Against All Enemies      Richard A. Clarke                                  Back

Richard A. Clarke, "an internationally recognized expert on security, including homeland security, national security, cyber security, and counterterrorism served in the United States government from 1973 to 2003, with a specialization in the issues of intelligence and Terrorism. He was the counter-terrorism adviser on the U.S. National Security Council when the 9/11 attacks occurred. He resigned in Jan. 2003 as "anti-terrorism czar." after serving in the White House under three presidents George Bush Sr., Bill Clinton & George Bush.

My statements & questions are in blue.

Forward:

XIV: (paragraph 1) The Bush administration has failed to capture Ben Ladin. Afghanistan is still unstable, mainly because George Bush pulled troops for the war in Iraq.

(paragraph 2) al Qaeda has grown since 9/11, with more international attacks since 9/11 then before. al Qaeda has morphed into a hydra (It now has more heads) and several new terror organizations are named.

(paragraph 3) The home front is not secure. Over three years after 9/11 very little has been done to prevent another 9/11. See my section (Are we as a nation really safer?)

XVI: (paragraph 2) The 9/11 commission was created over strong objections of the White House. Now Bush brags about it.

XVII: (paragraph 1) Marine four-star general Anthony Zinni, former commander of all U. S. troops in the Middle East, accused the Pentagon civilian leadership of "dereliction of duty." yet Bush calls Rumsfeld the best secretary of defense we ever had.

(paragraph 2) President Bush has created terrorism now & in the future by his invasion of Iraq. (Clarke isn't the only one to say this, he's one of many.)

XVIII: (paragraph 2) George Bush is right when he says that "Iraq is the central front in the was on terror" he made it so. He turned it into a breeding ground for American hatred.  Hosni Mubarak (Egypt's President) said "Before you invade Iraq there is one Ben Ladin, after you invade Iraq there will be hundreds.) Who would know the Arab mind more then another Arab?

(paragraph 3) Saudi Arabian domestic security continues to deteriorate & Pakistan continues it's instability.

(paragraph 4) George Bush has managed to make us less safe then we were before 9/11.

XIX: (paragraph 1) We have to recognize that terror is a struggle within Islam not a clash of civilizations. We can't keep making enemies by invading Islamic countries. We only turn the moderate Arabs against us.

(paragraph 3) Democracy can't be forced on the people at the end of a bayonet. It also worries some of our Arab allies. What will happen to the governments of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Jordan, etc.

XX: (paragraph 1) Even when Usama Bin Ladin is dead, his ideas will carry on.

Preface:

XXIV: Talking about how Islamic terror became what it is.

(paragraph 2) Ronald Regan didn't retaliate for the bombing in Beirut that killed 278 U. S. Marines then traded arms for hostages (Iran-Contra)

(paragraph 3) George Bush Sr. didn't retaliate when 259 passengers died in the bombing of Pan Am flight 103. & left a large force of Americans in Saudi Arabia after not removing Saddam Hussein.

(paragraph 4) Bill Clinton, weakened by continued political attacks, couldn't get the CIA, FBI, or the Pentagon to deal with the threat even though he tried. (Remember "Wag the Dog.)

(paragraph 5) George Bush didn't take the threat seriously before 9/11 (The 9/11 Commission report:) took obvious but insufficient steps after the attack & launched a costly, unnecessary war in Iraq which strengthened the terrorist movement worldwide.

Chapter 1  (Evacuate the White House)

Since notes couldn't possibly have been taken & no one could have remembered exactly what was said verbatim, It is a story of the first hours after the attack but there is some information that I found interesting.

Pg. 22 (paragraph 3) Donald Rumsfeld was told that The Atlantic fleet was on it's way to New York. The Atlantic Commander had taken it upon himself to give that order. Now there would be about 150 fighter aircraft protecting the city. How come the President, Vice President or Secretary of Defense hadn't given that order?

Pg. 24 (paragraph) The C. I. A. had taken months to inform the F. B. I. that there were terrorist in the country. After the F. B. I. found out they didn't find them. How come they never notified the FAA about them or why weren't they put on America's most wanted? Maybe if the administration took terrorism as seriously as the Clinton administration did, or as they were told to, things might have been different.

