Delenda Plan and the December 2000 strategy paper.“We urgently need . . . a Principals level review on the al Qida network,” Clarke wrote.172

He wanted the Principals Committee to decide whether al Qaeda was “a first order threat” or a more modest worry being overblown by “chicken little” alarmists. Alluding to the transition briefing that he had prepared for Rice, Clarke wrote that al Qaeda “is not some narrow, little terrorist issue that needs to be included in broader regional policy.”Two key decisions that had been deferred, he noted, concerned covert aid to keep the Northern Alliance alive when fighting began again in Afghanistan in the spring, and covert aid to the Uzbeks. Clarke also suggested that decisions should be made soon on messages to the Taliban and Pakistan over the al Qaeda sanctuary in Afghanistan, on possible new money for CIA operations, and on “when and how . . . to respond to the attack on the USS Cole.”173

The national security advisor did not respond directly to Clarke’s memorandum. No Principals Committee meeting on al Qaeda was held until September 4, 2001 (although the Principals Committee met frequently on other subjects, such as the Middle East peace process, Russia, and the Persian Gulf ).174 But Rice and Hadley began to address the issues Clarke had listed. What to do or say about the Cole had been an obvious question since inauguration day. When the attack occurred, 25 days before the election, candidate Bush had said to CNN,“I hope that we can gather enough intelligence to figure out who did the act and take the necessary action.There must be a consequence.” 175 Since the Clinton administration had not responded militarily, what was the Bush administration to do?

[jean]

1. right - maybe that's what bush was waiting the 7 min - for Clinton to call

and tell him what to do.

[pnorman]

2. Can you give the source for the above?

Is it from that 9-11 Commission Report? I have Clarke's "Against All Enemies" in my PDA, but have been unable to locate it there.

pnorman

[shockingelk]

3. p 201 of 9-11 Commission report n/t

[dennis4868]

4. "Since the Clinton administration had not responded militarily"

Does the report ever mention that Clinton did not respond militarily because he was waiting to hear back official word regarding who was responsible for the attack on the Cole? Probably not, even though that was testified to during the 911 hearings.

[bossfish]

7. and is "militarily" the appropriate response?

[shockingelk]

10. It does include when it was determined bin Laden was involved

p 193:

"In other words, the Yemenis provided strong evidence connecting the Cole attack to al Qaeda during the second half of November, identifying individual operatives whom the United States knew were part of al Qaeda. During December the United States was able to corroborate this evidence. But the United States did not have evidence about Bin Ladin’s personal involvement in the attacks until Nashiri and Khallad were captured in 2002 and 2003."

[dennis4868]

12. I have to check....

The Book on Bush by Eric Alterman...I remember reading in that book that it was in January 2001, shortly after the Supreme Court King George into the WH that the CIA sent confirmation to Bush that al Qaeda was involved in the Cole....

[depakid]

5. What did you expect?

Honesty? Accountability?

it wasn't going to happen- never was.

[buycitgo]

6. ''......what was the Bush administration to do?''

try to find a bigger flyswatter, of course

that question is simply, uh, ineffably, MINDbogglingly, ASSCOVERINGLY, unjustifiably, inexcusably exculpatory

[dennis4868]

9. I agree....

It was not until after Bush took office that the CIA figured out for sure that al Qaeda was responsible for the Cole....

[dennis4868]

8. Since the Clinton administration had not responded militarily

Since the Clinton administration had not responded militarily, what was the Bush administration to do?

It's like saying, Monica entered the oval office ready to give oral sex to Clinton, what was Clinton to do?

That question makes no god damn sense and does not put into context why Clinton did not take action....fuck the commission...hope they all drop dead tomorrow!

[shockingelk]

11. There's some good stuff in there, but it's schizophrenic

I've been scanning it, reading sections ... it's not a complete whitewash, but LIHOP/MIHOPers will see it as a white wash, to be sure.

I find it ridiculous to think anyone on the Commission saw evidence of LIHOP/MIHOP. You can't keep something like that from leaking.