Unless you've been living under a rock for the past year, you know that Richard Clarke, former head of counter-terrorism for both the Clinton and Bush administrations, released a scathing book this past spring on the Bush administration's efforts to spike talk of terrorism in the months before September, 2001.
The bottom line is that no one in BushCo was interested in listening. George Bush was more interested in taking a round of golf; Dick Cheney was far more interested in making sure Ken Lay was being taken care of; Condi Rice was working with Wolfo and Rumsfeld to cook up the plans to depose Saddam.
In Against all Enemies, Clarke characterized former CIA DCI George Tenet as "running around Washington with his hair on fire" regarding terrorist chatter in the summer of 2001. But no one would listen. Clarke's frustration certainly showed through during the 9/11 Commission hearings. And he is still the only senior Bush administration official on duty at the time of the attacks who has apologized to the families of the victims (and the nation) for "failing you; not doing enough".
No, Dick, it's George Bush who didn't do enough. It's Bush and his entire cabal that ignored well-informed people like you, George Tenet, John O'Neill, Randy Beers, and just about anyone else with a voice in the intelligence community. It's George Bush and his administration who put no priority on pursuing action when they received a memo on August 6, 2001 titled "Bin Laden Determined to Strike U.S.". It's George Bush who My Pet Goated for seven full minutes in the middle of the attack on 9/11/01, and then hightailed it for nearly 14 hours.
Yeah, George Bush is a real leader. Like I said earlier this morning, words fail even me sometimes.
Anyway, Dick Clarke did an interview on Fresh Air with Terry Gross yesterday. I had the opportunity to catch the repeat yesterday evening, and it was simply amazing. I continue to be astounded that, given Clarke's revelations earlier this year, that George W. Bush is even still in office, much less not in jail. Take 45 minutes and listen to the interview - it's really, really good, and Dick Clarke is unquestionably the most credible witness to have emerged against BushCo in the past four years.
Lastly, Against All Enemies just came out in paperback. If you didn't read the book 6 months ago, or the hardback was priced a wee bit high for your wallet, by all means pick up the paperback this week. I guarantee you that you will not be able to put the book down. I further guarantee you that you will come away with a renewed sense of why it's so critically necessary to eject the group of gangsters that currently occupy the White House.
The blood of so many people is on their hands.
