Why are we in Iraq? Stupidity? Bad Judgement, Lies? Deceptions?
Richard Clarke, the former counterterrorism chief to President Bush, has released new information on how the Bush White House failed to heed the warnings of national security officials, were slow to act on these warnings, were quick to blame Iraq and were unable to make the long sought after connection between Iraq and al Qaeda. Here is what he had to say:
On Warning the Bush White House About al Qaeda:
Richard A. Clarke "said in an interview that the warning about the Qaeda threat could not have been made more bluntly to the incoming Bush officials in intelligence briefings that he led. At the time of the briefings, there was extensive evidence tying Al Qaeda to the bombing in Yemen two months earlier of an American warship, the Cole, in which 17 sailors were killed. 'It was very explicit,' Mr. Clarke said of the warning given to the Bush administration officials. 'Rice was briefed, and Hadley was briefed, and Zelikow sat in.' Mr. Clarke served as Mr. Bush's counterterrorism chief in the early months of the administration, but after Sept. 11 was given a more limited portfolio as the president's cyberterrorism adviser." [New York Times, 3/20/04]
On the Bush White House Being Slow to Act al Qaeda:
"The White House does not dispute that intelligence briefings about the Qaeda threat occurred during the transition, and the commission has received extensive notes and other documentation from the White House and Clinton administration officials about what was discussed. What is at issue, Clinton administration officials say, is whether their Bush administration counterparts acted on the warnings, and how quickly. " [New York Times, 3/20/04]
On the Bush Administration's Reaction after 9/11:
"The Bush administration considered bombing Iraq in retaliation almost immediately after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks against New York and Washington, according to a new first-person account by a former senior counterterrorism adviser inside the White House. Richard Clarke, the president's counterterrorism coordinator at the time of the attacks, said Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld complained on Sept. 12 - after the administration was convinced with certainty that al Qaeda was to blame - that, 'there aren't any good targets in Afghanistan and there are lots of good targets in Iraq.' " [Associated Press, 3/20/04]
On the White House's Attempts to Establish Connection Between Iraq & al Qaeda:
"I think they wanted to believe there was a connection, but the C.I.A. was sitting there, the F.B.I. was sitting there, saying, 'We've looked at this issue for years -- for years, we've looked, and there's just no connection, ' " Mr. Clarke said. He recalled telling Defense Secretary Rumsfeld that 'there are a lot of good targets in a lot of places, but Iraq had nothing to do' with the Sept. 11 attacks." [New York Times, 3/20/04]
· "I think they wanted to believe that there was a connection' between Iraq and the al-Qaeda attacks in the United States, Clarke said in an interview segment CBS broadcast Friday evening. 'There's just no connection. There's absolutely no evidence that Iraq was supporting al Qaeda." [Associated Press, 3/20/04]
Kerry Campaign press release. Title adapted by OpEdNews.com
