Clinton's Defender, Richard Clarke, Doesn't Quite Defend Him

Clinton kept demanding that Chris Wallace read Richard Clarke's Clinton apologia Against All Enemies for a response to charges he didn't do enough to get bin Ladin.

Byron York diid, and finds that Clarke's defense isn't as strong as Clinton suggests.

Examples are all over Clarke’s book. On page 223, Clarke describes a meeting, in late 2000, of the National Security Council “principals� — among them, the heads of the CIA, the FBI, the Attorney General, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the secretaries of State, Defense. It was just after al Qaeda’s attack on the USS Cole. But neither the FBI nor the CIA would say that al Qaeda was behind the bombing, and there was little support for a retaliatory strike. Clarke quotes Mike Sheehan, a State Department official, saying in frustration, “What’s it going to take, Dick? Who the shit do they think attacked the Cole, fuckin’ Martians? The Pentagon brass won’t let Delta go get bin Laden. Hell they won’t even let the Air Force carpet bomb the place. Does al Qaeda have to attack the Pentagon to get their attention?�

That came later. But in October 2000, what would it have taken? A decisive presidential order — which never came.

Clarke also blames Republicans for somehow stopping Clinton from acting aggressively. Apparently, Clarke's theory goes, that by pointing out, factually, he was a draft-dodger, Republicans undermined his authority as Commander in Chief and made it impossible for Clinton to actually do his job as President and order his employees to act.

If that's so, he should have resigned and let veteran Al Gore take command.

This is the big excuse? That Clinton's draft-dodging made him too weak a President to actually act as commander in chief?

And that's Republicans' fault, huh?

Thanks to Larwyn.

Whoops: Kind of in a funk about these so-called "Giants."

I linked the wrong thing, obviously. I just re-linked the odd Google search that led to my site. I now have the York link.

Thanks.

posted by Ace at 05:37 PM

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