[Howlin]

I always LOOK to see who the opposition is!

Oh, look...Joe Klein is on saying that Richard Clarke FINALLY came up with a plan for AQ in...........are you ready for it? want to know when???

DECEMBER OF 2000!!!!

He gave it to the Bush team in January of 2001 -- and now they are claiming that if Bush had followed THEIR plank, all of this could have been avoided!

[A Citizen Reporter]

DECEMBER OF 2000!!!!

That was the month I spent in my pajamas, waiting for an end to the nightmare that the Gore campaign was putting us through. But Richard Clarke came up with a plan for AQ then???

[Jim_Curtis]

Something else that happened December 2000. Clinton stayed the execution of Timothy McVeigh for the second time and the new execution date was moved to June 2001 for Bush to deal with.

[Wallaby]

Oh, look...Joe Klein is on saying that Richard Clarke FINALLY came up with a plan for AQ in...........are you ready for it? want to know when???

DECEMBER OF 2000!!!!

You can find a transcript of Richard Clarke's remarks to reporters on December 15, 2000, when he released his  "International Crime Threat Assessment Report (released December 2000). [Clarke Cites Release of International Crime Assessment

" No mention of Al-Qaeda or bin Laden to the reporters.

Here are some noteworthy passages:

Q: As far as international crimes go, what's the one largest threat to U.S. citizens right now?

MR. CLARKE: I think the largest threat is obviously posed by international narcotics smuggling, which costs a number of lives and costs an enormous amount of money. But more and more, we see that the people who are engaged in international narcotics smuggling are also engaged in other businesses, other illegal activities.

...

Q: You spoke earlier about the government of Afghanistan as a criminal organization. You said that it exports heroin, harbors terrorists and so on. Is there -- can we -- should we rule out in our minds any idea that the Clinton Administration in its last few weeks would take any kind of military action in Afghanistan either to extract the terrorists or to send a message to the Taliban about these things? I know you're taking moves in the United Nations to try and consolidate internationally.

And I would also like to, as a second half of this, ask you what would your recommendations be to the incoming Bush Administration in terms of how to handle a criminal state like Afghanistan?

MR. CLARKE: I expect that early next week the United Nations Security Council will pass for the second time a series of sanctions against the Taliban regime that rules most of Afghanistan. That resolution will be co-sponsored by Russia and the United States and we expect it to gain widespread support in the Security Council.