Pg. 26 (paragraph 3) Richard Clark had not been allowed to brief the President when he asked in January. It wasn't till after 9/11 that he had been given the chance. This even though Clark was saying it was desperate. The first Cabinet level meeting on terrorism had been a week earlier on Sept. 4th. Again Clark had been requesting the meeting an saying it was urgent. Where was our leadership? Why did they just dismiss a man with Clark's reputation, when he was using words like desperate or urgent?

Pg. 28 (paragraph 4) The FAA at that time were flying armed Air Marshals only on overseas flights & then only on a very few. Is it that much of expense to protect our lives? There have been hijackings in the past.

Pg. 30 (Paragraph 2) I'll give you this paragraph in full. (I expected to go back to a round of meetings examining what the next attacks could be, what our vulnerabilities were. What we could do about them in the short term. Instead I walked into a series of discussions about Iraq. At first I was incredulous that we were talking about something other then getting al-Qaeda. Then I realized with almost a sharp physical pain that Rumsfeld & Wolfowitz were going to try to take advantage of this national tragedy to promote their agenda about Iraq. Since the beginning of the administration, indeed well before, they had been pressing for a war with Iraq. My friends in the Pentagon had been telling me that the word was we would be invading Iraq sometime in 2002.)  The 9/11 commission didn't go into Iraq but it believed everything that Clark said about everything else, so we have to believe him. My question here is, wasn't our immediate safety the most important thing at that time? We weren't even sure the attack was over.  Are we really safe with this administration?

(paragraph 5) While Rumsfeld was talking about getting Iraq, Secretary of State Powell was urging a focus on al-Qaeda. Clark stated that attacking Iraq would be like attacking Mexico after the bombing of Pearl Harbor by the Japanese. At least there are some sound minds in the administration.

Pg. 31 (paragraph 3) Later that day Rumsfeld complained that there were no decent targets for bombing in Afghanistan and that we should consider bombing Iraq. Which he said had better targets. (This reminded me of a cartoon I saw. A girl was looking for a contact lens, under a street light. When asked by a friend where she lost it, she said "over there." The friend asked her "If you lost it over there, why are you looking for it over here?" the girl replied "The light is better over here.")  Do we really need these kind of leaders?

Pg. 32 (paragraph 1) Clark along with Lisa Gordon-Hagerty began to create a list of our vulnerabilities to future attacks. Trains with hazardous Materials were diverted from cities, Crop dusters were grounded, security teams were sent to protect telecommunication hubs, chemical plants & nuclear reactors.  Don't you think that these things, considering the timing, were more important then trying to figure out how to link Iraq to the Twin Towers? Where was Rumsfeld's head?

(paragraph 3) While Clark was still working on ways to stop other attacks, President Bush said to him. "I know you have a lot to do and all... but I want you, as soon as you can, to go back over everything, everything. See if Saddam did this. See if he's linked in any way." following paragraphs show just how much President Bush wanted to have Saddam to have been involved.  He wanted his war.

Chapter 2 (Stumbling into the Islamic World)

An interesting history of our involvement in the Islamic world. i.e. how we got where we are. It doesn't effect this election but I'll give you some highlights anyway.

Pg. 39 (paragraph 4) Ronald Reagan ordered Marines into Beirut, Lebanon & by doing so began what would become a misadventure that gave terrorist the impression they could attack the U. S. with relative impunity.

(paragraph 5 into pg. 40) Reagan explained to a prime time audience that we went into Lebanon in part "because of oil." Lebanon had no oil. (Another well informed president.) Hezbollah backed by Iran bombed the U. S. Marine barracks, killing 278 Americans.

Pg. 40 (paragraph 2) We would loose another large amount of people when Pan Am 103 was blown out of the sky during the first Bush administration 6 years later. (Did you notice 6 years, the terrorists take their time.) Neither Ronald Reagan nor George Bush Sr. retaliated for these devastating attacks on Americans.

Pg. 41 (paragraph 1) Reagan ordered U. S. forces out of Lebanon. Through out the Middle East, it was noted how easily the superpower could be driven off.

