Letter to the editor help - reply to Condi's column

[NewJeffCT]

My local paper (the Hartford Courant) reprinted Dr. Rice's op-ed piece from the Washington Post the other day.

http://www.ctnow.com/news/opinion/op_ed/hc-rice0323.artmar23,1,2867711.story?coll=hc-headlines-oped

I would like a quick reponse I can write in to them - first, they said they got no plan from the Clinton Admin, but didn't they get Hart-Rudman? And, who was the person that listed Bush's top 5 priorities, and terrorism was not one of them?

Funding the Northern Alliance to help them bring down the Taliban is an easy one - I can just say, "Then why did you give the Taliban $43 million to fight the drug lords, many of whom were leaders in the Northern Alliance?"

[BigBigBear]

1. The $43 million

was an extension of a humanitarian effort started by the Clinton administration. The money did not go to the Taliban.

It is certainly true that Powell praised the Taliban's efforts regarding poppy eradication, but the money went to relief organizations.

Plenty of other stuff to use, but the $43 million is a dead end.

[Spazito]

2. Actually, the money did go to the Taliban, it was paid...

in the attempt to reduce the opium fields or so it was "said". We know it did not do that so what did it go for???

[Tempest]

3. Wrong. It had nothing to do with humanitarian aid

It was for the Taliban's assistance in stopping the opium trade.

And it was given directly to the Taliban.

[BigBigBear]

8. Sorry, but you're wrong

http://edition.cnn.com/2001/US/05/17/us.afghanistan.aid/


Warning that Afghanistan is "on the verge of a widespread famine," Secretary of State Colin Powell Thursday announced a $43 million package in humanitarian assistance for the Afghan people.

Powell also called on other nations to send aid to the Central Asian nation.

"If the international community does not take immediate action, countless deaths and terrible tragedy are certain to follow," Powell said.

The package includes $28 million worth of wheat from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, $5 million in food commodities and $10 million in "livelihood and food security" programs, both from the U.S. Agency for International Development.

~

The U.N. Security Council imposed sanctions against the Taliban in an effort to pressure the militia to hand over Saudi exile Osama bin Laden, who is accused of bombing two U.S. embassies in Africa. Humanitarian aid is allowed.

Powell said the U.S. aid is administered by the United Nations and non-governmental organizations, and bypasses the Taliban, "who have done little to alleviate the suffering of the Afghan people, and indeed have done much to exacerbate it."


Scheer first ran this item shortly after 9/11. He has since been lambasted for starting this myth and not retracting/clarifying the charge.

What actually happened is that this aid was requested by a consortium of Congressional members, including 13 Democrats (like Hillary...). In making the anouncement, Powell approvingly mentioned the Taliban's poppy eradication efforts - thus the myth that this money (it actually wasn't money, mostly, it was food - Afghanistan was suffering an extremely severe drought at the time) was a gift to the regime for poppy eradication. It wasn't - it was a grant to several US aid organizations to arrange for the transfer for food and supplies to the UN.

Look, I've taken my share of scar tissue on this talking point - I have not yet found a credible refutation that 1) this was a humantitarian grant 2) it did not go to the Taliban and 3) it was not directly related to poppy eradication. I'd be delighted to be persuaded otherwise...but until I see it, I'll leave this one alone.

[Spazito]

4. A key point I would bring out in your letter is...

that she refuses to testify in public at the 9/11 Commission. Why is she free to write Op-eds and yet can't go and tell the truth to the commission. Any position she takes lacks any credibility until she accepts her responsibility and testifies before the American people instead of making "drive-by" smears at a 30 year civil servant.

(Edited to change testify to testifies)

[Bandit]

5. If you get a chance read the chapter in Franken's Book titled

"Operation Ignore" It goes into full detail how Sandy Berger the guy who had Condi's job before her gave a complete briefing about the threat of terror and how it was put immediately on the back burner because missle defense was top priority and Bush* needed to campaign and vacation. It is a devastating chapter on how Bush* dealt with Terrorism or I should say didn't deal at all with terrorism.

[Bandit]

6. Here is a couple of examples

Bill Clinton's far-reaching plan to eliminate al Qaeda root and branch was completed only a few weeks before the inauguration of George W. Bush. If it had been implemented then, a former senior Clinton aide told Time, we would be handing a war when they took office." Instead, Clinton and company decided to turn over the plan to the Bush administration to carry out. Clinton trusted Bush to protect America. This proved, nine months later, to be a disastrous mistake - perhaps the biggest one Clinton ever made.
Clinton's National Security Advisor Sandy Berger remembered how little help the previous Bush administration had provided to his team. Believing that the nation's security should transcend political bitterness, Berger arranged ten briefings for his successor, Condoleezza Rice, and her deputy, Stephen Hadley. Berger made a special point of attending the briefing on terrorism. He told Dr. Rice, “I believe that the Bush administration will spend more time on terrorism in general, and on al Qaeda specifically, than any other subject.''
<snip>
Anyway. After Berger left, Rice stayed around to listen to counterterrorism bulldog Richard Clarke, who laid out the whole anti-al Qaeda plan. Rice was so impressed with Clarke that she immediately asked him to stay on as head of counterterrorism. In early February, Clarke repeated the briefing for Vice President Dick Cheney. But, according to Time, there was some question about how seriously the Bush team took Clarke's warnings. Outgoing Clinton officials felt that "the Bush team thought the Clintonites had become obsessed with terrorism."
<snip>
While all the Bushies focused on their pet projects, Clarke was blowing a gasket. He had a plan, and no one was paying attention. It didn't help that the plan had been hatched under Clinton. Clinton-hating was to the Bush White House what terrorism- fighting was to the Clinton White House.
<snip>
The Hart-Rudman Commission had studied every aspect of national security over a period of years and had come to a unanimous conclusion: "This commission believes that the security of the American homeland from the threats of the new century should be the primary national security mission of the U.S. government."
The report generated a great deal of media attention and even a bill in Congress to establish a National Homeland Security Agency. But over at the White House, the Justice Department, and the Pentagon, President Bush, Vice President Cheney, Attorney General Ashcroft, and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld decided that the best course of action was not to implement the recommendations of the Hart-Rudman report, but instead to launch a sweeping initiative dubbed "Operation Ignore."

http://www.avatara.com/operationignore0.html

[Bandit]

7. And here is the kicker

On Operation Ignore Day 208, Ashcroft sent his Justice Department budget request to Bush. It included spending increases in sixty-eight different programs. Out of these sixty-eight programs, less than half dealt with terrorism. Way less than half. In fact, none of them dealt with terrorism. Ashcroft passed around a memo listing his seven top priorities. Again, terrorism didn't make the list. Day 208 is the eighteenth of August just three weeks before 9-11