"Al Dykes" wrote in message
...


The FBI/CIA/FAA culture that prevented the sharing of
information help. So did that fact that as of Spring 01 Ashcroft didn't
have terrorist on his list of the 7 highest priority issues, and that
Bush slashed the FBI terrorism budget buy a billiion in the summer of
01.

All of this was reported in the public press before 9/11/01.
I bet It wasn't reported on Fox Cable News.

Actually, what Fox is reporting today is a bit different from your take on
the issue. Interestingly enough, the same Mr. Clark who has been lately
trashing the current administration for its alleged lack of attention to AQ
before 9-11 was singing quite a different tune in August 2002, when he was
tape recorded by reporters saying:

"...there was no plan on Al Qaeda that was passed from the Clinton
administration to the Bush administration. Second point is that the Clinton
administration had a strategy in place, effectively dating from 1998... And
in January 2001, the incoming Bush administration was briefed on the
existing strategy. They were also briefed on these series of issues that had
not been decided on in a couple of years. And the third point is the Bush
administration decided then, you know, mid-January, to do two things. One,
vigorously pursue the existing policy, including all of the lethal covert
action findings, which we've now made public to some extent. And the point
is, while this big review was going on, there were still in effect, the
lethal findings were still in effect. The second thing the administration
decided to do is to initiate a process to look at those issues which had
been on the table for a couple of years and get them decided. So, point
five, that process which was initiated in the first week in February, uh,
decided in principle, uh in the spring to add to the existing Clinton
strategy and to increase CIA resources, for example, for covert action,
five-fold, to go after Al Qaeda. The sixth point, the newly-appointed
deputies - and you had to remember, the deputies didn't get into office
until late March, early April. The deputies then tasked the development of
the implementation details, uh, of these new decisions that they were
endorsing, and sending out to the principals. Over the course of the
summer - last point - they developed implementation details, the principals
met at the end of the summer, approved them in their first meeting, changed
the strategy by authorizing the increase in funding five-fold, changing the
policy on Pakistan, changing the policy on Uzbekistan, changing the policy
on the Northern Alliance assistance. And then changed the strategy from one
of rollback with Al Qaeda over the course [of] five years, which it had
been, to a new strategy that called for the rapid elimination of al Qaeda.
That is in fact the timeline."

Followed by specific questions addressed to Mr. Clark that included:
JIM ANGLE: You're saying that the Bush administration did not stop anything
that the Clinton administration was doing while it was making these
decisions, and by the end of the summer had increased money for covert
action five-fold. Is that correct?

CLARKE: All of that's correct.

ANGLE: Now the five-fold increase for the money in covert operations against
Al Qaeda - did that actually go into effect when it was decided or was that
a decision that happened in the next budget year or something?

CLARKE: Well, it was gonna go into effect in October, which was the next
budget year, so it was a month away.

QUESTION: That actually got into the intelligence budget?

CLARKE: Yes it did.

QUESTION: Just to clarify, did that come up in April or later?

CLARKE: No, it came up in April and it was approved in principle and then
went through the summer. And you know, the other thing to bear in mind is
the shift from the rollback strategy to the elimination strategy. When
President Bush told us in March to stop swatting at flies and just solve
this problem, then that was the strategic direction that changed the NSPD
from one of rollback to one of elimination.

How different all of this is from what Clark has been saying of late. You
are concerned over an alleged major decrease to the FBI "terrorism budget"
(and your cite for that is...? Ignoring the fact that by that time all of
the the money in the world added to that budget would not have stopped 9-11
from happening...), while Clark acknowledges that the folks at the pointy
end of the spear were in line to get a five-fold increase in their
supporting funding, and that the Bush administration had as Clark put it at
the time, "When President Bush told us in March to stop swatting at flies
and just solve this problem, then that was the strategic direction that
changed the NSPD from one of rollback to one of elimination."

I've had my share of beefs with "FauxNews", but this time they have hit the
nail on the head, and they have it on tape to prove it. Mr. Clark's
"background" comments are coming back to prove him to be what some
administration sources have indeed labled him over the last few days--a man
disgruntled over his failure to secure a promotion he thought he deserved,
and who has let that animosity turn him into an out-and-out liar in regards
to his latest comments.

Brooks