This presidential election must be defined as a
national referendum on the CREDIBILITY, COMPETENCY and
CHARACTER of the _resident...Richard Clarke's name is
already scrawled on the John O'Neill Wall of Heroes,
but the LNS has been waiting impatiently for his book,
"Against All Enemies." It is going to shed the harsh
light of eyewitness truth on some very nasty
business...There is no coincidence at all in the fact
that Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mekong Delta)returns from
his Idaho retreat the day after Clarke's appearance on
60 Minutes this Sunday...
CBS Sixty Minutes: "Rumsfeld was saying we needed to
bomb Iraq....We all said, 'but no, no. Al Qaeda is in
Afghanistan," recounts Clarke, "and Rumsfeld said,
'There aren't any good targets in Afghanistan and
there are lots of good targets in Iraq.' I said,
'Well, there are lots of good targets in lots of
places, but Iraq had nothing to do with [the September
11 attacks].'Clarke goes on to explain what he
believes was the reason for the focus on Iraq. "I think they wanted to believe that there was a connection [between Iraq and al Qaeda], but the CIA was sitting there, the FBI was sitting there, I was sitting there, saying, 'We've looked at this issue for years. For years we've looked and there's just no connection,'" says Clarke.
Repudiate the 9/11 Cover-Up and the Iraq War Lies,
Show Up for Democracy in 2004: Defeat Bush (again!)
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/03/19/60minutes/main607356.shtml
Sept. 11: Before And After
March 19, 2004
Former White House terrorism advisor Richard Clarke
tells Correspondent Lesley Stahl that on Sept. 11,
2001, and the day after - when it was clear al Qaeda
had carried out the terrorist attacks - the Bush
administration was considering bombing Iraq in
retaliation.
Clarke's exclusive interview will be broadcast on 60
Minutes, Sunday, March 21 at 7 p.m. ET/PT.
Clarke was surprised that the attention of
administration officials was turning toward Iraq when
he expected the focus to be on al Qaeda and Osama bin
Laden.
"They were talking about Iraq on 9/11. They were
talking about it on 9/12," says Clarke.
The top counter-terrorism advisor, Clarke was briefing
the highest government officials, including President
Bush and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, in the
aftermath of the September 11 attacks.
"Rumsfeld was saying we needed to bomb Iraq....We all
said, 'but no, no. Al Qaeda is in Afghanistan,"
recounts Clarke, "and Rumsfeld said, 'There aren't any
good targets in Afghanistan and there are lots of good
targets in Iraq.' I said, 'Well, there are lots of
good targets in lots of places, but Iraq had nothing
to do with [the September 11 attacks].'"
Clarke goes on to explain what he believes was the
reason for the focus on Iraq.
"I think they wanted to believe that there was a
connection [between Iraq and al Qaeda], but the CIA
was sitting there, the FBI was sitting there, I was
sitting there, saying, 'We've looked at this issue for
years. For years we've looked and there's just no
connection,'" says Clarke.
Clarke, who advised four presidents, reveals more
about the current administration's reaction to
terrorism in his new book, "Against All Enemies."