Did Wes Clark admit he had helped the BinLadens escape the US on 9/11?

[proud2BlibKansan]

Some dumb freeper is saying that.

I think he means Richard Clark?

[Maestro]

1. Wes Clark had no way of helping. He wasn't even involved in

the government at the time I think. He was back in "civilian" society. BTW, I don't even think Richard Clark had anything to do with it even though I am sure he knew it was happening.

[proud2BlibKansan]

3. That's what I thought too

It was just such an odd statement I had to share it with you all.

It is also pretty darn funny. Them freepers are so darn ignorant.

[Canuckistanian]

5. No, I think they're right about RICHARD Clarke

I think he was involved in giving orders to open certain airports if I remember right. Yes, I looked it up. He admitted he'd done it and said he did not regret it.

And he was with the government during 9/11. He resigned Jan. 2003.

[BlueEyedSon]

2. So the bin Ladens WERE allowed to escape by the Bushies

(remember Clarke was an employee, he had to do what he was told by his boss/bosses...)

[proud2BlibKansan]

4. I argued that for months

It just doesn't make any sense that Clark would have made that decision all by himself without even consulting the man he worked for.

But then ignorant folks fail to see the lack of logic in their argument.

[KittyWampus]

6. Richard Clarke Authorized The Planes But He Did NOT REQUEST THEM

and he was also really fucking busy doing Junior's/Cheney's/Rumsfeld's job since they were all either AWOL or useless.

Also, IIRC, he had whoever was REQUESTING them to run it by the FBI first.

[Mr Rabble]

7. Richard Clarke- not the general.

He claimed that he personally cleared the Bin Laden flights at the request of *.

[BlueEyedSon]

9. Bingo. Got a link? thx nt

[Spazito]

20. Here is the relevant testimony by RICHARD Clarke to the

911 Commission re the Saudis and the Bin Ladens:

ROEMER: We will certainly be looking to people in future hearings for their recommendations in a host of different areas. So I hope that you might think through this area a little bit more and be available to us.

Mr. Clarke, let me ask you some difficult questions for you to get at the complexity of our relationship with the Saudis.

One the one hand, I think there's a great deal of unanimity that the Saudis were not doing everything they could before 9/11 to help us in a host of different areas; 15 of the 19 hijackers came from there. We had trouble tracking some of the financing for terrorist operations. But we still have too many of the madrassas and the teachings of hatred of Christians and Jews and others coming out of some of these madrassas.

We need to broaden and deepen this relationship. I will ask you a part A and a part B.

Part A is where do we go in this difficult relationship? And part B is to further look at the difficulty here. You made a decision after 9/11 to, I think -- and I'd like to ask you more about this -- to allow a plane of Saudis to fly out of the country. And when most other planes were grounded, this plane flew from the United States back to Saudi Arabia. I'd like to know why you made that decision, who was on this plane, and if the FBI ever had the opportunity to interview those people.

CLARKE: You're absolutely right that the Saudi Arabian government did not cooperate with us significantly in the fight against terrorism prior to 9/11. Indeed, it didn't really cooperate until after bombs blew up in Riyadh.

Now, as to this controversy about the Saudi evacuation aircraft, let me tell you everything I know, which is that in the days following 9/11 -- whether it was on 9/12 or 9/15, I can't tell you -- we were in a constant crisis management meeting that had started the morning of 9/11 and ran for days on end. We were making lots of decisions, but we were coordinating them with all the agencies through the video teleconference procedure.

CLARKE: Someone -- and I wish I could tell you, but I don't know who -- someone brought to that group a proposal that we authorize a request from the Saudi embassy. The Saudi embassy had apparently said that they feared for the lives of Saudi citizens because they thought there would be retribution against Saudis in the United States as it became obvious to Americans that this attack was essentially done by Saudis, and that there were even Saudi citizens in the United States who were part of the bin Laden family, which is a very large family, very large family.

The Saudi embassy therefore asked for these people to be evacuated; the same sort of thing that we do all the time in similar crises, evacuating Americans.

The request came to me and I refused to approve it. I suggested that it be routed to the FBI and that the FBI look at the names of the individuals who were going to be on the passenger manifest and that they approve it -- or not.

I spoke with at that time the number two person in the FBI, Dale Watson, and asked him to deal with this issue.

The FBI then approved -- after some period of time, and I can't tell you how long -- approved the flight.

Now, what degree of review the FBI did of those names, I cannot tell you. How many people there are on the plane, I cannot tell you.

But I have asked since: Were there any individuals on that flight that in retrospect the FBI wishes they could have interviewed in this country. And the answer I've been given is no, that there was no one who left on that flight who the FBI now wants to interview.

ROEMER: Despite the fact that we don't know if Dale Watson interviewed them in the first place.

CLARKE: I don't think they were ever interviewed in this country.

ROEMER: So they were not interviewed here. We have all their names. We don't know if there has been any follow up to interview those people that were here and flown out of the country.