Pg. 43 (paragraph 2) In 1984 during the Iran/Iraq war we resumed full diplomatic relations with Iraq. Although the U. S. never sold weapons to Iraq some of our allies did, including U. S. weapons while we looked the other way.

(paragraph 4) In 1986 the war expanded to oil tankers & Iraq started to ship it's oil in Kuwaiti tankers. When Iran started to attack these we renamed & reregistered them as U. S. ships that could be protected by the U. S. Navy.

The pages in between tell of the Iraq/Iran war & the Soviet War in Afghanistan Where we aided and armed the Mujahedeen. (When the Soviets were driven out of Afghanistan, even before, I was telling my co-workers that we had made a grave mistake.) I never thought it would come to 9/11 but I knew, when we immediately closed our embassy and got the Hell out of there, that even the government was afraid of what they had created. I had seen the hate for us in Iran.

Pg. 54 (paragraph 1) Some Afghans & Arab fighters (They had used that war the way they are using this war as a training camp.) pondered what you could do with money, Korans, and a few good weapons. You could overthrow an infidel government. (Iraq was one under Saddam) More important, you could destroy a superpower. They just had. It was now 1990.

Chapter 3 Unfinished Mission, Unintended Consequences

Here Clarke talks about the Golf war. It was interesting in the fact that George Bush Sr. saw what his son didn't. That by going all the way to Baghdad he would be caught in a Quagmire with no way out for years & without our Arab allies who would have pulled out immediately upon finding out that we were doing more then just liberating Kuwait.

Here are a few of the things he said.

Pg. 59 (paragraph 4) After the Afghan War bin Ladin returned triumphantly to Saudi Arabia. bin Ladin had kept some of the Afghan Arab fighters organized. When Kuwait was invaded, he offered to make them available to the King to defend Saudi Arab, to drive Saddam out of Kuwait.  Does it sound to you like bin Ladin would have anything to do with Saddam?

(paragraph 5) bin Ladin couldn't believe it when the King decided to use the U. S. instead of his group. Infidels in the Kingdom where the two most holy Mosques in Islam were was against the beliefs of the Wahhabist branch of Islam. Large numbers of American military in the Kingdom would violate Islam. Now we're in another Holy Land & more Arabs are calling us Infidels.

Pg. 60 (paragraph 1) bin Ladin's first organization was the Afghanistan Service Bureau. With it he was linking returning Afghan war veterans in Algeria, Chechnya, (Where the administration was saying that they were fighting a civil war with Russia, Where so many children died in their school.) Bosnua, Egypt, & the Philippines.

Pg. 65 (paragraph 4) George Bush Sr. never planned to enter Baghdad. Our Arab allies were not eager to see us occupy an Arab country & would have left the coalition, nor did we want to see the Shi'a Muslim majority take over Iraq and set up a pro-Iranian regime.

(paragraph 5) The Bush administration also shied away from the enormous task of occupying Iraq. How much would that cost? which Iraqi would we put in charge? What would we do with the Shi'a majority in Iraq? They thought that left on their own the Iraqi army would overthrow Saddam.

Pg. 66 (paragraph 1) Some shi'a fighters did try to overthrow the government crushed them. They now remember how we called on them to rise up, but did nothing as they got slaughtered.

Chapter 4  Terror returns  (1993 - 1996)

Pg. 73 (paragraph 1) In 1993 the Clinton administration came to office with an agenda to deal with the post-Cold War era, and terrorism was not on it. Terrorism had not been a major issue in the preceding Bush administration either.

Pg. 78 (paragraph 2)Within two weeks of the Feb 26th. World Trade Center bombing the FBI had taken 4 of terror cell into custody. on March 10th Abdul Yasim was released for lack of evidence & flew directly to Baghdad where, we believe, he was incarcerated by Saddam Hussein's regime. (Nice welcome.)

(paragraph 4) Within months the FBI uncovered another cell planning bombings in New York. This time it would be the Lincoln & Holland Tunnels, The U. N. and other landmarks. It seemed like the counterterrorism machinery was working well.

Pg. 79 (paragraph 3) I saw evidence of a true act of terrorism against us by Saddam. President Clinton's response to it successfully deterred Saddam from ever again using terror against us. (That was the attempted assassination of President Bush.)

