http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullStory&c=StoryFT&cid=1079419839641In the first of his campaign advertisements, set against the backdrop of the September 11 2001 attacks, President George W. Bush extols himself as "a steady leader in times of change".
But that image will be sorely tested this week during the most important hearings yet by the national commission appointed to investigate the tragedy.
The commission will hear from Mr Bush's top officials and their predecessors in the administra tion of Bill Clinton, the for mer president.
But the keenest focus will be on a man whose career spanned both those administrations and the two before it: Richard Clarke. Mr Clarke, who for nearly a decade led the White House counter- terrorism effort, contends in a new book that the Bush administration's obsession with Iraq has debilitated the war on terrorism and threatened security.
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