Condi and Cheney lie about what Clarke told them

[Lefty48197]

They're saying that he should have said something if he considered al Qaeda such a threat. Here's what Clarke wrote in his book:

Pg 227 - "In January 2001, with the Florida fiasco behind us, I briefed each of my old friends and associates from the first Bush administration, Condi Rice, Steve Hadley, Dick Cheney, and Colin Powell. My message was stark: al Qaeda is at war with us, it is a highly capable organization, probably with sleeper cells in the U.S., and it is clearly planning a major series of attacks against us, we must act decisively and quickly..."

Pg 228 - (Brian Sheridan, Clinton administration Assistant Secretary of Defense, speaking to Colin Powell) - "...make al Qaeda your number one priority... ....They're (al Qaeda) comin' after us and we gotta get them first"

Pg 230 - Within a week of the Inauguration I wrote to Rice and Hadley asking "urgently" for a Principals, or Cabinet-level, meeting to review the imminent al Qaeda threat...

Pg 231 - (Clarke briefing the Deputies Committee in April 2001 - the first meeting since his January request) "We need to put pressure on both the Taliban and al Qaeda by arming the Northern Alliance and other groups in Afghanistan. Simultaneously, we need to target bin Laden and his leadership by reinitiating flights of the Predator."

"Well, I just don't understand why we are beginning by talking about this one man bin Laden", Wolfowitz responded.

"...we are talking about that network because it and it alone poses an immediate and serious threat to the United States", answered Clarke.

Pg 232 - ..."Al Qaeda plans major acts of terrorism against the U.S."

Pg 237 - On September 4, 2001, the Principals Committee meeting on al Qaeda that I had called for "urgently" on January 25 finally met...
...Tenet and I spoke passionately about the urgency and seriousness of the al Qaeda threat...

...Rumsfield, who looked distracted throughout the session, took the Wolfowitz line that there were other terrorist concerns, like Iraq...

[acmavm]

1. And what did anyone expect? That all of a sudden they'd start telling

the truth??????????????????????????????????????????????