CLARKE IN 92: BUSH WAS LAX ON IRAQ

The Washington Post (BRIEF EXCERPT ONLY, IN COMPLIANCE WITH COPYRIGHT LAW AND LAT/WP VS FR] | JUNE 5, 1992 | R. Jeffrey Smith

[Wallaby]

Memo Says U.S. Was Lax on Iraq; 'No One Was Paying Attention' to Arms [EXCERPT] The Washington Post R. Jeffrey Smith, Washington Post Staff Writer FIRST SECTION; PAGE A1 June 5, 1992, Friday, Final Edition A senior State Department official concluded in a secret memorandum after Iraq invaded Kuwait that "no one was paying attention" to blocking Iraq's purchase of Western equipment for weapons of mass destruction during the previous decade, according to a copy obtained by The Washington Post. [According to Clarke's memo,] "no one was paying attention" to blocking Iraq's purchase of Western equipment for weapons of mass destruction during the previous decade. . ." The official, Assistant Secretary of State Richard A. Clarke, made the claim in a memo declassified yesterday and provided to Congress along with 53 other State Department documents concerning U.S.-Iraqi relations that were requested by a congressional committee investigating U.S. policy toward Iraq before the Persian Gulf War. The documents, which were made available to The Post by a U.S. official, provide fresh details about the administration's monitoring of Iraq's nuclear and chemical weapons programs and the controversial U.S. pre-war push to ease controls on high-technology exports as part of an attempt to cultivate better relations with Iraq before it invaded Kuwait in August 1990.

(snip) President Bush last night defended the effort toward better relations with Iraq against this congressional criticism, saying that the United States tried to work with Saddam "on grain credits and things of this nature to avoid aggressive action. And it failed. . . . " "That approach, holding out a hand, trying to get him to renounce terrorism and join the family of nations, didn't work," Bush told a White House news conference. "And the minute he moved aggressively, we moved aggressively and set back aggression." One undated memo summarizing U.S. nonproliferation activity aimed at Iraq indicates that the Bush administration moved slowly to constrain Iraq's mass-destruction weapons programs after a Iraqi long-range missile launch in 1989 caught officials by surprise. The memo states that Clarke sought in an interagency meeting that December "to get at why U.S. intelligence didn't know Iraq had such capabilities beforehand and to galvanize the interagency community into more effective [action] against the Iraqi missile program." (snip) Clarke's memo referring to Washington's record of failure on the issue was written after the invasion. . . (snip)

[Spotsy]

He was insisting that Clarke would have to be a big fat liar to write this book and be disagreed with.

Why Dan Abrams has a television show, I will never understand. Gosh Dan, just because it's in print doesn't make it true!

[Spotsy]

He was insisting that Clarke would have to be a big fat liar to write this book and be disagreed with.

Why Dan Abrams has a television show, I will never understand. Gosh Dan, just because it's in print doesn't make it true!

[gimmebackmyconstitution]

Don't forget that in December 2000, the presidential transition process was in chaos due to the Florida selective vote recount by the dams.There is no question that this distraction hurt the presdient's ability to govern
and hampered the administration's ability to get up to speed- and then- 09-11-01 happened. Thank god we had a leader with strong executive and delegating ability. I wonder why nobody is exploring the possibility that bill clinton may have known 9-11 was coming? that is far more credible to me than Bush having prior knowledge. Think about it: it would be the ultimate symbolic tearing out of the "W" keys throughout the whitehouse.

[Mo1]

Thanks for the heads up .. will check out the 2nd airing

[gswilder]

I agree that the dems are making a mistake by keeping terror on the front burners. I can just see one of the Bush/Kerry debates. Kerry will bring this issue up. Bush will say, yea several presidents, including Clinton, didn't do anything before 9-11. That is old news. Let me tell you what I have done since 9-11. Kerry will wilt under the pressure...

[Miss Marple]

Well, that would explain why he was in AUSTRALIA on 9/11.

[Carolinamom]

Bush put the whole Clinton MO in regard to terrorist attacks when he told Rice he was "tired of swatting flies."