Pg. 82 (paragraph 4 & 5) When presented with a detailed plan, Clinton was pragmatic. "Well, this may teach him a lesson, but if it doesn't, we will have to do more." (paragraph 5) The cruise missiles had been launched.

Pg. 83 goes into how Bill Clinton wanted to announce to the country that we had launched missiles against Iraq but wanted to be sure that they had hit their targets. (He wanted to tell the truth to the American people.) When neither the CIA nor the Pentagon could give him an answer till the next day, he used his brain power and called CNN. They got the information that our intelligence agencies couldn't.

Pg. 84 (paragraph 3) I was initially disappointed that the retaliation had been so small, that targets had been taken off the list and the raid had been in the middle of the night when the place would be relatively empty. The Bush family were also upset that the response was so limited.

(paragraph 4) Subsequent to that June 1993 retaliation the U.S. intelligence & law enforcement communities never developed evidence of any further Iraqi support for terrorism directed at Americans.

Pg. 86 (paragraph 3) On Oct. 3rd. 1993 The "Black Hawk down" incident took place.

(paragraph 4) Clinton was irate. Somalia was not his idea of how to spend his first year in office. He had inherited it from Bush & the military had let him down.

Pg. 87 (paragraph 1) After receiving ideas from subordinates Clinton looked up "Okay, here's what we're gonna do. We are not running with our tail between our legs. I've already heard from congress & that's what they all want to do, get out tomorrow. We're staying. We are also not gonna flatten Mogadishu to prove we are the big badass superpower. Everybody in the world knows we could do that. We don't have to prove that to anybody.

(paragraph 2) "We are going to send in more troops, with tanks and aircraft and anything else they need. We are going to show force and we are going to keep delivering the food. If anybody F**ks with us, we will respond massively and we are going to get the U.N. to finally show up and take over. Tell Boutros he has six months to do that, not one day more... then we will leave.  Now that's what I call decisiveness with intelligence.

(paragraph 3 & 4) Clinton to Clarke & Lake "I want us running this, not the State Department or the Pentagon." Looking at Clarke he continued "No more U.S. troops get killed, none, Do what you have to do, whatever you have to do."   (paragraph 4) Six months later  the U. S. finally turned over the operation to the U.N. peacekeeping force. There had been no more American casualties.   I call that leadership.

Pg. 89 (paragraph 4 - 6) On the 5th. anniversary of the attack on Pan Am 103, over Lockerbie, Scotland, President Clinton during the memorial remembrance at Arlington Cemetery where a Scottish cairn was dedicated to the victims of Pan Am Flight 103 knelt with a little boy a whispered something to him. Later Clarke asked the boys mother what Clinton had said to the child. "He said, 'My father died before I was born too. Be good to your mom.' "

That night the network news showed a tape of the president leaving the White House to go to the dedication. A voice override by the reporter told about allegations of impropriety made by former Arkansas state troopers. They didn't mention Pan Am 103.  This was nearing the election, doe's it sound familiar? Again no charges were ever filed.

Pg. 92 (paragraph 4) President Clinton signed (PDD-39) The "U.S. Policy on Counterterrorism." It reiterated the "No concessions" policy, which The Reagan administration violated in Iran-Contra. It called for both offensive & defensive actions, using law enforcement, intelligence, military, & diplomatic tools. The war on terror was never just considered a law enforcement problem as the President would like you to believe.

Pg. 93 talks about the finding & losing of Ramzi Yousef and the steps taken when it was found out that he had planned to blow up several airliners over the Pacific. Pg. 94. (Paragraph 1) When told that only the Secretary of Transportation could ground flights & he couldn't be found Leon Panetta, former White House chief of staff said "If the secretary has the athority, the President does too. Tell the airlines to ground them by order of the president." There was decisiveness throughout the Clinton administration.

(paragraph 3) Ramzi Yousev was captured in Thailand and flown back to New York.

