Starting to Talk About 9/11

by James Glaser
March 24, 2004

It has been two and a half years since three thousand Americans were killed in a terrorist attack on our country and our government is finally starting to tell us what happened. The Independent Commission investigating the attack is now having public hearings with some of the most senior officials from both the Clinton and Bush administrations testifying. There has been every rumor and conspiracy theory conceivable floating around the country for all of this time and now government officials are being forced to talk.

I say forced to talk, because President Bush and his administration did every thing they could to not have this conversation with America. It took public pressure on Congress to get it going. Even after the Commission started investigating, the White House stonewalled for months and still refuses to give up many of the documents the Commission wanted.

Monday I listened to Secretary of State Colin Powell and Former Secretary Madeleine Albright testify before the Commission on NPR. Both of them defended their work and their respective administrations. Powell said that even before Bush took office he was being briefed by the Clinton team on terrorism. It seemed to me that questions to both of these officials were huge soft balls that they felt good about taking a swing at. Democrats pitched them to Albright and Republicans pitched to Powell As expected Powell did everything he could to soften the blow delivered by Richard Clarke about the Bush team's lack of direction before the 9/11 attacks and their lack of any serious concern about potential terrorist attacks on the United States.

Today Richard Clarke the former counter terrorism chief under three Republican and one Democratic President will testify. The White House has called his accusations "deeply irresponsible" and they trashed the man on the radio, television, and in the print media.

However what was interesting is that not all Republicans joined in. In fact Senator Chuck Hagel a Republican from Nebraska, talking about Clarke's book on the subject of the Bush White House said, "This is a serious book written by a serious professional who's made serious charges, and the White House must respond to these charges." Their only response so far has been personal attacks on the man, the same tactic used on anyone who makes any sort of disparaging remark about how the Bush team handled anything. Clarke is a thirty year government employee, a Republican, and he was first appointed to counter terrorism by Ronald Reagan.

It is interesting that Clarke's book is coming out the week of these 9/11 public hearings and the White House has said it was timed to do just that. The truth is that the book was written and ready to go months ago and the only holdup was this same White House, which had to clear it for national security because of Clark's position in the government.

Condoleeza Rice has now claimed that Richard Clarke "choose not to" voice his concerns about the Administration's counter terrorism policy or lack thereof. Not get this; the White House acknowledges Clarke sent a memo to Rice on 1/24/01 marked "Urgent" asking for a cabinet level meeting to deal with an impending al Qaeda attack. His request was rejected.

At the start of the 9/11 public hearings, it was expressed by the Commission how disappointed they were that Condolezza Rice refused to testify in public

I think it is good we are talking about what was happening in our government before the 9/11 attack. Maybe we can learn some things. There will be no 'smoking gun' because neither party will let that happen, but maybe some more truths will come out because of people like Richard Clarke shaking things up.

I have watched the Bush administration trash Paul O'Neill, that General that said we needed more troops in Iraq, and General Zinni when he voiced his concerns about the after battle plan or lack of one in Iraq. Now there is Richard Clarke

I know, I have a hard time believing an American President would let all of these things go on too, but I guess George Bush does.


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