Interesting that Condi today said "We needed a plan, not a meeting."

[Brotherjohn]

I believe it was on GMA.

Not only was what Richard Clarke and Sandy Berger presented to the White House "a plan", but the August 2002 Time cover story on the subject was called "They Had a Plan"!

http://www.time.com/time/covers/1101020812/

You can read the entire article at the following link (which interestingly enough gives it a different heading: "Could 9/11 Have Been Prevented?")
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,333835,00.html

[fob]

1. Wasn't the January 2001 delivered Hart/Rudman report

a plan, too?

Yes, it was, and when implemented it would have been a blow to the "hijackers with boxcutters stormed the cockpit" "official version of events", or bushco* v2.0


edit, H/R may have been delivered in early February 2001

[keithyboy]

7. Why aren't the Dem spokespeople using this points to counter

the lies and half-truths and misinformation that the administration is spewing on TV and radio? Where the hell are the Dem voices when they are needed? Someone should be taking down every comment made by the administration spokespeople to formulate a point by point refutation of what is being said. This is maddening!!!

[nomatrix]

10. Hart Rudman rejected by Republicans

http://www.mesademocrats.org/HomelandChicanery.htm

"The report warned that our borders were porous, that preparation for a variety of possible attacks-including attacks on high-rise buildings-was essential, that forty different organizations with responsibility for national security needed to be joined together in such a way as to maximize intelligence.

The media didn't pay much attention to the report, and possibly as a result there was little official action on it. Congress, though, scheduled hearings on it for May 7, 2001. Before those hearings could begin, the Bush administration stepped in. On May 5, the administration announced that it would not adopt Hart-Rudman but that, instead, Dick Cheney would form his own committee to study the same issues Hart-Rudman had just spent more than three years on. Cheney's committee was supposed to report in October, 2001. "The administration actually slowed down response to Hart-Rudman when momentum was building in the spring," Newt Gingrich has said.

The Commission didn't back down, but kept lobbying the administration to take its findings seriously. Gary Hart spoke with Condoleeza Rice on September 6 about it.

We all know what happened next, on September 11.

We also know now that Dick Cheney was too busy taking dictation from Enron to do the study he was supposed to do. Between May and September, no changes were made that might have resulted in our being able to connect the infamous "dots" and prevent the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. There were, we've learned, many warnings, much terrorist "chatter," and if a coordinated effort had been made it's possible that those attacks could have been stopped.

As a side note, Cheney's wife Lynne had resigned from the Hart-Rudman Commission after the release of the first report, due to a reported dispute with the findings."

[maggrwaggr]

2. Condi needs a plan from Martha Stewart on how to decorate her jail cell

that's the only plan she'll be needing

[displacedtexan]

3. There's also a poll at the TIME site.

Could 9/11 have been prevented?

60% YES
30% NO

Article needs subscription; anyone have it cached?

[Brotherjohn]

4. Condi also said in the WP today that they just got "several ideas,"...

"... some of which had been around since 1998 but had not been adopted. No al Qaeda plan was turned over to the new administration."

But according to Time:
"Other senior officials from both the Clinton and Bush administrations, however, say that Clarke had a set of proposals to "roll back" al-Qaeda. In fact, the heading on Slide 14 of the Powerpoint presentation reads, "Response to al Qaeda: Roll back." Clarke's proposals called for the "breakup" of al-Qaeda cells and the arrest of their personnel. The financial support for its terrorist activities would be systematically attacked, its assets frozen, its funding from fake charities stopped. Nations where al-Qaeda was causing trouble-Uzbekistan, the Philippines, Yemen-would be given aid to fight the terrorists. Most important, Clarke wanted to see a dramatic increase in covert action in Afghanistan to "eliminate the sanctuary" where al-Qaeda had its terrorist training camps and bin Laden was being protected by the radical Islamic Taliban regime."

Sounds like a plan to me.

It also sounds like Time may have the goods. It will be interesting to see what they follow up with, and what Clarke says to the 9-11 Commission.

[chookie]

5. Didn't NeoCondi know the meeting was to discuss The Plan?

Sorry Condi -- we all know that's a total crock.

Two conclusions: Clarke's "Plan" didn't involve attacking Iraq, and moving on to occupy other nations of the Middle East, in an attempt to pacify the region through military force. OR Condi is a "Sovietologist." Early on in the administration, when asked about the Middle East and the violence which was raging in Israel/Palestin in 2001, she hemmed and hawed and said, well, actually I don't know much about the region, because my training is in Sovietology.

Clearly, Condi hasn't picked up a book since she was in college.

Why His Chimperial Highness wanted a Sovietologist who lacked a solid knowledge of Middle Eastern affairs, and especially terrorism when he claims that he was focused as a laser on Al qaeda and terror from Day One doesn't make sense. It does make sense if from Day One he was planning to implement the PNAC program of Pax American in the post-COld War world.

[keithyboy]

Look, we all know that the early Bush position was ABC!!!

Anything but what Clinton started. They were proud of the fact that they were going to do things differently and even went out there way to say that Clinton was TOO involved in the process and that Bush would let the parties decide what was best for them. I am searching the Net and will try to post links to the statements made by this evil administration.

[leftofthedial]

6. pretty incomplete timeline

I liked September 9 though

September 9, 2001
Donald Rumsfeld threatens to urge a veto if the Senate proceeds with a plan to divert $600 million from missile defense to counter-terrorism.

These bastards must go.

to prison if at all possible.

[Brotherjohn]

8. Where was that from?! Pretty damning. Have a link?

I also like the quote from the original Time article:
"According to an official, Rice came back to the nsc and said, "The President wants a plan to eliminate al-Qaeda." Clarke reminded her that he already had one."

[Brotherjohn]

9. OH! The "Time" Timeline I cited. Well, you know, damn liberal fringe...

...media outlet that Time is, I'm not surprised! (/sarcasm off)

[truthspeaker]

11. Isn't that your job Condi?

I think the point here is that you didn't order someone to come up with a plan.

[Oilwellian]

12. Which comes first....

meetings or plans? Poor Condi...she's spinning so much, even she is getting dizzy now.