Pg. 95 Explains how, even though eyewitness, fingerprints & other evidence showed the man captured was in fact the Ramzi Yousev that had bombed the World Trade Center, CIA director Jim Woolsey & Paul Wolfowitz believed that there were two Ramzi Yousevs and one sat by the side of Saddam Hussein. Though Ramzi Yousev had been in jail in the U.S. for years and he was not an Iraqi operative, the Bush administration has been telling us he was a connection to Saddam Hussein. Either they believe Wolfowitz's fantasy or they only used it to help promote their defense of our invasion of Iraq, either way it shows their incompetence.

Pg. 97 (paragraph 1 - 3) tells of the Oklahoma City Bombing & how they didn't rush to judgment. It ended up being a homegrown terrorist, so they made the right decision again.

(paragraph 5) tells how the administration of Bill Clinton increased the counterterrorism budget.by more then double. Something the Bush administration is consistently leading us to believe wasn't done. and this with a Republican House & Senate.

Pg.98 (bottom of page - pg. 99) When trying to get legal authorities from Congress to raid (The Holy Land Foundation)

a Texas based terror fund raising front. The Clinton administration was turned down. Other measures requested & turned down by Orrin Hatch & Tom DeLay along with other Republicans were expanding organized crime wiretap provisions to terrorist. (Now Bush has the Patriot Act.) & proposed restrictions on bomb making. The NRA also got into this fight saying it would infringe on the right to bear arms.

Chapter 5  The Almost War 1996

Pg 103 (paragraph 3) Using executive order authority Clinton stopped all trade, by the U.S. & U.S. companies, with Iran. That action ended a billion-dollar deal that Conoco had in the works with Iran. As the head of Halliburton, Dick Chaney opposed the U.S. sanctions.  The Iranians were using terror against the U.S. & Chaney was willing to trade with them. (Anything for a buck.)

Pg. 106 (paragraph 3) (Talking about the Olympics) Mindful of Ramzi Yousef's plot to blow up 747s & the images of Pan Am 103, I asked about aircraft. "What if somebody blows up a 747 over the Olympic Stadium, or even flies one into the stadium?"  and no one ever thought someone would fly one into the Twin Towers?

The rest of this chapter covers the Atlantic Olympic bombing, how F.B.I. director Louis Freeh along with others believed that had the bomber when they arrested Richard Jewell. It turned out to be Eric Rudolph. The Safety Net they threw around the Olympics. The accidental in air explosion of TWA 800 over New York & how they researched the accident to prove it wasn't terrorism. A close call with Iran. The Khobar Towers Terror attack and this this that caught my eye.

Pg. 131 (paragraph 3) The Secret Service & Customs had teamed up to get a rudimentary aid defense against an aircraft flying into the Olympic Stadium. The Treasury Department would not allocate money for placing missiles near the White House to defend against a air attack. and again, no one ever thought someone would fly one into the Twin Towers?

Chapter 6   Al Qaeda Revealed

Talks about terrorism during the first years of the Clinton administration, What was thought, what was known, & what was done.

Pg 133 (paragraph 2)  In 1993 Usama bin Ladin was still considered a terror financier.

Pg.134 (paragraph 2)  The Clinton administration had begun a steady escalation in counterterrorism funding. For the first time in forty years, an administration had designed & funded a major program for homeland security. Leadership?

Pg.143 (paragraph 2)  Sandy Burger, Richard Clarks & the CSG (Counterterrorism Security Group) wanted to snatch a terror suspect from a hotel room in khartoum. (paragraph 2) The Pentagon didn't want to & gave excuses.

Pg.144 (paragraph 3) in 1993 Clarke wanted his first snatch. In a meeting with Bill Clinton, the White House Counsel explained how it would violate international law. Al Gore belatedly joined the meeting & Clinton explained what both sides had said. Gore laughed, then said "That's a no-brainer. Of course it's a violation of international law, that's why it's a covert action. The guy is a terrorist. Go grab his ass."  Some people don't realize what we gave up for George Bush.

Pg.145 (paragraph 4) Whether it was catching war criminals in Yugoslavia or Terrorists in Africa & the Middle East the White House wanted action, The senior military didn't and made it almost impossible to overcome their objections. Clarke later found out that senior military leaders let the word leak down through the ranks that it was the White House that didn't want to take action. (Bottom of same paragraph) President Clinton approved every snatch that he was asked to review. Every snatch from 1992 - 2001 was approved. Clinton stood behind his people.