CLARKE: The last time I asked that question, I was informed that the FBI still had no desire to interview any of these people.

ROEMER: Would you have a desire to interview some of these people that...

CLARKE: I don't know who they are.

ROEMER: We don't know who they are...

CLARKE: I don't know who they are. The FBI knew who they were because they...

ROEMER: Given your confidence in your statements on the FBI, what's your level of comfort with this?

CLARKE: Well, I will tell you in particular about the ones that get the most attention here in the press, and they are members of the bin Laden family.

CLARKE: I was aware, for some time, that there were members of the bin Laden family living in the United States.

And, let's see, in open session I can say that I was very well aware of the members of the bin Laden family and what they were doing in the United States. And the FBI was extraordinarily well aware of what they were doing in the United States. And I was informed by the FBI that none of the members of the bin Laden family, this large clan, were doing anything in this country that was illegal or that raised their suspicions.

And I believe the FBI had very good information and good sources of information on what the members of the bin Laden family were doing.

ROEMER: I've been very impressed with your memory, sitting through all these interviews the 9/11 commission has conducted with you. I press you, again, to try to recall how this request originated. Who might have passed this on to you at the White House situation room? Or who might have originated that request for the United States government to fly out -- how many people in this plane?

CLARKE: I don't know.

ROEMER: We don't know how many people were on a plane that flew out of this country. Who gave the final approval, then, to say yes, you're clear to go, it's all right with the United States government to go to Saudi Arabia?

CLARKE: I believe, after the FBI came back and said it was all right with them, we ran it through the decision process for all of these decisions we were making in those hours, which was the Interagency Crisis Management Group on the video conference.

I was making or coordinating a lot of decisions on 9/11 and the days immediately after. And I would love to be able to tell you who did it, who brought this proposal to me, but I don't know. Since you pressed me, the two possibilities that are most likely are either the Department of State, or the White House Chief of Staff's Office. But I don't know.

ROEMER: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Here is the link to a full transcript of his testimony:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/sep11/clarke_transcript.html

[jonnyblitz]

8. LMFAO....that was so lame it was funny. poor wes clark.....

I am sure he would be stunned to hear this.

[proud2BlibKansan]

13. He's probably heard it before

It is pretty lame though.

[jonnyblitz]

21. I never heard that one..

either i am missing some serious information or this is just plain off the wall. i am sure it is the latter. how in hell could he help them escape? was he even remotely in a position to? :eyes:

[marbuc]

10. This blows me away

This "exit plan" was hatched by the Administration. To accuse Wes Clark or anyone else as complicite only serves to acknowledge that YOUR PRESIDENT WAS THE ULTIMATE MASTERMIND (actually, Cheney was probably the man behind the curtain, but Bush had to sign off)! It drives me insane when Freepers both accuse and excuse in one statement.

[proud2BlibKansan]

14. That's a good one

excuse and accuse

They are such bad spellers these two words will undoubtedly go right over their lil empty heads. LOL

[HardWorkingDem]

11. Yes, Richard Clarke did, but.....

AFTER he was told they and other Saudi Arabians had been properly vetted by the FBI and others (which later he learned they had not been).

[proud2BlibKansan]

16. Can you say

SET UP??

[HardWorkingDem]

23. Think they used Clarke as their trump card.....

in some of the interviews I saw with Richard Clarke he candidly admitted he was the one who gave approval and then would make his caveat known. The sad thing is that in this country it is much easier for the American people to hear, "Richard Clarke okay'd it" versus a longer and coherent message that needs more time and attention to explain.

[Crunchy Frog]

12. I don't see how he could have possibly been in a position to

even if it had been his inclination, which I can't imagine either.

Freepers will say anything.

[proud2BlibKansan]

18. That was my response

Since when did Wes Clark have anything to do with national security?

[Kadie]

15. Here is some info from Snopes

Did flights take bin Laden family members out of the U.S. over the objections of the FBI?

It's hard to make the case that flights of Saudis departed from the U.S. over the objections of the FBI when, according to former White House counter-terrorism chief Richard Clarke, the FBI itself gave the go-ahead:

"Somebody brought to us for approval the decision to let an airplane filled with Saudis, including members of the bin Laden family, leave the country," he told Vanity Fair magazine.

Mr Clarke said he checked with FBI officials, who gave the go ahead. "So I said, 'Fine, let it happen'."6

And, as noted, the FBI was directly involved in the process of collecting bin Laden family members and ferrying them to departure points from which they could leave the country:

The young members of the bin Laden clan were driven or flown under F.B.I. supervision to a secret assembly point in Texas.3

http://www.snopes.com/rumors/flight.htm


Lots of info at the above link.

[DanCa]

17. I couldn't picture wes having the motive to do something like that

[FreedomAngel82]

19. Oh brother

Heh. And plus they do have two different names. It's Wesley Clark and Richard Clarke.

[ThoughtCriminal]

22. I Bet all his "Facts" are along these lines

just look for links that rhyme.