CBS is flogging a book by former Clinton Administration official Richard Clarke that supposedly shows the incoming Bush Administration didn’t care about al-Qaeda before September 11 and tried to pin it on Iraq afterwards. Except Clarke’s claims don’t make sense, and are clearly politically motivated. Deacon at Power Line has an excellent evisceration of Clarke and his claims and National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice sets the record straight on the pre-September 11 antiterrorist activities of the Bush Administration.
If Clinton thought that al-Qaeda was such a threat, he did scarce little to do anything about it. From the Khobar Towers to the USS Cole the Clinton Administration’s reaction to terrorism was to sit on its hands and do nothing more than lob a few cruise missiles at a series of empty camps.
Attacking a US warship and killing members of its crew is an act of war – yet Clinton did nothing. Attacking US diplomatic personnel in Africa is an act of war – yet Clinton did nothing. Attacking military servicemen and women overseas is an act of war – yet Clinton did nothing.
And Clarke has the pure unadulterated audacity to argue that Bush is the one who was negligent in fighting terrorism. If that is not an idiotic argument on a prima facie basis, I fail to see what is.
The Clinton legacy? 3,000 dead from a terrorist threat that was allowed to gather for years. The Bush legacy? 50 million living in freedom. al-Qaeda on the run. Saddam Hussein in jail, his sons in Hell. Threats that could have killed 30,000 or 3 million will never have the chance.
That’s how you fight terrorism – not through the kind of Clintonian appeasement that Clarke offers.
In his recent speech, President Bush said, “We’re helping former Soviet states find productive employment for former weapons scientists.” Bush referred to Defense Enterprise Fund (DEF), a venture capital fund financed by the US Congress. DEF was supposed to convert Russian WMD establishments while simultaneously realizing profit from high-technology joint ventures.
According to DoD Audit, DEF spent half of its grant on itself, which is twenty five times the industry average. As far as DEF’s investment portfolio of $30M, $20M disappeared from it. Defense Threat Reduction Agency (“DTRA”) maintains a DEF-related webpage. This page used to state that the number of former Soviet WMD scientists converted by DEF to peaceful pursuits was 3370. I questioned this figure and DTRA reduced it to 1250, which is a 66% reduction. But the real figure could not be more than 200 Russian scientists. DEF was closed as of December 31, 2003, its entire $67M grant lost, and nobody was punished, except the whistleblower, who was punished most viciously. http://nunn-lugar.com/def/
Mr. Clarke – what do you think you are doing? It appears to me that you are looking to increase your book sales. Mr. Clarke – if you really cared about this country, you would shut your big yapper and use your skill and talent to help America out (we are still at war you know, the threat isn’t over…). Instead you are merely distracting the White House and many members of Congress from doing what is really important – keeping you and I safe.
Read the book, you’ll see that Clarke is also critical of Clinton and the CIA and FBI organizations during both Clinton’s and Bush’s years.
Clarke criticizes Bush’s regime, but he also criticizes our entire nation’s lack of attack against Al-Queda and our lack of fortifying defense inside the US. Those who haven’t read the book see this as a pure witch-hunt against Bush…but it is alot more than that. Read it – or buy it on “books on tape” – only about 6 hrs. You’ll enjoy it – greg
Jay, you are douchebag and so am I.