Pg. 154 (paragraph 2 bottom) In early 1998, we wanted to go on the offensive against al-Qaeda or other groups. The events of 1998 would make it easier to persuade the Congress & the media that we needed to do both. (Note, They wanted to do it early in 1998 but it wasn't till the events of 1998 that they might be able to get Congress & the media to act. There was no support for a "Wag the dog" president, from the media or a Republican Congress. They would later say Bill Clinton didn't do enough. Maybe they should look in a mirror.

Chapter 7  Beginning Homeland Protection

In this chapter Clarke tell of the Sarin nerve gas attack in Tokyo & how when they wanted to start funding the major    intelligence related departments but how the heads of these agencies, not thinking they needed the funding, would only divert the funds to other areas. To get around this he held a meeting with the top people in all the agencies & Sandy Burger had Clarke scare the hell out of them. They then requested the funds themselves & thought it was their idea. It was the start of a homeland defense. It also lists the 10 programs to be used for the Safety of our country.

It was a good read but doesn't effect this election, so I'll move on.

Chapter 8 Delenda Est

Pg. 185 (chapter 2) Clinton asked Burger to pull together an overall plan to deal with al-Qaeda "Listen, retaliating for these attacks is all well and good, but we gotta get rid of these guys once and for all." Everywhere you look in the book you can see the obsession Bill Clinton had with al-Qaeda. All the information was there and given to the Bush administration, so how come didn't they seem to worry about it?

(chapter 4 into pg 186) Tells how during this dangerous time all the Congress was worried about was Monica. (They wanted their impeachment.) (During this time I was in Bali & partying with many Balinese & other tourists. Most of them were worrying about the proceedings. Almost to a person they liked & respected Bill Clinton & couldn't see how his personal life affected his public office.) (They didn't understand the viciousness of the far right.)

Pg. 186 (chapter 2) Even with these problems hanging over him, Clinton made it clear that Clarke gave him their best national security advice "Do you all recommend that we strike on the 29th? Fine. Do not give me political advice or personal advice about the timing. That's my problem. Let me worry about that." If he thought this was the best time to hit the Afghan camps, he would order it and take heat for "Wag the dog." criticism we all knew would happen. (I mentioned "Wag the dog" at the start of this review.) This was the cruise missile attack on the al-Qaeda camp in Afghanistan.

Pg. 189 (chapter 3) Shows that the "Wag the dog " scenario came true. When I first heard about it I was stunned. I couldn't believe my fellow citizens were gullible enough to fall for the far right smear machine.

Pg. 196 (chapter 3) When the Bush administration came into office, Clarke   wanted to raise the profile of our efforts to combat terrorism financing but found little interest. The President's economic advisor, Larry Lindsey, had long argued for weakening U.S. anti-money laundering laws.

(chapter 4) In general, the Bush appointees distrusted anything invented by the Clinton administration and anything of a multilateral nature.  Sounds like Bush (My way or the highway.)

The rest of this chapter explains what was done to prevent the Millennium attacks that al-Qeada was planning.

Chapter 9  Millennium Alert

Tells about the alert and actions taken for the Millennium Celebration. Some things stood out, So here they are.

Pg. 211 (paragraph 1 & 2) When Cofer Black (Coordinator, Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism) called that day in 1999, we quickly convened a CSG meeting & sent out warnings to U.S. embassies, military bases, and to 18,000 police agencies in the U. S. (Red Alert) The message be advised. al Qaeda terrorists may be planning attacks around the time of the Millennium. Be on heightened alert for suspicious activity. & then we waited.

The message went overseas, but also to all federal law enforcement agents, as well as many county sheriffs, state troopers, highway patrol officers, and city cops. The break came in an unlikely location. A pleasant boat ride from British Columbia to Washington state ended with a routine screening by U.S. Customs officers. (Ahmed Ressam was caught with explosives & a map of Las Angeles International Airport.)

The CIA found out more about a plot in Jordon. The head of the cell, had recently quit his job - as a cab driver in Boston. The investigation in Jordon lead to the arrest of an operative in Pakistan & an American who lived near the L.A. airport.

