Clarke



Quite amusing to watch the reports of Richard Clarke, a former advisor to no less than four presidential administrations (including three Republican presidents) sticking the boot into Bush, Chenyney, Rice et al. However, to those of us who have read up on these things these allegations that Bush ignored his own 'terrorism Czar's' warnings over an imminent Al-Queda attack until it was too late, then decided to bomb Iraq even although they knew it had nothing to do with 9-11 are not new. They have been reported quite a lot, just not terribly loudly and certainly not by most of the US media who are still largely running scared and mostly failing to live up to their role as the fourth estate. In particular reports that the outgoing Clinton administration team were desperately trying to pass on intelligence warnings to Bush's teams as they took over but were rebuffed have been common in some areas - Al Franken covered it pretty well in the excellent Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them - but not as often as the outright lies the incoming administration was spreading, such as claiming the offices of the White House had been trashed by petulant Democrats before they left. Gee, this fantasy muckspreading must have taken up soooo much time and left none for checking up on the safety of the nation...



Of course they are all rounding on him, claiming it's just to raise the profile of his new book, Against All Enemies. Now I am sure he is raising his book's profile, but that doesn't lessen these charges. And frankly trying to rubbish him now is rather pathetic considering no less than three Republican presidents - Reagan, Bush Snr and Jnr were all happy to use his services. In short he is as establishemnt as they come. Condoleeza Rice tried to practically blame him for 9-11 happening on the new today, facing the camera with her cold, soulless stare (doesn't she have cold, dead eyes like the zombies of a Romero film?). Wow, convincing damage control their from the Queen Bitch of the WHite House. I'm sure Rush Limbaugh and other lard-assed right-wingers with a bigger bigot-gland than brain will be thumping out imaginative rebuttals all week on talk radio.