[StAnDeliver]

"Richard Clarke's Legacy of Miscalculation", SecurityFocus.com, Feb. 17, 2003

Excerpts: "(Clarke) will be remembered for his steadfast belief in the danger of Internet attacks, even while genuine threats developed elsewhere.

Years ago, Clarke bet his national security career on the idea that electronic war was going to be real war. He lost...Saddam will not be brought down by people stealing his e-mail or his generals being spammed with exhortations to surrender.

After being part of the NSC, Clarke was dismissed to Special Advisor for Cyberspace Security on October 9 (2002) in a ceremony led by National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice and new homeland security guru Tom Ridge. If it was an advance, it was one to the rear -- a pure demotion.

In 1986, as a State Department bureaucrat with pull, he came up with a plan to battle terrorism and subvert Muammar Qaddafi by having SR-71s produce sonic booms over Libya. This was to be accompanied by rafts washing onto the sands of Tripoli, the aim of which was to create the illusion of a coming attack. When this nonsense was revealed, it created embarrassment for the Reagan administration and was buried."--George Smith

[RedWing9]

John 'Effin' Kerry Beautiful!

[Mo1]

Heard it on Fox. Clarke was the only Clintoon rep who gave any advice to Bush team and it was a 30 slide Power Point presentation in which supposedly one slide dealt with AQ. I think it was Rice that Clarke gave the presentation to.

I've also heard that Clark refused to attend many of the meetings

[softengine]

Lol.

[jwalsh07]

Here's my feeling on the subject.

Rand Beers, a registered Dem and Kerry supporter, recognising Clarkes deep disappointment and animosity toward Bush passing him over for a Homeland Security Post co-opted Clarke and pushed him in the direction he is currently pointed in.

In other words, Clarke has become a useful idiot for the left because of his ego.

[Mo1]

LOL ..

[William McKinley]

Read about it on Kerry's website, as detailed by DU-propagandist and Scott Ritter co-author William Rivers Pitt.

http://www.johnkerry.com/pressroom/clips/news_2003_1210b.html

[section9]

Anyone see a pattern here?

I sure as hell do.

This guy is trying to curry favor with the "out" party.

So he can become one of the "in" guys. Clarke, as an Assistant SOS, might have been concerned about his tenure under the incoming Bubba Team.

Covered his bets nicely, I see.

Be Seeing You,

Chris

[William McKinley]

See above. It took place in Al Franken's place.

[William McKinley]

That someone's apartment was Al Franken's. See above.

[gimmebackmyconstitution]

KERRY KNEW ABOUT 9/11 BOSTON HIJACKING PLAN YET DID NOTHING


Speaking of Kerry’s apathy concerning the war on terror, according to Washington investigative reporter Paul Sperry, Kerry often boasts how he “sounded the alarm on terrorism years before 9/ 11,” referring to his 1997 book, The New War.




But Kerry didn’t blast it when it really counted, Sperry wrote – four months before the hijackings, when he was hand-delivered evidence of serious security breaches at Logan International Airport, with specific warnings that terrorists could exploit them:


"Former FAA security officials say the Massachusetts senator had the power to prevent at least the Boston hijackings and save the World Trade Center and thousands of lives, yet he failed to take effective action after they gave him a prophetic warning that his state’s main airport was vulnerable to multiple hijackings,” Sperry wrote in the March 15 edition of the New York Post.
Again, as Kerry continues to accuse Bush of “misleading America” into the war in Iraq, the Kerry media cabal has flatly refused to expose Kerry’s treasonous dereliction of duty in responding to a tip that could have prevented the hijackings at Logan International Airport. Much like Clinton’s fear of racial profiling, Kerry did nothing as well. Source:
http://25thaviation.org/johnkerry/

[StAnDeliver]

See also ABC News, Oct. 9, 2001 -- "Clarke became well-known for his use of the phrase "electronic Pearl Harbor," when predicting the implications of a cyber-terrorist attack.

Critics say he overstates the threat, perhaps as a tactic to win greater attention, support and resources for government computer defense capabilities."

[Howlin]

What is the story about that meeting?