Sandy Burger convened the Principals in crisis mode. "We have stopped two sets of attacks plsnned for the Millennium. You can bet that there are more out there and we have to stop them too.

Pg. 213 (paragraph 2) For the next several days as Christmas & then the Millennium approached, Burger held daily Principals meetings that often sounded like the pre-watch briefings on Hill Street Blues. Tenet called his key counterparts around the world, wringing out details, cajoling security services into preemptive raids on possible cells. (This is the same Sandy Burger who, when he complained about the ineffective terror initiatives of the Bush administration, ended up in the republican smear campaign.) see Sandy Burger.

Pg. 235 (paragraph 2) Because if the intensity of the political opposition that Clinton engendered, (he had been heavily criticized for bombing al Qaeda camps in Afghanistan, for engaging in "Wag the dog" tactics to divert attention about his personal life.) He couldn't fire the recalcitrant FBI director who had failed to fix the Bureau or to uncover terrorists in the U.S. Because Clinton was criticized as a Vietnam War opponent without a military record, he was limited in his ability engage in anti-terrorism commando operations they did not want to conduct.

(paragraph 3) When Clinton left office many people, including the incoming Bush administration leadership, thought that he and his administration were overly obsessed with al Qaeda. After all, al Qaeda had killed only a few Americans. Why was Clinton so worked up about al Qaeda & why did he talk to President-elect Bush about it & have Sandy Burger raise it with his successor as National Security Advisor. Condi Rice?

I only wish that the Bush administration listened more closely to Sandy Burger.

Chapter 10 Before & After September 11

Pg. 227 (paragraph 1) Al-Qaeda planned attacks years in advance, inserted sleeper cells, did reconnaissance. This verifies, what I've been saying, That they will attack but on their time line.

(paragraph 2 & 3 onto pg. 228) Shows how the Bush administration reacted to the information on al-Qaede that was given to them By Clarke. They didn't pay much attention to it. Clarke states clearly that "Dick Chaney heard me loud & clear." He just didn't pay any attention.

Pg. 228 (paragraph 3 & 4) As Clark briefed Rice on Al-Qaeda he got the impression that she wasn't sure she was understanding what he was saying, so he added "Most people think of it as Usama bin Laden's group, but it's much more then that. It's a network of affiliated terrorist organizations with cells in over fifty countries, including the U.S."

Rice looked skeptical & ended up cutting Clarkes operation. You would think that she would give some credence to the fact that Clarke had been working of terrorism for the last decade or longer? I know I would have.

Pg. 230 (paragraph 3) Rice decided that the position of National Coordinator for Counterterrorism would also be downgraded. That's not the kind of leadership I want.

(paragraph 4 into pg. 231) Within a week of the Inauguration Clark wrote to Rice asking "Urgently" for a Prncipals, or Cabinet-level meeting to review the imminent al-Qaeda threat. He finally got that meeting in April. I guess our safety wasn't an urgent.

Pg. 231 The rest of the page talks about the meeting, but I did notice this in (paragraph 3) Paul Wolfowitz "Well, I just don't understand why we are beginning by talking about this one man bin Ladin." Wasn't the man who had spent the most time on terrorism the one leading the briefing & wouldn't you think he would know what was important?

Later after Clarke explained his position aggressively Wolfowitz said "Well, there are others that do as well, at least as much. Iraqi terrorism for example,"

When Clarke, with verification by CIA deputy director John McLaughlin explained that there had been nothing that linked Iraq to terrorism since 1993, Wolfowitz replied. "You give bin Laden too much credit." I guess Wolfowitz knew what he was talking about. How come with all of his miscalculations he's still where he is? Isn't it the responsibility of the man in charge to eliminate/replace incompetent people in their organization?

Pg. 232 (Full page) U.S. Ambassador Robert Gelbard was putting pressure on the Indonesian government to do something about al-Qaeda. Wolfowitz had him recalled & Gelbard resigned from the Foreign Service after serving for 3 decades as one of our best ambassadors. Ten months later we saw the results of the Bali Bombing. 10 months later they attacked the Marriott Hotel in Jakarta, killing 13. Gelbard was proven right. Another mistake by Wolkowitz. Will we let George Bush keep making mistakes too?

