Free Republic

BEAR ANY BURDEN Apparently Sen. John Kerry cares enough about what Sen. Ted Kennedy thinks of him that the presumptive presidential candidate called Kennedy to inform him that he would not cross the Boston Police Patrolmen's Association picket line at the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Boston on Monday. Kerry was scheduled to speak at the conference, but abruptly pulled out. While a Kennedy Senate staffer said that the senior senator appreciated the courtesy call, the two men remain cool. "Kerry should have been speaking to us about the problems in Boston weeks ago," says the Kennedy staffer. "One good...

The discovery of an Iraqi artillery shell armed with nerve gas has the liberal community and mass media in a panic. The 155mm nerve gas shell was rigged to kill U.S. troops but it failed. U.S. Brig. General Mark Kimmitt confirmed the discovery during a news conference in Baghdad. Yet, the discovery of nerve gas was followed by a second revelation. A second shell, equipped with mustard gas was found two weeks ago. The mustard gas shell identified by the special WMD inspection team in Iraq appears to be one of 550 declared by Saddam to U.N. inspectors during the...

Expect terror attack - Cohen Former defense secretary speaks at UW forum By Becky Orr rep6@wyomingnews.com Published in the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle LARAMIE - Americans should expect more terrorist attacks on United States soil, a former secretary of defense says. William S. Cohen said Thursday that future attacks are inevitable given the country's size, its uncontrolled borders and other factors. "We may foil most of them," Cohen said. "(But) we have to be successful 100 percent of the time." Those plotting against America have to be successful only once, he added. "The question becomes, 'What do we do?'" Cohen is a...

Statement of William S. Cohen to The National Commission On Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States March 23, 2004 I appreciate the opportunity to appear before the Commission to discuss counterterrorismefforts of the Defense Department and the Interagency during my tenure asSecretary of Defense.You have posed several questions, which I will address to the best of my ability, althoughI should note that in preparing this statement I have not had access to any non-publicrecords with regard to events that took place during this period three to eight years agoand not all public records are easily accessible despite the internet. I...

<p>March 26, 2004 -- DAYS of public hearings into the 9/11 attacks have given us a few unambiguous answers to important questions.</p> <p>Did the Clinton and Bush administrations do enough to stop the 9/11 attacks? The answer is no - for the simple reason that the attacks took place. The only way either administration could have "done enough" is to have acted to pre-empt those attacks.</p>

<p>WASHINGTON -- It is only March but the 2004 Chutzpah of the Year Award can be safely given out. It goes to Richard Clarke, now making himself famous by blaming the Bush administration for 9/11 -- after Clarke had spent eight years in charge of counterterrorism for a Clinton administration that did nothing.</p>

WASHINGTON (AP) — Impassioned and incredulous, Bob Kerrey held little back in criticizing both the Clinton and Bush administration for the way they dealt with Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida before Sept. 11. It was a big mistake, said the commissioner on the federal panel investigating the attacks, not to use military force against a terrorist organization already suspected in attacks against U.S. interests since the early 1990s. The former Democratic senator from Nebraska did not spare high-ranking officials from either administration who testified over two days of public hearings on Capitol Hill. "I just want to say for the...

WASHINGTON - Two former cabinet members denied yesterday that former President Bill Clinton's attacks on Afghanistan and Iraq in 1998 were "Wag the Dog" distractions from the Monica Lewinsky scandal. "Under no circumstances did President Clinton ever call upon the military and use that military in order to serve a political purpose," said former Defense Secretary William Cohen. Madeleine Albright, who was Secretary of State when the cruise missiles were launched at Afghanistan and Iraq, said the attacks were based solely on "actionable intelligence. I believe we acted appropriately." In testimony before the 9/11 commission, Albright said the actions were...

This was heard at 1:45 today: David Anser to Wolf Blitzer: "Now, I should mention to you that this afternoon..ah..I know a little more than I'm allowed to say due to the embargo rules. Ah.. there will be some interesting news this afternoon when the subject will be military..ah..on the subject on the hunt for Bin Laden. So those who are interested in that will want to stay tuned for what's going to be happening this afternoon." Wolf: "Ok David. You've whetted our appetite. Certainly we will be watching when the former Sec. of Defense, Richard Cohen and Current Sec....

For Bush administration, help from an unlikely source BY KEN FIREMAN WASHINGTON BUREAU March 23, 2004, 8:54 PM EST WASHINGTON -- When it really needed it, the beleaguered Bush administration found some succor Tuesday from an unlikely and potentially dangerous source: the commission investigating the 9/11 terror attacks. Just as the administration was launching a frantic effort to fend off the allegations of former White House counterterrorism chief Richard Clarke that it failed to take al-Qaida seriously before 9/11, the commission delivered a couple of priceless gifts. The first was a new staff report revealing that the previous administration --...

Public Hearing September 11 Commission National Cmsn. on Terrorist Attacks 9AM EST on C-span1 Albright, Madeleine, Secretary, Department of State Cohen, William S., Secretary, Department of Defense Powell, Colin, Secretary, Department of State Rumsfeld, Donald, Secretary, Department of Defense

NATO said it won a great victory, but the war did very little damage to Serb forces. By not conceding this, the Pentagon may mislead future presidents about the limits of U.S. power. A NEWSWEEK exclusive. It was acclaimed as the most successful air campaign ever. "A turning point in the history of warfare," wrote the noted military historian John Keegan, proof positive that "a war can be won by airpower alone." At a press conference last June, after Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic agreed to pull his Army from Kosovo at the end of a 78-day aerial bombardment that had...

  Iraq Resumes WMD Activities, New York Times Reports                                        Monday, January 22, 2001 Press reports that Iraq has rebuilt chemical and biological weapons plants bombed by the United States in late 1998 present newly-inaugurated President George W. Bush with a serious non-proliferation challenge. A New York Times report that Iraq has rebuilt chemical and biological weapons-capable plants at Falluja demonstrates the continued threat posed to regional stability by Saddam Hussein. A recently released Department of Defense report "Proliferation: Threat and Response: 2001" stated that Iraq "may have begun program reconstitution" of its chemical and biological weapons capabilities. The news story...