NRO: Clarke's 60 Minutes

[Barrett808]

MAR. 21, 2004: GOOD IDEAS, BAD IDEAS
Clarke's 60 Minutes

The Wall Street Journal has a superb editorial this morning debunking the Democrats' attempt to use 9/11 as a weapon of partisan warfare. One sample:

"Inside the <9/11> commission, these Members have been pushing the argument that Clinton officials warned the Bush Administration about al Qaeda, only to be ignored by men and women who were too preoccupied with Iraq and missile defense to care. So having failed to contain al Qaeda during its formative decade, and having made almost no mention of this grave threat in the 2000 campaign, these officials now want us to believe that in their final hours they urgently begged the Bushies to act with force and dispatch. Sure."

Here's the key fact about Democrats in the 1990s: They saw the end of the Cold War as their personal Emancipation Proclamation. No longer would they have to contemplate the (to them) distasteful fact of international conflict. They were determined therefore to redefine all threats to US security as "trans-national" - or rather, post-national - meaning that no nation was to blame and thus all nations (except a few rogue states) could be mobilized against these threats in a Kantian league of international peace.

But al Qaeda was not really a post-national threat. It was hosted by one state, Afghanistan; acquiesced in by another, Pakistan; and funded with the at least tacit support of a third, Saudi Arabia. The Clinton people never came to grips with those realities when they had a chance. Neither (to be fair) did the Bush administration in its early months. But the Bush administration did react and react decisively and forcefully after 9/11 - and it is that reaction that has so outraged those former Clintonites who did so little when the responsibility to do something belonged to them.

Meanwhile, former Clinton counter-terrorism official Richard Clarke has released a new book - and granted an interview to "60 Minutes" - seconding these politicized charges. Unlike his former political masters, Clarke was a dedicated and effective public servant. I have yet to read his book, but I have studied his interview, and I think I understand his argument.

(more)

http://www.nationalreview.com/frum/diary032104.asp

[Ganja Ninja]

1. Still desperately trying to blame Clinton for everything.

The party of personal responsibility refuses to accept blame for anything.

[BootinUp]

2. This little War in Iraq

cannot possibly yield the results that seem to be the goal of the PNAC'ers. There are plenty of places for the terrorists to go, and only so many US Soldiers. I'd say get ready for the draft if Bushie wins in November.

[librechik]

3. Oh, bite me NRO

knee jerk ass kissing swine.

[Merlin]

4. Amen. n/t

.

[Martin Eden]

5. FRUM is a neocon HACK

The author of this NRO propaganda is the speechwriter who coined the phrase Axis of Evil for shrub's 2002 SOTU, and also the co-author of "An End to Evil" with arch-neocon Richard Perle.

In case you missed it, Pat Buchanan's review of that book is a MUST READ:
http://www.amconmag.com/3_1_04/cover.html

[Manix]

6. Frum is a vile, despicable hatchet man..pay no attention.

[Jim__]

7. And your evidence for the "key fact" is?

Here's the key fact about Democrats in the 1990s: They saw the end of the Cold War as their personal Emancipation Proclamation. No longer would they have to contemplate the (to them) distasteful fact of international conflict. They were determined therefore to redefine all threats to US security as "trans-national" - or rather, post-national - meaning that no nation was to blame and thus all nations (except a few rogue states) could be mobilized against these threats in a Kantian league of international peace.

Where is the evidence that anything in this paragraph about this "key fact" contains one iota of truth?

[Miss Authoritiva]

8. Excellent point....

Frum and Perle (and of course many other political writers) love to do this. All terms and concepts are self-defining, all truths self-evident. Well, it does make life much easier, especially for propagandists.