Pg. 237 (paragraphs 4 & 5) Secretary of State Colin Powell laid out an aggressive strategy for putting pressure on Pakistan to side with us against the Taliban & al-Qaeda. It would need money.

Rumsfeld, who looked distracted throughout the session, took the Wolfowitz line that there were other terrorist concerns, like Iraq, (They wanted their War.) and whatever we did on this al-Qaeda business, we had to deal with the other sources of terrorism.

Pg. 241 - 242. (paragraph 3 on) I'm going to you this verbatim as I think it's important. Randy Beers, Counter-terrorism for the Bush administration, met with Richard Clarke. Beers "I think I have to quit." I thought I knew why, but I asked. His answer flowed like a river at flood: "they still don't get it. In steada goin' all out against al Qaeda and eliminating our vulnerabilities at home, they wanna fuckin' invade Iraq again. We don't have a token U.S. military force in Afghanistan, the Taliban are regrouping, we haven't caught bin Ladin , or his deputy, or the head of the Taliban. And they aren't going to send more troops to Afghanistan to catch them or to help the government in Kabul secure the country. No they're holding back, waiting to invade Iraq. Do you know how much it will strengthen al Qaeda and groups like that if we occupy Iraq? There's no threat to us now from Iraq, but 70% of the American people think Iraq attacked the Pentagon and the World Trade Center. You wanna know why? Because that's what the administration wants them to think.

Randy continued. "Worse yet, they're using the war on terror politically. You know that document from Karl Rove's office that someone found in the park? Remember how it said that the Republicans should run for election on the war issue? Well, they did/ They are doing 'Wag the dog'! They ran against Max Cleland, saying he wasn't patriotic because he didn't agree 100 percent with Bush on how to do homeland security. Max Cleland, who lost three of his four limbs for this country in Vietnam. Beers had lost hearing in one ear in Vietnam, where he had served two tours as a marine. "I can't work for these people, I'm sorry I just can't."  They ran on the war for congress & the senate in 2002 & there running on it now for The Presidency & the house 7 senate.

Pg. 245 (paragraph 2) It was plainly obvious when four aircraft were hijacked that airport security had to be improved, but Bush resisted calls for making the airport security screeners federal employees. Then,  when he lost that battle to Congress, he placed an old family friend, John McGaw, as head of the new agency to run the security screeners. Within months, McGaw had to be replaced under congressional criticism. Wasn't that the reason The Governor of New Jersey, James E. McGreevey had to resign when he appointed Golan Cipel as a homeland security adviser to New Jersey.

Pg. 246 (paragraph 2) Clarke say something I had been saying long before I read his book. "Nothing America could have done would have provided al-Qaeda and its new generation of cloned groups a better recruitment device then our unprovoked invasion of an oil-rich Arab country.

Chapter 11   Right War, Wrong War

Epilogue

Pg. 289 (paragraph 3) President Bush is telling fund-raisers, illogically, that he deserves money for his reelection because he is "fighting the terrorists in Iraq so that we don't have to fight them in the streets of America." He never points out being in Iraq does nothing to prevent terrorists from coming to America, but does divert funds from addressing our domestic vulnerabilities & does mare terrorist recruitment easier.

Pg. 290 (paragraph 4) What happened to that team that tried to get the Bush White House to pay attention to al Qaeda before September 11th and then stayed in the Situation Room on that day holding things together, even though they thought the White House was about to be hit by a hijacked aircraft? Where are Liza Gordon-Hagerty and Roger Cressey and Paul Kurtz? They all left the Administration, frustrated.

Pg. 291 (paragraph 3) As Americans, it is up to all of us to be well informed and thoughtful, to help our country make the right decisions in this time of testing. We all need to recommit ourselves to that ancient pledge "To preserve, protect, and defend the constitution of the United States of America, Against All Enemies....

Appendix A

has to do with the 9/11 report & you can read it in the report.

The book was very interesting & informative. If you like Ian Fleming, you'll like this. It's the part of James Bond that takes place behind the scenes, In M's office. Only this is real.